Re: digging and planting
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: digging and planting
- From: s*@aristotle.net (J. Michael, Celia or Ben Storey)
- Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 16:44:28 -0700 (MST)
David and Emma Kester ask:
>We live in zone 7(TX) and want to dig some irises from my mothers yard
>while they are blooming and plant in our yard. Can we do this then without
>waiting until 6 to 8 weeks after they stop blooming? The property may be
>sold just after or during the blooming season and bulldozed.
>
By all means, save those plants. Better they should go a year without bloom
than die under the dozer's treads.
Disturbing iris while they're setting bloomstalks will divert the plant's
energy from bloom creation to root repair so that you won't get a flower
this year. You can minimize the damage and potentially save the flower by
minimizing the amount of root the plant has to replace. Shovel out a large
amount of dirt as you lift the rhizome. Lift it out like a chunk of sod.
You don't say if these are TB, but if they are, those roots are not very
deep but they are rather wide, sometimes two feet or so. Before you haul
your shovel-load of iris out of the ground, gently feel around to see if
you've shortchanged a long-running root.
You will have to replant immediately, without letting the plant languish in
y'all's bright sun.
There are some disadavantages to moving plants with so much soil intact
just to save the bloom. For one thing, you don't have the opportunity to
separate crowded rhizomes, and for another, you might be transferring
diseases or pests from Mom's yard to yours. I think it's smarter to lift
the rhizome the way you would for division, clean them, bleach if necessary
and then plant in well-prepared beds. You won't get a bloom this year
(probably) but you'll have healthy plants that will grow like crazy this
summer and bloom for you next year.
celia
storey@aristotle.net
Little Rock, Arkansas USDA Zone 7b
AIS Region 22
