Re: ROT

From: daf10@cornell.edu (Dorothy A. Fingerhood)

>From: "Donald Eaves" <donald@eastland.net>
>
>Hello,
>
>I also would like some with experience of the nasty, smelly, yellow
>rot to give a synopsis of this particular little disease.  I normally don't
>have much (Texas heat maybe?) and haven't ever had any on established
>iris clumps, but have had about ten on this years purchases.  I've followed
>suggestions for treatment per this forum and searched the archives.  Still
>would find a capsule recap for prevention, treatment and causes useful.

Hi, Donald--this is my understanding of bacterial soft rot, which is a
constant threat in my garden.  

It doesn't take much to get it started!  Certainly it is more prevalent when
the weather has been wet and/or humid.  I hear that it takes some kind of
wound for the ubiquitous bacteria to enter the plant and start the
decomposition, but it can certainly be a suble "wound," maybe only a bug
bite, or small hole made by weed-eater driven debris, for instance.  Anyway,
once started, the damage moves amazingly fast.  A healthy clump can turn to
90% mush in just a few days.

I combat it by keeping my irises as clean as possible to promote air
circulation, and regular PATROL of the patch to detect problems ASAP.
When the rot is seen (and smelled!), I clean away all the affected parts.
Pull away soft leaves and go after the rotten part of the rhizome, too.  I
find a teaspoon makes a good tool to scrape ALL the rotten rhizome away,
back to firm whitish rhizome, which will not scrape much.  I can almost
always do this in site.  If one is really, really bad, and you want to save
it--dig whats left and clean it off as described.  

Now, disinfect with bleach or a kitchen/bath cleanser powder, such as COMET
or AJAX.  I prefer the powder, since the bleach in it not only disinfects,
but the powder acts as a drying agent also.  Most folks dilute the bleach 1
pt. bleach to 9 parts water or something similar.  Truthfully, I use it
straight, and have never had a problem.  I have used it as a drench for a
really bad case.  It IS critical, however, to get rid of all the infected
material first.

Now hope for dry weather, at least for a couple of days.  If you had to dig
the rhizome to save it, replant in a different spot.

This bleach treatment has been nearly 100% effective for me.

I will leave other (chemical prevention ?) tips to others, as I don't have
experience with it.

Happy scraping!    :-)

Dorothy Fingerhood
(Newfield, NY)


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