Re: SIB: Sickly Seedlings
- To: <i*@onelist.com>
- Subject: Re: SIB: Sickly Seedlings
- From: "* <w*@watervalley.net>
- Date: Sun, 25 Oct 1998 07:08:45 -0600
From: "wmoores" <wmoores@watervalley.net>
>From: "Jeff and Carolyn Walters" <cwalters@digitalpla.net>
>
>Hi Everyone!
>
>I made my first ever Siberian iris crosses in the spring of '97. The pods
>proved very fertile and I got lots of seed, which I sowed in plastic pots
>filled with commercial potting soil about this time last year and buried
>the pots up to the rim outside in loose soil. Germination this spring was
>very good - between 60 and 90% - much better than on my bearded iris
>crosses. The seedlings grew well in the pots, but when I transplanted them
>into the garden, which has soil of approximately neutral pH (7.0), nearly
>all the seedlings soon developed signs of iron chlorosis (yellowing of the
>leaves). This chlorosis has been so severe, particularly on the diploid
>seedlings - although it has also affected the tetraploid seedlings to a
>lesser degree - that many of these seedlings would have died if I had not
>been treating them with iron chelates.I was somewhat surprised that this
>reaction to growing conditions here occurred in these sedlings, as in the
>Siberians I am growing that I acquired as divisions from mature plants I
>have never observed any signs of chlorosis in the Tets and only some mild
>chlorotic yellowing of the foliage in a few of the diploid cultivars.
>
The transplantation of Siberian seedlings has been difficult for me,
too. Instead of lining out the little fellows individually and inviting
chlorosis and crib death, I have found the survival rate to be better if I
plant the seedlings in clusters and after they mature and bloom, separate
them into individual plants. The clumps have easily broken into divisions
so you know what is what when you transplant. I tried lots of stuff for the
chlorosis and finally settled on a dose of a lawn food that was high in
nitrogen when iron chelate failed. The leaves greened up overnight almost.
Walter Moores
Enid Lake, MS 7/8
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