Irises: Iris rot - severe, what to do ?, 0 by irisboerer

irisboerer wrote:
I went through this problem last year. Cut off rotting fans to prevent the invitation of iris borers. Take a pencil or whatever you have with you in the garden to poke holes in the dirt surrounding the rhizomes. That will hasten the drying process. A lot of times as long as the rot is not too severe, the rhizome will regenerate it's self with fresh fans and no bloom. The stink is truly the death song and the bleach, 1C of bleach in 1 gal of water is the only cure. Cut the rotten part away, dip the hard part of the rhizome in the bleach water and let sun dry. I dug out quite a bit of the surrounding soil and replaced it, as well. I am happy to report that the fix seems to be successful, had great fan growth and good rhizome growth. I expect bloom next year.