Re: New iris grower...what do I do after they bloom?

Sherri,

There are probably as many opinions on this subject as there are subscribers to this list. I am not as expert as many on this list, but here is my procedure. It has worked well for me here in southern MO. After the blooms have all faded, I like to tidy up the appearance of the bed, so I go through and snap off all the old bloomstalks. I grab the stalk near the top and pull down in the direction of the center of the clump. When the stalk is bent past the horizontal, I give a quick jerk down and in. It usually snaps off cleanly at the rhizome. Occasionally, they will not snap easily and you have to be careful or you may accidentally pull up the whole mama rhizome and even worse, some of the attached increases. Not usually, though.

After I pull the bloomstalk off, I remove all the spent foliage from the clump, the completely brown ones and sometimes the ouside fan leaf, too that have some brown and perhaps a little green. If it's ready, it'll come off easily.

Then if I want to really spiff them up, I take my garden scissors and snip off the foliage that has leaf spot of other unsightly damage. This also is on the older outside leaves. The newer inside leaves will still look good. I cut those outer leaves at an angle, leaving the fan still looking like a fan, just shorter or narrower. Take those spent leaves and diseased pieces of leaf out of the garden. Some say don't even compost them and take the chance of the disease organisms coming back in. I just dump them somewhere far from the irises.

Later, if I am digging for transplanting or trading, I will trim those fans again even shorter, but still in the fan shape. I never cut all the foliage off, though, just enough to either improve appearance or remove disease in the garden, or to match the amount of foliage to amount of roots surviving when digging.

Don't know if this was clear or useful...Hope so. :-)

Bill Wells (southern MO)

Sherriwahle@aol.com wrote:

I have quote a lot of iris plants. I want to move them. They are still flowering, but are winding down. I understand July is a good time to dig them up and transplant BUT.... what do I do about the big green leaves or whatever they are called. Should I cut them back or down? I would appreciate any help on this matter.

Thank you
Sherri

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