Re: cult:Cutting Fans & Survivability

MBooth1026@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Something I noticed was the fans of the irises had already been
> cut back.  I thought this wasn't done till late winter or early spring.  Any
> suggestions?

Margaret

Someone from your area or climate might be better qualified to answer
this, but generally cutting fans back falls under the category of "old
wives tales".

I know some people still do it religiously, but as long as growing
conditions are good, the more leaf the plant has, the more strength it
can build for the next bloom cycle. Sometimes leaves get brown tips and
they can be trimmed off for aesthetic reasons if you like, but there is
no reason to just wack off the fans. Of course if you have leaf spot or
something, you would want to trim off and dispose of the infected parts
(not in your compost pile).

As you move into fall and winter you would want to clean up any dead
leaves. The part I don't know, because I don't have a "real" winter
here, is what you should do to prepare them for winter (in terms of
whether or not to cut back the fans).
What I gather is best is to wait til you get a good hard freeze, then
cover them with a mulch and leave them covered until the spring thaw.  I
think by that time the rzs will have naturally shed most of the tall
leaves and you don't have to wack them back. The mulch will help protect
them against the freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw etc that tends to heave them
out of the ground. When the final thaw arrives, uncover them so the
mulch doesn't promote rot.

Hopefully someone who has more experience with your environment will
jump in and correct me where needed.


John                     | "There be dragons here"
                         |  Annotation used by ancient cartographers
                         |  to indicate the edge of the known world.

John Jones, jijones@ix.netcom.com
Fremont CA, USDA zone 8/9 (coastal, bay) 
Max high 95F/35C, Min Low 28F/-2C average 10 days each
Heavy clay base for my raised beds.
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