Re: CULT: Soft Rot
I read the recurring comments on soft rot and California
bred/grown rhizomes each year, and wonder what I am
missing.
I live in zone 5, in southwest Ohio. We get extremely
cold winters with (usually) little snow cover. Summers are
either extremely dry as in the the two summers previous
to this one, or like the summer just passed, where it rained
approximately 50% of the time. Summer is almost always
swelteringly humid, and sometimes hot, with temps in the
90s and dewpoints in the high 60 degree range.
We buy a LOT of rhizomes, both old and brand new.
Planting begins in early July and goes all the way to the end
of September for bearded irises. Most of what we get are TB.
We grow over 2000 varieties, and rot is rarely a problem.
Most rot that we get is either in spring from late freeze damage,
or because borers have attacked the rhizomes.
We order rhizomes from many sources, the bulk of them in
Oregon and California. Oregon rhizomes have always done
well with last winter being an exception. We seemed to have
a lot of botrytis last spring on OR rhizomes. California rhizomes have done
as well if not better than those from Oregon. We rarely go more than
two weeks after reciept of a shipment in planting. The last time
bothered to count, we lose less than 2% of out new plants to
all hazards. I am certainly glad that we do not experience the
"California jinx" that a lot of folks seem to. New vs. old makes no
difference for us.
We do not baby our rhizomes, if we do water it is once when they
are first planted. Usually we do not even do that. We do not have
rich loamy soil, and we fertilize lightly only when we dig a bed.
Maybe neglect helps? Again, I do not say we are rot or disease free.
We just do not experience it to a level where we can point to "new" or
"West Coast". Maybe we lack the constant heat that our southern members
have?
We buy from (the most notable sources are) Schreiner's, Keppel,
Superstition, Sutton,
Maryott, Lauer, and Cooley's. Nice rhizomes, typically problem free.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Bruce jbruce@infinet.com
SW Ohio, USDA Zone 5b, Sunset #35
USA--Mid-Midwest
AIS Region 6, SSI,HIPS,TBIS, SIGNA
President, Miami Valley Iris Society
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
Restaurants & Movies, Local Weather and Traffic & More!
Access Tellme from any phone. For more info visit:
http://click.egroups.com/1/9534/0/_/486170/_/970187746/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
