Re: RE: Cult -Cold Climate planting

That's interesting Ellen.

I have had the same experience with mulching...the couple of times I
had tried it I had bad rot problems.  I haven't mulched any of my
irises for four years or so and other than the odd TB's I have
very good survival if I can get them planted before August.  SDB's and
IB's I don't generally have a survival problem if I plant in August.

I do the opposite of you though.  I try to keep the back of the plant
out of the soil and sink the front end of the rhizome.  I have been
planting with added sand around the rhizome for the last couple of years
and it seems to have helped with rot problems.

Sandra
Zone 3


Ellen Gallagher wrote:

>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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