RE: Cult -Cold Climate planting

I have been following this thread (especially Chuck's posts)
with great interest. Except none of the interesting information
seems to apply to my iris garden which  has a good snow-cover
for about 6 months (more or less). 

I never mulch bearded irises because the year I did, I had
spring rot that would have rivaled Linda in TN. I spent hours
cleaning out the soft front of the rhizomes and using Comet
cleanser to try and save some of them. 

Same with planting under various levels of dirt. I never
measured the depth of the soil...just eyeballed it. Bearded do
better here planted with the front of the rhizome above
ground.....but I sink the back of the plant in the soil to
stabilize it during the winter ice and the heavy snow pack. 

I always mulch beardless irises with  a good dose of pine
straw....this decomposes and is the only 'food' (outside of
water) that they get. No fertilizer or nutrients - except when
amending a bed with aged manure and peat moss. 

Just my experience in the mountains,

Ellen 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Arnold Koekkoek" <koekkoek@mtcnet.net> wrote:

>>> Chuck:   That sounds like a very worthwhile experiment, and
I, for one, am
very interesting in learning what differences you will find, if
any,
concerning planting depths.  In terms of bloom, it may well be 2
years before
any definitive results are showing.  Maybe the conventional
wisdom has been
wrong all these years.  It would surely save a lot of work if
one could forget
about winter mulching, esp. that first year when things are just
getting
established.  My own not-very-scientific experience with
mulching materials
certainly verify that it is the freeze-thaw cycle of uncovered
rhizomes that
brings on the rot and/or the heaving.  So, thanks for
undertaking this test of
planting depths.  I'm eager to know the results.  <<<




=====
Ellen Gallagher / ellengalla@yahoo.com /Berlin, New Hampshire - USDA Zone 3 
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