Re: Re: CULT: Letting plant go to seed
- To:
- Subject: Re: [iris-talk] Re: CULT: Letting plant go to seed
- From: D* E*
- Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 20:28:23 -0600
>Then I thought it might be fun to try some seeds
>and see what happens.
It is, try it.
> Then I wondered if letting the plant go to seed might
>hinder the tubor growth.
Speaking for myself, I don't think it matters. An iris rhizome only
blooms once anyway. Future blooms come from the new increase
from a mother rhizome. Whether it makes seed or not, as a bloom
producing rhizome, it is finished. Nor do I notice letting one make
a pod effects the amount of increase. So I say go for it.
>On many plants they suggest cutting the flower heads
>off immediately after bloom so as to increase the vigor and additional
blooming
>of the plant. Does this apply to irises too?
This applies to many perennials, but whether an iris stalk is cut or left,
what it does is done anyway. I think the increases probably feed off
the mother rhizome and insofar as that food goes toward making a pod,
I suppose it could have some effect. But my own experience is that
those new rhizomes quickly develope their own root system, so any
visible weakening has not been apparent. On those rhizomes that
bloomout by putting on a bloomstalk but not producing any increase,
few have gone ahead and put on increase regardless. I've never had a
pod on one, but the odds have been so bad I wouldn't hesitate to leave
it and allow it to mature anyway.
Did you get all those historics you had located earlier this year?
Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7, USA
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