Re: Preparing beardless irises for shipping
- Subject: Re: [sibrob] Preparing beardless irises for shipping
- From: H* P*
- Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2001 21:40:15 -0700
I have not shipped any beardless commercially but I have prepared beardless
varieties for the Region 14 fall beardless sale. The basic process I call
diapering. A pan large enough for a paper towel is filled to about an inch
with cool water. One or two paper towels are passed through the pan to get
the towel 100% wet. Any excess water is allow to drain back into the pan for
a couple of seconds. The wet towel is then wrapped around all of the roots
and the rhizome. If the roots are too massive they are trimmed to about 3 to
4 inches. Any excess paper toweling is wrapped around the root ball
especially toward the intersection of the rhizome with the leaves. The
rhizome and wet towel is then put into a plastic baggie that is the next
size larger than the size of the rhizome. Twist tie wire is cut to the
appropriate length, the baggie is wrapped tight to the leaves and the twist
tie is used to secure the plastic baggie tight to the leaves just above the
rhizome. Newspaper can be used for the paper towel but paper towels are
nicer if big enough. Spurias, Siberians, Louisianas, Japanese and PCIs have
all been done this way.
Once spurias break dormancy, it is best to pot them if they don't have to be
shipped. Siberians can be held in cool water for awhile but are better
potted if there is a long time between getting the bare root rhizomes and
the customer taking possession (if possible). LAs, Japanese and PCI rhizomes
can be held for long periods of time in cool water. With PCIs, the water
should be replaced twice a week. I don't think that is necessary for the LAs
or JIs.
I have a bunch of LAs in buckets right now and it may be a month or more
before I get a chance to pot them. They have already been in the buckets for
a month.
Harold Peters
Beautiful View Iris Garden
2048 Hickok Road
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
harold@directcon.net www.beautiful-view-iris.com
----- Original Message -----
From: <laurief@paulbunyan.net>
To: <sibrob@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2001 1:53 PM
Subject: [sibrob] Preparing beardless irises for shipping
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'm stepping out of lurkdom to request some assistance and guidance
> from
> you knowledgeable beardless iris growers. The GardenWeb has just
> incorporated
> an iris exchange into their forum listing, and I have offered to
> write up an
> instruction sheet on how to prepare various irises for shipping.
> These
> instructions are geared toward novice gardeners who may not even know
> what sort of irises they're growing, so I'm trying to make them as
> basic yet
> complete as possible. I'm better versed in handling bearded irises,
> so I
> wonder if you folks could answer a couple questions for me.
>
> 1. I know many people routinely soak incoming beardeds (especially
> those
> coming from non-commercial sources) in a bleach solution to avoid
> transmitting pests and diseases into their gardens. Is it safe
> and/or advisable
> to do the same with beardless irises? Are there any other
> disease/pest
> preventative measures that should be taken with beardless species
> moving
> from one garden to another?
>
> 2. How long before first frost should beardless irises be planted in
> the fall to
> provide adequate pre-winter rooting-in time?
>
> I appreciate your help!
>
> Laurie
> zone 3b northern MN
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
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