Will This Work?

I've not divided any of my irises yet. I figure this one will need it in the coming years, but so far it is still putting on a bigger and better show each year, so I'd rather hold off on the dividing for now.

I promised a piece of it to a neighbor, however. I was wondering if I could separate a single rhizome for her by just pushing a shovel or 'fork' into the ground between the main body of the plant and a section that is a few inches away. I was hoping I could just use a shovel or fork to separate that side piece from the rest and then just dig that piece up for her without disturbing the rest of the plant. Has anyone tried that? Will it work? Any warnings?

I should add that daytime temps here are still in the 70's and low 80's with nighttime lows in the 60's, so I'd like to do this now. Thanks for your help.

Sure go ahead

D

Hi D,

Thanks very much for the response. Have you ever tried this?

Just to be sure I've explained it right, I want to separate one section (one rhizome) away from the side of the plant and dig that one rhizome up w/o digging up the entire plant.

Do need to treat the cut edge of the parent with comet or bleach or anything like that to keep it from getting disease? Maybe I should go and read the sticky. : )

Thanks again!

I've tried it and it works that's the way I take one off for someone else only because I'm afraid to dig the whole patch up lol I really need to move all of mine and just so worried that I might harm them but I've taken them apart that way and it doesn't hurt them go ahead you'll be alright :)

Thanks, LeBug!

Edited to add that I'm afraid to dig mine up and divide them, too, especially as long as they are still growing and blooming well as this one is doing. Luckily, I only have a few that are getting big enough that they will probably need to be divided soon. I know I will have to bite the bulletin eventually and just go ahead and dig & divide them for the health of the plants.

As for moving them. I moved a few small ones a couple years ago when I decided I didn't like where they were located. All of them did well when moved.

Thanks again for the info.

This message was edited Oct 20, 2010 1:15 PM

As irises bloom from the increase the following yr it is no problem to divide them. When it really needs to be done, you separate the different fans anyway.

Don't worry about harming your iris by cutting out a rhizome. Some of the professionals recommend using a sharp shovel to cut out the old mother rz's in the center of a large clump. I would leave the cut exposed to the sunlight and open air for a few days before covering it with soil. Cleaning powder such as Comet will help dry and sterilize the cut.

Last year, I wanted to clear a couple small areas of irises but the ground was too hard to think about digging. I used my very sharp shovel to shear the rz's off at the ground level, hacked and chopped at the remaining tissue and covered it all with about 3 inches of fine mulch. The pieces sprouted up through the mulch and I chopped them into bits again. After repeating the same chopping process a couple of times this spring, I gave up and salvaged a couple of the baby rz's and replanted them. They are doing well and I may have salvaged a couple 'Gnus Flash'. The point to be made is irises are very tough and about the only way to damage them is to plant them more than an inch deep in heavy, wet soil, and keep them soaked with water and covered with wet material until they rot. Cutting away some of the rz's will only invigorate them. Of course, planting them too closely together will invite diseases and rot. I consider 3 feet in full sun to be the optimal spacing for leaving them 3 years.

Thanks, Oldgardenrose!

Thanks for that very helpful and insightful information. Sounds like I need to move some of mine farther apart. I am always very careful to plant them 'above' the soil level leaving the backs exposed and to keep them out of soggy soil and standing water, but I have planted mine closer than the recommended spacing. I thought it was ok to put them closer for more initial fullness as long as I was prepared to move them once they grew enough to crowd each other. Many of mine are more like 1ft apart.

Now that you mention it, the one in the picture, the one that has grown bigger and more lush than most just happens to be off by itself away from all the others. It has lots of space and has grown faster and bigger than most of the others. Coincidence? Or is it happy to have so much breathing room?

Anyhow, thanks for the info. It is indeed interesting to know that you hacked yours up that way and it only reacted by growing more. That helps me to feel less worried about chopping a piece off of mine. Oh, and I will leave the cut end exposed for a while and put some Comet on it. Thanks!

So, how about the rhizome I'm cutting off for the lady next door. I guess I should probably cut the leaves off short and let it dry (powdered with Comet on the cut end) for a few days before potting it up to take to her. Right? I'm planning to pot it up for 2 reasons: (1) so she will know how deep to plant it and (2) just in case she forgets to plant it before spring it will still survive in the pot. (It doesn't get very cold here. We have a handful of nights that get down to about 28F, and it usually heads back up to the 60's/70's by the next day. I've planted [badly shriveled] rhizomes in February before and had them not only survive but even bloom.)

