Re: Cult: Borers
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Cult: Borers
- From: H*@aol.com
- Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 09:35:51 -0700 (MST)
In a message dated 98-01-30 10:40:37 EST, you write:
<< One thing that puzzles me about this scenario is that I. versicolor is
almost always found in very wet areas, or actually growing in water. I've
found that while versicolor and virginica clumps growing in the border are
attacked, those in shallow water or boggy conditions are not. I wonder if
the iris borer might not have been a very rare insect in the recent
past--or that it has another host plant, perhaps of a very different sort. >>
Yes, that is the wierd thing about it and I don't have an answer. Most of the
versicolor populations are in soggy boggies or "wet meadows". It is
interesting, of course, that we are told that open, sunny and dry garden areas
with good ventilation have less problems than shadier, overcrowded areas.
Aside from the fact that overcrowded areas are definitionally neglected and
probably full of borer-attractive detritus, the soil in shadier overcrowded
areas would probably remain cooler and, possibly more moist.
The literature to which Bill refers on this business of alternate host plants
is the Cornell Extension Bulletin 112 , Bearded Irises: A Perennial Suited to
All Gardens, bu Austin W.W. Sand, published by the New York State College of
Agriculture at Cornell University in 1925. As I mentioned when I first posted
the information, Grace Sturtevant the famous Massachusetts hybridizer who was
the daughter of the first Director of the New York Experiment Station in
Geneva, remarked that she had found "injury to lupines, columbines, bleeding
hearts, and especially Aquilegia chrysantha" from the insect. What kind of
injury is not specified.
Cornell Bulletin 112 is available from HIPS in facsimile reprint. Ruth Simmons
of the list can provide you with details, or contact me. Eight bucks well
spent.
Anner Whitehead, Richmond, VA
Henry Hall henryanner@aol.com
