Re: losing rhizomes
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: losing rhizomes
- From: "* A* M* <w*@Ra.MsState.Edu>
- Date: Thu, 25 Sep 1997 17:58:31 -0600 (MDT)
On Thu, 25 Sep 1997, J. Michael, Celia or Ben Storey wrote:
>
> Walta, I'm puzzled that you suggested using peat moss and alfalfa pellets.
> Were you thinking that they'd absorb some of that standing water and swell
> up, lifting the rhizomes higher? That seems to assume she won't be getting
> any more rain.
> Peat and alfalfa wouldn't be a good planting base in my Arkansas garden.
> Does it work in yours? You have that heavy gumbo-mud clay to contend with,
> right? Maybe we've nudged into another of those Curious Regional
> Differences (CRD) that cause some list members to espouse cultural
> practices folks from other areas don't understand.
>
>
> celia
> storey@aristotle.net
> Little Rock ... hub of the known universe
>
I described the 'peat procedure' in a previous post. I had used
peat quite a bit in TX and produced gigantic rhizomes. The average
annual rainfall in the D/FW area was 33". When, I moved to MS, where we
can have up to 60" of rainfall, I did not use peat because of the ideas
you presented above. I was not thrilled with the small rhizomes I was
producing for sale, so after a few years of growing tiny rhizomes, I
started using peat again, and in Starkville, my garden was in a low spot.
I decided to try some peat in a test plot. Voila! Large rhizomes I was
accustomed to growing in TX began to appear in MS. There was no
increase with rot in that area; therefore, I began to incorporate peat
into every bed I planted.
One will hear all these stories about not using peat with bearded
irises but until one has tried it personally, one will never know the
advantages.
Walter Moores
Enid Lake, MS 7/8
