Iris

[Tom]

Last summer a freind called and said he was getting rid of all his Iris to make more room for his Day lillies. Now, these were some really good Iris, and I loaded them in my truck, cleaned them up and got them ready to go back in the ground. That is when I got sick, and until now, they have been in the shade, in a wheel barrow. I've still got maybe 15 gals of live tubers, and was just wondering how to procede. I've planted two rows about 100' long, they are about 8-12" apart (about half done)

Question 1: Am I wasting my time - I love Iris, but are these gonna make it?

question 2: If they come out, what kind of food do they need and how long before they will bloom? Acording to the guy I got them from, there are a lot of nice cultivars in the bunch. I just want grow them until I can ID them and them move them.

[bgauch]

I think they will probably be fine. I had some siberian iris that I got from a friend in a pot. I kept meaning to plant them, but never got a chance. They never bloomed, and all the green died back to nothing in mid-July. Finally, I got out to my land and pulled back some leaves and peat from the edge of my bog and dropped the clump, as is, in the hole and stepped on it. When I went up in Dec., there were little green shoots poking up from the new leaves. I think most of them are pretty tough. In colder areas, most people recommend that the tuberous irises (the bearded ones) should be planted in the spring. For the bulbous kind, I would feed them the same as any other bulb. They probably don't need too much N. A 10-10-10 time release would probably do the trick. If they are the tuberous ones, I would just top dress with about .5"-1" of compost every fall. They might bloom this year, but will probably be in full force by next year.

Bill Gauch.

[Ray]

Tom,

If the irises are some with rhizomes, it is easy to tell which rhizomes are viable. The rhizomes that are viable when broken are moist on the inside, and possibly yellowish in color, with the outside being, say brown. The rhizomes that are not viable will be brown as well on the outside, but will look kind of shriveled up, wrinkly, almost resembling cat poop. When you cut them, they will be very tough, almost like leather to cut.

To get the viable ones growing, plant in moist compost or garden soil, keeping the area moist for about the first month. You should see some shoots coming up all over the rhizome in about a month. It's a toss up whether or not they'll bloom this year. However, I've had some bloom on Christmas day when they were planted the July before. Being from Central Alabama, you guys have a pretty long growing season so they will more than likely bloom at least by next year. We have irises growing wild in south Louisiana and if there is a week of 70+ degree temps they go to flowering.

good luck

ray in south louisiana

[Tom]

I was well able to distinquish the good from the bad. The viable ones all had small green sprouts on them and some were starting to put on new roots. There were only a few that I had to discard. I finished the project, with very sore legs from all that stooping. I ended up with about 300' of row with plants every 8-12" apart. I didn't do a count, but there are 350-400 plants in all. They are plantd in part of my veg. garden, so I didn't amend at all, just tilled lightly and stuck them out.