Re: Many Iris Problems

This sounds like the diary of the typical iris grower! Though most folks might see the problems over a longer time and perhaps not all of them...

Don't give up on your beardeds quite yet although you might want to try a few siberians. They like mulch and more water, and you just might like the foliage better too. (don't plant them with the beardeds...) Or other beardless are worth a try too depending on where you are.

As someone else mentioned, look for a few beardeds that other folks in your area have luck with. Perhaps mix in a few medians. Clean up old foliage and do the cygon thing a few times in spring, and around once in summer and fall as my suspicions from various posts are the borers have a few life cycles and the timing can change a little from year to year...

Delia Burgess wrote:
I'm just about ready to thow the towel in trying to grow Bearded German
Iris 'though I love them so much.
I prepared a new bed (4x30 ft.) 3 years ago to be used solely for
bearded iris,  incorporating plenty of peat moss.  When brown spots
developed on the leaves 3 years running I tried everything from cutting
the leaves off to spraying with Bordo every 10 days - to no avail.
Someone suggested the peat moss might have made the soil acidic and the
plant would be unable to get the nutrients it needed therefore causing
the spots so I added lime to the soil.  Last year most of the iris corms
were infested with iris borer and I dug every plant, cut out the rot and
borers, dusted with sulphur and replanted.  Early this spring I sprayed
once with Cygon which seems to have controlled the borers somewhat.
There was plenty of bloom but now that the blooms have finished  they
are rather ugly and the bed looks terrible.  All the leaves are affected
with brown spot, and the older leaves which first developed the brown
spots  have died and dried up.  If anyone can offer a suggestion as to
what I should do to alleviate this problem I would be most appreciative.

Delia, a newbie to the list



--
#-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-#
My words are mine, and don't reflect the views of my employer.
Catherine Button    Network Administrator    cathy@pavcal.com
          Phone: 609-518-3700 x4444          Fax: 609-518-3720

 "When I drop in my tracks, I want the body to skid for a week."
  cathy@gixxergirl.org           http://www.gixxergirl.org/
#-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-#

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@hort.net with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE IRIS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index