Re: Nonbloom
- Subject: Re: Nonbloom
- From: L*@aol.com
- Date: Sun, 18 Feb 96 05:12:43 MST
debbie - when i first started hanging around with local iris growers, i
thought mine were not doing as well as theirs. then i toured their gardens
and discovered they are satisfied with about half of their iris doing well.
some rot, some waste away, some don't bloom. phooey to that.
In general, tb's bloom best with lots of sun, lots of weeding, and good
fertility but low nitrogen. some are fussier than others about these things.
i have one old variety that grows fine no matter what but will not bloom at
all if there is a weed (especially grass) anywhere around. and some wont
bloom if they crowd themselves (need dividing).
one grower in middle tennessee says she thinks some are alternate year
bloomers in our climate.
my garden is in a frost pocket, so in years when the winter (march)
temperatures are jumping around from 70o (which gets iris starting to grow)
to below 20o, none of the early bloomers and a lot of the middle season
bloomers don't even make buds. I used to cover the beds with plant bed
covers to protect the rhizomes, but have since switched to later bloomers,
which if they don't rot, always bloom for me. of course, the hot dry weather
in mid may is not good for them either.(why do i do this???)
and, if your soil is coarse textured (sand or gravel) and it rains a lot
(which i guess it does where you are) you may need to fertilize more,
including a dab of nitrogen. i had some of the best bloom ever in a bed of
iris from local growers (therefore proven rot resistant ones!) where i
mulched between the rows with fresh horse manure and shavings. (i bet that
gets comment! - i do NOT recommend manure of any kind for tbs.) and
generally, i don't get much bloom at all without fall fertilizing with
6-12-12, spring with bone meal.
linda mann e tn
