Re: Transporting irises (was Early Show-long)
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Transporting irises (was Early Show-long)
- From: "* G* C* <j*@erols.com>
- Date: Sun, 12 Apr 1998 21:02:54 -0600 (MDT)
Walter A. Moores wrote:
>
> >. . . you need five things to get your irises safely to the
> show.
>
> Styrofoam to wedge your stalk in the bottle.
> Whiskey or wine bottle cartons with dividers.
> Crushed newspapers to fill gaps in cartons.
> Bricks or big rocks to keep cartons from sliding.
> A van, or a Bronco, etc.....vehicle with removable seats and high
> head room.
>
>
Walter -- I use the method that you describe above. I also have devised
a way to transport irises that are too tall for the headroom of my
capped pickup truck. (This must be done with seedlings, since cutting
the stalk off short would give a false impression of the plant's
dimensions.) I cut 4-ft long bamboo canes and use them as splints. Step
1: Half-fill a plastic sandwich bag with water and twist-tie it around
the base of the iris stalk. Step 2: Using twist-ties, secure the iris
stalk to the bamboo cane. Step 3: Lean the splinted iris at a very acute
angle against one of the brick-anchored cardboard boxes, and put a
blocking brick at the base of the cane. The plastic bag of water
encasing the base of the stalk takes the place of a container, which
would spill. If the trip is of more than an hour's duration, you may
need to rotate the splints so that the flowers don't pull toward the
light and look a bit cockeyed on the bench.
Griff Crump, along the tidal Potomac near Mount Vernon, VA
jgcrump@erols.com