Re: CULT: borers (from the species forum)

Thanks for this tidbit, Chuck.  I was suspecting this, but didn't
remember seeing anything like this previously in posts about iris
borers.  The only seriously affected clumps here (my first experience
with iris-borers) were next to (almost underneath) an encroaching
thicket of blackberries, honeysuckle, big bluestem, and woven wire fence
mess.  Of three clumps of DUSKY CHALLENGER, only one was infected, but
it really was hit pretty hard.  A seedling nearby also had several
borers.

Anybody know of a good website for identifying different types of
borers?  Now that I'm hunting for iris-borers, I'm seeing more stalk
borers.  Just curious to learn more about what they are and their
ecology.

The most abundant type has a chocolate brown 'saddle' in the middle,
with very dark (black looking) stripes on white or cream ground color on
both sides of the saddle.   The big ones are longer than iris borer
larvae but skinnier and much more wiggley.

Today, I found two huge different ones in the ridgetop "garden" that
were proportioned more like iris-borer larvae, but also more wiggley,
with broken brown stripes on a cream ground with a tan head.

Both of these were very active, rapidly trying to escape up or down the
hollowed out stalk as I broke off bits of it trying to corner them.
I've not seen either of these in iris foliage, but have seen one
iris-borer in the base of a fat stalk.

<I have seen some plants that are infected where you see some damage but
borer has disapeared, others where they are very small and don't get
much nourishment. The biggest factor of all is location in garden. The
moths seem to like protection and plants closest to hedges always have
more boarer grubs.>

                   Chuck Chapman

                   >There have been speculations about some iris
varieties immune or
                   >resistant to borer attack.... Neil Mogensen>
--
Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.korrnet.org/etis>
American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
online R&I <http://www.irisregister.com>

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