RECult-Cold Climate planting

I know it goes agaist all advice generally given to plant with soil over rhizomes, but it works. Most recomendations are for the backs of the rhizomes to be exposed. I place them with 1/2 -1" ( sometimes deeper) soil over  the backs  of the rhizomes.  With unreliable snow cover and many freezes in fall and spring as well as frequent winter thaws, heaving is a major problem. This eliminates much of that. I get excellent survival with deeper planting. When Keith Keppel was up here a few years ago I mentioned this way of planting to him. He indicated that he has been planting like this for longer then he can remember and it works well for him. We both have well draines soil, allthoug there are a lot of very wet areas on my farm. Other people  have also secretly confessed to this "iris crime " as I have come out of the closet on this, all with better results this way. I suspect one of the problems with rot is not the mosture per se  but the microscopic lesions cause by freeze/thaw. With the tops of the rhizomes exposed and the bottom in the soil there is a temperature difference on warm sunny days with frozen soil. The part exposed to heat expands while the part in the ground doesn't. This causes stress and small lessions, perfect for enty of all the rot causing bad guys. When planted deeper, this doesn't happen and thus less lessions and less entry points for virus and bacteria.  Also same thing with plants left just lying on the ground ( or on top of compost pile). They survive winter well while those planted die.  Same thing, the whole rhizome experiences equal temperature.

Anyone getting  plants from Schreiners and Cooleys should look carefully at the tail or cut end of the rhizomes they receive. This is turned downwards, obvious growing upwards from a much deeper mother rhizome. Room for thought.  

I have also had plants grow up from rhizomes acidentally planted very deep, and new plants look like the ones from Cooley's and Schreiners. The new shoots grow upwards and new rhizomes are much above the mother rhizome.  Anyone observe how their field planted plants are handled? 

In the wild and in clumps of long standing, the rhizomes grow over top of each other and thus we get rhizomes at the top. Perhaps not by choice but by necessity as there is nowhere else to go. Thus the reports of preferered planting. Just a wild guess. 

I would like to experiment further with this. 

Chuck Chapman

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