Re: OT-BIO: Kathie Day-Nski
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: OT-BIO: Kathie Day-Nski
- From: M* H* <M*@worldnet.att.net>
- Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 21:35:29 -0600 (MDT)
Hi, Kathie -- welcome the the List.
I imagine that you are still in climate shock, going from southern CA to
WI, even after several years! But delighted you're going to be planting
irises -- I'm sure they will bring you much pleasure.
> 1) We have a lot of squirrels and chipmonks in our neighborhood. A
> neighbor has suggested dipping the bulbs in Ro-Pel BulbProtect-R to
> keep them from being eaten up by the critters. Does anyone have
> experience with this product? Does it work or is there another
> alternative that would work better?
My personal experience is that rodents leave *bearded* irises (which
grow from rhizomes, not bulbs) completely alone anyway -- but when you
say "bulbs", do you mean that you are planting tulips, etc, in same bed
with bearded iris or are you planting bulbous irises? If it's to be a
mixed bed, then some sort of bulb protection is probably good but I
don't have any 1st-hand knowledge of Ro-Pel -- anyone else comment here?
What I do is plant lots of daffodils everywhere -- their bulbs are
poisonous & their presence helps keep rodents, deer & elk away from the
tulips & other goodies they do crave. Furry critters also leave alliums
(flowering onions), colchicum & frittilarias alone, but are crazy about
crocus, grape hyacinths & of course, tulips.
> 2) We are roto-tilling up a space on the edge of our lawn for my bed.
> I've bought black landscaping fabric to lay on the bed to prevent
> weeds. I then plan on planting the bulbs and putting mulch on top of
> the fabric. Will this work with Iris?
Almost never a good idea to mulch bearded iris *rhizomes* -- leads to
rot. The rhizomes should be just barely covered with soil so that the
"backs" can bake in the sun, which they require in order to grow & bloom
vigorously. Not sure how the rhizomes will cope being planted through?
under? landscaping fabric -- let's hope someone else on the List will
comment.
> My dad divided the bulbs about > a week ago and I should get them in
> this week, right?)
It's good to get bearded iris into the ground soon so rhizomes will have
time to get new roots down before freeze-up. It's really too early yet
to be planting tulips, daffs, etc -- Oct. is about right time where you
are. As for bulbous iris, you've caught me with my ignorance showing --
let's ask others on list -- if those are "bulbs" you're speaking of.
> 3) I've also bought some bone meal and was going to plant a small
> amount with each bulb. Is this right?
That's fine -- just make sure you mix it into the soil so none is in
direct contact with any bulbs. Bulb Booster or another similar product
is a little better than straight bone meal because it contains some
trace minerals that most bulbs need to flourish -- depends really on
what kind of nutrients are present in your soil. Compost, homemade or
purchased, is nearly always a good soil amendment.
> I'd appreciate any advice, site suggestions, reference books, etc to
> help me get started on this. Thanks for taking the time to read this!
Check out Jim Wilson's page: http://www.muohio.edu/~wilsonjh/
And of course Tom Tadford-Little's: http://www.rt66.com/~telp/index.html
Tom operates Iris-L & his website has lots of neat stuff on gardening of
many kinds in addition to iris.
Marte in the mtns Zone 4/Sunset 1 Colorado...where we are now
into Day 10 of a monsoon season -- weird
