Re: CULT: Bearded acclimatization
- To: iris-talk
- Subject: Re: CULT: Bearded acclimatization
- From: L* M*
- Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 15:32:31 -0500
My kind of question - for some cultivars, there is no telling.
IMMORTALITY is a great example - sometimes, for some reasons, it just
refuses to grow. Other times, it takes off like a weed. As you suggest
at the end of your question, I use the 'safe' approach with this one,
and dig pieces around the edges of the main clump. In fact, that is the
approach I now use with most of my 'keepers' most of the time. I've
successfully moved pieces of IMMORTALITY here many times now that it's
established, and I wonder if part of its success or failure depends on
how long it's out of the ground, what stage of the rebloom cycle an
individual chunk of rhizome is in or what.
On the other hand, most of the really vigorous TBs here seem to thrive
on being nearly plowed out of the ground. I get the best growth when I
cultivate with the farm tractor or rototiller around/between the
clumps. And I'm not talking about little bitty scratching of the
surface - more like 6 to 12 inches of serious soil ripping. Enough to
knock a shallowly rooted clump sideways..
If you've been lurking a while, you may remember our 'root races' last
year (or was that year before last???). I'm convinced that the
cultivars that do best for me (assuming they can handle the
winter/spring roller coaster freeze/heat wave cycles) are those that
have deep root growth. Some cultivars seem to take their time producing
roots and some of those may be slow to re-establish when moved or
divided, but may do very well here once they do.
So, once again, a lot may depend on your climate, soil, and growing
conditions, including how you manage the soil you have during the
growing season, how/when you dig and transplant, and how you set up your
growing beds/rows/pots/tuffa troughs etc.
Wow - what a non-answer! Maybe somebody else will offer more useful
information <g>
Laurie in Minnesota wrote:
<It seems there are certain bearded cvs that take
longer than others to acclimate after transplantation
and establish a regular bloom cycle. I have read
several reports of IMMORTALITY taking several years to
start blooming in different folks' gardens. Does a
slow-to-acclimate iris like IMMORTALITY take several
years to bloom *each* time it's divided and replanted
in the *same* garden or is this only a problem when
the plant has been relocated from one garden to
another garden? If it requires a long acclimatization
period after each transplantation in the *same*
garden, would it be a better tactic to only thin the
existing clump rather than to dig up, divide, and
transplant the whole thing?>
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