There are different schools of thought about replanting irises. One is wash them in a 10% bleach solution, let them dry and replant them the same day. That will give you a more rapid recovery and new growth. Another way is bleach them and let them dry for several days which can help to put up more new increases or starts. I have had the best results with the quickie replant which does not allow the roots to dry out and keeps the leaves green to help jump start them. The fans are usually trimmed in an inverted 'V' shape about 6 to 8 inches high to prevent the wind from blowing them over and reduce the water loss until the roots are established. I prefer to mix a couple spoonsfull of Miracle Grow water soluble 'Bloom Booster' fertilizer in the bottom third of the potting soil, down to where the present root system cannot touch it, and plant the rhizome half exposed to the sun and air. Soak it with water at planting time and leave it in a warm, sunny place. Assuming the pot has holes in the bottom for drainage, only add water sparingly or just enough to keep the soil from drying deeply in the pot. I potted some irises a couple of years ago and kept them in my unheated garage until early spring began with warm, sunny weather and bring them back in when it was expected to freeze. I had blooming irises in the pots fully a month before they bloomed in the garden.

The story of drying the rhizomes for several days was taken from an iris grower's book and has not been verified by me one way or the other. I have done both and the only difference found was the same day transplant resulted in faster growth.

Remember the rhizome is a food storage stem.

I divide mine every year, partly because I over crowd and partly because they grow like weeds in AZ. In fact, when they get crowded your doing them a favor by dividing them. When they rhizomes begin to crawl over each other to find soil, they need to be divided. I wrote an article on dividing irises for the Tucson Area Iris Society newsletter. You can find it at this url. http://www.tucsoniris.org/newsletter/TAIS%20SEPTEMBER%202008%20Newsletter.pdf

Can someone tell me if the iris divided this late in the season will bloom next year. With the nice weather, I've been dividing and transplanting some. I would like to do more but don't want to sacrifice next year's bloom.

Thanks to all.

Ron

It really depends on the cultivar. Some increase (those which are the new bloom sets) mature faster than others. It is fairly late to divide and you must guard against the heaving of the rhizomes with a winter freeze & thaw cycles. In New england we can put a rock on top of those rhizomes until spring; in other places use a brick.

Thanks irisMA

DreamofSpring -- I'd like to know the name of that beautiful pink Iris!! ????

Muddymitts,

Thank you. The iris is My Pretty Valentine. Although I've never seen it listed as a rebloomer, last year it did rebloom around this time of year. No sign of fall buds this year though.

It's a very simple and inexpensive iris and one that you wouldn't really expect to be so pretty, but it really has surprised me. The contrast of light to medium pink with the bright orange pink beards is unexpectedly striking, and I have found the plant to be exceedingly prolific.

A big Thank You to everyone who posted. Thanks for all the great information!

Here is a closer look at that iris.

Dream that is a stunning pink......lucky you....

Beautiful!

I planted a couple of pinks this year -- just planted Cherub's Smile this evening!! Hope mine turn out as pretty as yours!! :-D

Thank you, makj!

Thank you, Muddymitts!


This one is at my front door. I had decided to move the irises from the front walkway, but while I moved the others (a few yrs back) I was afraid to disturb this one. Then it started getting so many compliments from people walking by that I guess I will have to leave it.

That is such a soft sweet pink I would leave it by the entry and just make sure it is divided when needed to keep blooming and feed well with the appropriate fertilizer.
It would make a wonderful welcome for guests and the mailman.

Here is a link I came across on how to divide irises. It is excellent since it is all photos. Was writte by a Daves member.

http://www.tucsoniris.org/newsletter/TAIS%20SEPTEMBER%202008%20Newsletter.pdf

Thank you very much, blomma!

DreamOfSpring,
You are welcome. You can use a sharp knife and feel around where a mature rhizome is attached, then at that point cut to separate it from where it is attached. That is if you only want one rhizome.

To divide, you can also cut and remove half of the clump by the same method, rather than digging up the whole clump.