Re: Covers and more---
- To: i*@rt66.com
- Subject: Re: Covers and more---
- From: L*@aol.com
- Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 19:40:53 -0500
In a message dated 96-11-02 11:18:29 EST, you write:
Barb Johnson asked me a several questions, some of which I couldn't answer:
>1. Do you use the 2-liter water-filled bottles for all your iris (and
>other things?), or just the rebloomers? When do you start putting them
>out?.... I could even start with hot water!...
>You cap the bottles, don't you....
I only use the water bottles for things that I am trying to keep growing
during the time nature would rather freeze them. So I use them for stuff
like early set out tomatos and peppers mostly. This would be the first time
for iris, if I had remembered to use them. For the tomatos, I plant them
about 2 weeks before our last frost date and surround them with capped,
horizontal bottles, then cover the whole bed with Reemay for about a month.
I wouldn't use hot water - the point is to dampen temperature extremes, not
increase the fluctuations, unless you are going to refill them with more hot
water as they cool.
>2. Do some kinds of iris keep their leaves all winter? Thought I read
>this somewhere, that they're not all deciduous.
I think they all do. Some of them just turn brown! <grin>
>3. Do some iris grow off and on during winter warm spells, and some
>wait until Spring to grow bigger and/or new fans?
My guess is that some of the genes that come from iris heaven in California
are prone to grow during warm spells, then get zapped by the next cold spell,
and then, well we all know what happens next...
>4. Leaves would be better mulch for beardless than for bearded because
>of acidity, isn't that right?
?
Linda Mann lmann76543@aol.com east TN
