Re: CULT: snapping off stalks - another regional difference?
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: CULT: snapping off stalks - another regional difference?
- From: C* H* <c*@netcom.ca>
- Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 22:56:46 -0600 (MDT)
Linda Mann wrote:
> I am reading these posts about being able to break iris stalks by
> snapping them off with bare hands with amazement. Except when they are
> first growing out of the fans (like when weeding, grrr) stalks here are
> way too wiry or rubbery to break. Takes a sharp axe to cut them.
> [kidding!] But it does take a sharp knife or scissors. Unless the
> stalk has a pod (and sometimes when it does), it usually either rots off
> at the base (easy to remove) or shrivels to nothing (also easy to
> remove). Is this just another characteristic of my iris-garden of the
> netherworld, or are unsnappable stalks common elsewhere?
>
> Linda Mann east Tennessee USA
Chris replies:
Nothing regional in it. As Kathyguest points out, the key is in the
technique... the stalk will break off cleanly and fairly easily if you grasp
it very near the bottom where it connects to the rhizome. Grasp firmly and
with a quick movement bend it to the side. It will break off very cleanly
from the top of the rhizome. Using this method there will be less chance of
rot travelling down the remaining stalk of a cut bloomstalk. Plus it is
quicker and easier once the technique is learned.
--
Christopher Hollinshead
Mississauga, Ontario Canada zone6b
AIS(Region 16), CIS, SSI
Director-Canadian Iris Society
Newsletter Editor-Canadian Iris Society
e-mail: cris@netcom.ca
CIS website: http://www.netcom.ca/~cris/CIS.html
