Re: CULT: ROT: Is it genetic?

I dont' see the original to this in Mallorn, but saw it in Betty's
reply, so, at the risk of commenting on something out of context....

Like everything else, it seems that the incidence of rot is both
environmental and genetic.  Some cultivars are more predisposed than
others.  Hager wrote an article in the Bulletin refuting the claim that
mesopotamica 'blood' led to susceptibility to rot (or tenderness, or
whatever) noting that hybridizers in climates that 'complain' of
"climate that kills" had used a lot of 'tender' cultivars (i.e., SNOW
FLURRY) in their breeding programs (i.e., it had lived long & well
enough to be incorporated in their breeding program).

After reading that article, I bought SNOW FLURRY and grew it quite
successfully for several years (took the whole clump to our club sale
this year).  Tom Parkhill, long time hybridizer in our club, who has an
almost ideal site and soil for growing irises saw it at the sale and
commented that he couldn't keep it alive when he tried to grow it years
ago - it always rotted.  His thought was that winters here have been so
mild recently, it may survive better now than it did when he tried to
grow it.

So, is it tender & rot prone?

"Tenderness" seems to come and go with individual cultivars depending on
fertilization, state of growth and year to year variation in weather
systems.  Some cultivars are more prone to rot here than others
depending on which kind of stress they experience - some more likely to
rot after drought, some after late spring freezes, some after several
days of severe winter freezes (below 10oF with no snow cover), some
after hot weather and heavy rains, etc etc etc.  Sounds like some are
more prone to rot after being eaten by grasshoppers, iris borers,
stomped by horses, baked in dry heat, etc.

Given the mixed up genetics our modern TBs have, it seems reasonable
that it is impossible? to sort out which stressors are likely to knock
out which cultivar.  I've had pretty good success selecting which newer
cultivars are most likely to do well here (most of the time <g>) by
trying a LOT of cultivars, looking up pedigrees on everything that does
well and looking for ancestors they share as well as the climate &
hybridizer where they were bred and selected.  I've also bought a lot of
those shared ancestors & have found that many of them also do well
here.  I usually won't buy something that has ancestors that don't
include those I know about, tho will sometimes try new stuff people
insist I try <g>.

<< we might really have something valuable. Especially if it were done
in a way where we did not have to depend on anecdotal information
extracted from a pile of notes, emails or lists of pretty flowers.  >>
quoted by Betty W

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
iris-talk/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
iris-photos/Mallorn archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>




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