CULT: moss and rot was CULT: Ultra Dawn and Moss
- Subject: CULT: moss and rot was CULT: Ultra Dawn and Moss
- From: E* G*
- Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 20:04:28 -0000
--- In iris-talk@y..., Bill Shear <wshear@h...> wrote in part about
adding lime, among others, to lessen moss in iris beds:
>>>>The lime is good for the irises, too. There's less rot in that bed
now. I see a definite connection between low pH and more rot.
and
>>>>Also, certain micronutrients are much more available if your soil
is around a neutral or slightly alkaline pH.
Before I read those two points in his longer post, I had thought, "So
I have always had moss in my mixed beds and frankly, what is the big
deal since there is good bloom and the plants seem healthy and
thriving, etc."....now I have to rethink my gardening practice of
simply (gads) turning over the moss in my beds as some kind of 'feed'
for my garden. If the moss is too unsightly, I try to lift the moss
out and put it in my compost pile or if I see it going so far as
trying to reseed.
I do have a lower pH but little rot in my flowers, irises and others.
There is some surface rot (my term - no odor,etc.) but no large-scale
rot. It also _looks like_ moss has little or nothing to do with rot
around the irises in the beds but I do pay close attention to anything
Bill Shear says....and will watch more closely next year.
Moss is endemic here and only a few of the mixed borders are without
it or have infinitessimal amounts. We have upwards of over 20 mixed
borders (mostly on the large size) all containing irises of various
classes doing nicely together with various other plants. The Japanese
irises have their own section - in a woman-made gully below the raised
beds.
*Hey, Walter - plics are the ones usually prone to start rotting first
here. Especially ones from the plicata man himself but some do just
great and I am now of the opinion that it is cultivar specific....but
everyone knew that except me, looks like.
Ellen Gallagher / Northern White Mts. / New Hampshire, US / Zone 3a
(where summer has returned in the 80s up
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