REB: blades/fan/stalk formation

Chuck, I need more input on how to count the number of leaf blades in fans that produce bloomstalks. 

No stalks forming on IMM yet.
I just checked the potted plants that have visible stalks. Of the 6, 4 are storebought cultivars from last year and the year before [yes, Bob Pries, I can't grow storebought cultivars in the ground here, but <can> grow them in pots where they can be dragged indoors to get away from the normal climate, using Betty's dirty perlite recipe.;-( But <not> IMM - dies every time. ]
Of these, leaf blades/fan w stalk were: 3 (plus 4 shriveled up dead blades), 5 (+ 2 dead), 3 (+ 2 dead), and 4(+2 dead). Only one of these one was registered & introduced as a rebloomer.
2 were seedlings, 3 leaf blades each/stalked fan, no dead leaf blades visible, but very crowded with foliage of other fans on the same mother rhizome, so there may be some dead leaves hidden. These were rebloom seedlings dug year before last to bring indoors for late fall/winter bloom that I never got around to putting back in the ground.
Which brings up another issue. Mother rhizomes on many/most [no data, will try to take notes this year] of the seedlings from IMM and HOM do <not> die after sending up a bloomstalk. Some keep sending up fans for another generation or more (i.e., active grandmother rhizomes). I wonder if this is part of why IMM is so skimpy with stalks here compared to the amount of foliage produced in a clump. i.e., using energy produced by other fans, which then don't have enough energy to make buds.
In any case, if the buds for bloomstalk formation are set in the rhizome 6 to 8 weeks <before> bloom (and before any hint of a stalk is visible or can be felt), what do you want me to count?
I grow everything in clumps (one of my goals is a good garden iris that will continue to grow and bloom without having to be re-set), thin regularly to take excess to club sales.
So I can't count and keep track of all the leaves in a clump 8 weeks before I <think> they are supposed to bloom, then check them all to see whether or not they did.
I can mark a handful of fans of one of the IMM clumps, count the leaf blades every so often and see which ones bloom.
But the more I think about it, with the extra fans growing on the same rhizome, maybe the ratio of the total number of leaf blades in the entire interconnected clump to stalk production would be more meaningful. 

?? thoughts? suggestions?
--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.DiscoverET.org/etis>
Region 7, Kentucky-Tennessee <http://www.aisregion7.org>
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