CULT: iris haircuts

I don't like it, but on several of my iris beds I'm giving them a pretty
short haircut.  I've not done this before and don't think it is generally a
good idea to chop off green leaves on growing plants.  However, this year I
was plagued by leaf spot. Now I've had this in small doses in the past and
our hot, dry weather usually takes care of it in short order so I've never
had to do much about it.  But this year we had a lot of damp spring weather
and it latched on and hasn't let go.  By the time I realized it was going to
be a rampant problem in some beds, the plants were in full, spectacular
bloom and the treatment I bought said not to use on blooming plants.
Subsequent to bloom, there were all those pods.  I kept much of it trimmed,
but every time we get a bit of rain, it has been flaring up again

I've been biding my time.  Now that most of the pods are gathered and we
have turned warm (not too hot yet, thank goodness) and way too dry and the
grasshoppers and katydids are doing their part to trim the foliage down to
the ground, I'm trimming the irises in the affected beds pretty short.  I've
been waiting for this time since irises here tend to go into a sort of green
dormant stage anyway at this time of year.  Plus, since the grasshoppers eat
the leaves off in great chunks, many which just fall on the ground anyway,
it just seems the best time to attempt something like this.  Now if the leaf
spot shows back up, I'll spray if I need to.  I'm considering a couple of
good overhead watering sessions to see how much may reappear before I decide
whether the chemical control is necessary or not.  At the least, much of the
protective cover for the grasshoppers is being removed.  Hopefully, the
irises will come through without too much damage and hopefully it's not
affecting next year's bloom too negatively.  Any thoughts?

Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7, USA



 

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