Re: Cult: Killing iris in the Cold

Laurie et al,

Where I live, on an island in the Pacific, the weather is mostly 
moderate, but the threat is wind.  But it's a biggie.  Irises must 
put down good strong roots before the winds come or they just get 
popped right out of the soil.

I think of winds as primarily a winter problem.  But this year, we 
got periodic winds all spring and summer.  I found I had to weight 
down rhizomes with rocks until they could develop their roots 
sufficiently to withstand winds.  That seems to work well.  But I too 
try to plant all newbies by the end of July.

Patricia Brooks
Whidbey Island, WA, zone 8-9 



--- In iris-talk@y..., laurief <laurief@p...> wrote:
> >It sounds like what you all are saying is that the heaving is the 
> >thing that kills an iris that is planted too late in the Fall.
> 
> In my experience, heaving is only a very small factor is killing 
late 
> planted irises, though if they are heaved entirely out of the 
ground, it 
> certainly doesn't do them much good.
> 
> >Are late planted rhizomes more suspicious to winter rot?
> 
> In my garden, definitely.  Late planted rhizomes are extremely 
> susceptible to rot, either over the winter or the following 
spring.  In 
> either event, they will most likely be dead before they have a 
chance to 
> bloom.  Even if they don't rot, their growth is so stagnated by the 
lack 
> of pre-winter root growth that they take a full year or more to 
recover 
> (assuming they live that long).
> 
> >What I'd like to find out is: is it the heaving, winter rot, or 
just 
> >plain freezing a freshly planted vulnerable rhizome what would 
cause 
> >it to die??
> 
> I don't know, and in my case there were a number of other 
contributing 
> factors as well.  The year I had a huge percentage of losses was 
also the 
> year I planted my TBs very late in the season in raised but 
inadequately 
> amended clay beds (amended with horse manure right up against the 
> rhizomes, no less).  There were all sorts of reasons for those 
rhizomes 
> to rot, but I do believe late planting was the primary factor.  
That fall 
> I planted (in the same bed) about 60 TBs from MI at the end of 
August, 
> about 15 from southern MN in mid-Sept, and about 15 more from OK in 
> mid-late Oct.  The bed was in a protected area, and I mulched it 
with 
> spruce boughs topped with straw which I removed in early spring 
before 
> active growth began.  The next spring, 20-30% of the MI plants 
rotted and 
> died, approximately 50% of the MN plants did the same, and 80-90% 
of the 
> OK rzs followed suit.  Only one or two of those rhizomes actually 
heaved 
> out of the ground.  The others just rotted and died in place.  It 
was a 
> hard-learned lesson, but I no longer plant irises up here later 
than 
> mid-August (preferably getting everything into the ground no later 
than 
> the end of July).  With such early planting, I no longer suffer any 
> significant losses to winter/spring rot.
> 
> >If one is faced with this dilemma, and had to plant something in 
the 
> >late fall, what would give it the best chance of survival??
> 
> In my climate (or at least in my garden), late planting is a near-
certain 
> death sentence.  
> 
> Best of luck,
> 
> Laurie
> 
> 
> 
> -----------------
> laurief@p...
> http://www.geocities.com/lfandjg/
> zone 3b northern MN - clay soil


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