Re: CULT: iris decline (was OT-taters)

For whatever reasons, fusarium and verticillium have been rampant
problems with vegetables (and before that with Burley tobacco) in the
gravelly soil here at the house.  That has been the case even after
rotation into pasture for several decades.  Only the most disease &
weather resistant veggies have had a chance here, the exception being
crops that overwinter (turnips, kale, etc).  I thought it had something
to do with the boom and bust drought and saturation, but maybe that just
weakens the plants making them more susceptible. ??

<Potatoes and irises feed on just
                   about the same things at the same rates--and succumb
to some of the same
                   diseases.  We rarely hear about Fusarium infections
in iris, but they do
                   happen--frequently.  So do Verticillium infections.
The rhizome fibres that
                   are the nutrient pipelines also become the pathways
the fungi travel through.
                   The infections aren't fatal--just debilitating.
Likewise with the various
                   virus diseases.  Seedlings without the "pallida"
virus resistance that Orville
                   Fay succeeded in breeding into the line leading to
FLEETA and RIPPLING WATERS,
                   the same characteristics that give the "blue-green"
pallida-look to
                   foliage--have a tendency to go down dramatically in
quality.  They are
                   fabulous on the maiden bloom, and less so each year
thereafter for two or
                   three years--then one can see the mottling in the
leaves when a leaf blade is
                   held up to the light.  Most named irises have some
degree of mottling from
                   viruses, but have enough resistance to thrive
anyway.  Neil>

--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index