Re: OT-Bio
- To:
- Subject: Re: [iris-talk] OT-Bio
- From: A* K*
- Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2000 09:55:46 -0500
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Laetitia: Regarding mulch, all of what others have already written is true, i. e., Siberians like the mulch and bearded do not. However, as with most rules there are exceptions. Here in my area (zone 4) I find that the rhizomes I planted this summer will come through the winter better if I mulch with a loose covering. They do not frost heave nor do they rot because they are exposed to the cycle of freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw. I use corn stalks to cover the rhizomes, which keeps the winter sun from thawing the rhizomes during the day only to have them freeze at night. They stay frozen, the ground stays frozen, and thus no heaving either. Of course, some leaves and other debris blow in, but that's o.k., as the corn stalks keep things from packing around the rhizomes. I put these on before snow flies, and I hope that can come after the ground freezes, but sometimes it doesn't. Of course, if I could depend on a thick, stay-all-winter layer of white mulch (read, "snow") I would not need the other stuff. In recent years we have not had that kind of winter, and without my mulch I lost rhizomes. Now if I lose any it is because I did not make sure I had a sufficient layer of stalks. In the spring when the danger of really hard frost is past, when I can see green growth from the iris, I get that mulch off. Maybe in your zone it won't be necessary, but here this is what works for me.
Arnold
P.S. Welcome to the iris-talk list. Interesting and informative, isn't it? Pretty soon you get to feeling you know these people, even though you have never met them.
Arnold
Arnold & Carol Koekkoek
38 7th Street, NE
Sioux Center, IA 51250
e-mail koekkoek@mtcnet.net
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