Re: CULT:rhizome w/o roots

From: HIPSource@aol.com

In a message dated 11/29/98 12:26:19 PM Eastern Standard Time,
donald@eastland.net writes:

<< This one has just been sitting and showing no signs of any new growth.
 The reason is clear now that it has been unearthed - no sign of any new
 root growth.  The rhizome is firm, no sign of rot or any discoloration. 
 The three leaf fan is still green.  Even with our run of temperate weather,
 it is getting late to get an iris established before winter.  What to do? >>

I've seen this with things that came to me late in the replant season and then
got planted in a dryish place. I've had one sit there like that until spring
and then root. What I did was kick a little dirt over the rhizome itself to
keep it from freezing or washing away or whatever and with spring came the
roots. 

You might consider trying some chemical encouragement with a transplant
fertilizer containing vitamin B1. Tasco suggested that for slow starters. One
name is UPStart, by Ortho. The potential down side of this approach is two
fold: first, now is not a great time of year to be stimulating them a lot,
even the rootless ones, and second there is some divergence of professional
opinion about whether B1 actually works. 

Me, I think I'd lift it up, fluff its dirt, cut off any dried roots, reset it,
making sure the elbow of the plant was in good contact with the soil, cover
the rhizome about half an inch deep, and water it in good with a very dilute
soluable fertilizer. When the surface dried, I'd give it a little rock to get
its roots up under and hold a little solar heat next to it for a while. And I
think it will root eventually, although I think it is an unspoken truth that
there are some rhizomes which are just plain duds regardless of how well that
iris grows most of the time. 

I had a rhizome that I cheerfully disposed of this season that came from a
perfectly good source. Not a known peevish cultivar, but that rhizome, which
had rooted slowly but did root, had sat there like a bump on a frog for three
years, riding out the seasons with no apparent problems, but no increase for
several years.  One might say that it disliked  my garden, and that could very
well be the case, but I read somewhere some years ago that Iris tectorum--a
crested iris-- produces quite a few "sterile fans" and I've wondered--contrary
to all assurances in the literature-- if occasionally there might be some of
that going on in the bearded irises as well.

Good luck with your iris, Donald. LEDA'S LOVER is a handsome fellow.

Anner Whitehead
HIPSource@aol.com

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