Reminder for Fall clean-up

Hi Everyone~

Just a reminder to do your fall clean-up. For me, this means cleaning up any dead or dying fans on my rhizomes and checking for rot or soft spots.

Fall clean-up is good for several reasons. It can help with leaf spot throughout the year. (Leaf spot is a fungus that lives in the soil and is splashed up on the leaves when it rains.) It can winter over in debris left around your rhizomes, so clearing this is a good idea. This won't guarantee the absence of leaf spot, but IMHO...it definitely helps. Fall cleanup can also help curb borer activity. The moths that lay borer eggs do so in the debris surrounding the plant. The eggs then overwinter in the dead foliage and hatch in the Springtime. Don't forget, you shouldn't compost the debris because you can unknowingly spread pests and disease into other parts of your garden. Burning it or throwing it in the trash can is a better idea. You can also spot aphids in between loose fans and squash them before they have time to weaken your plant.

If your plantings are relatively new, it may help to put your hand on top of the rhizome before pulling diseased or dead foliage off. Sometimes the roots aren't very deep yet and you can accidentally pull your rhizome up out of the ground.

I also take the time to do a bit of weeding, especially if I notice that new blades of grass are poking up. They may not appear as much now, but believe me, they can be a headache if left unchecked...weaving roots around your irises, making it next to impossible to pull it out next Spring without pulling your plants out along with it.

Anyway, I'm probably preaching to the choir, but I thought a reminder was worth the time.

Happy irising~

laura

thats what I am doing today, you want to come and help with the thousands:) anytime:)

D

I just finished with my 450! LOL!

Laura

That's not fair...whaaaaaa, I still have about 60 more rows to go! OUCH

D

Thanks Laura, I've done all of that! I'm still digging up and dividing and am finding some soft rot, but I'm taking care of that. If I don't say so myself, my garden looks darned good!

That's the other benefit I forgot to mention~it does make the garden look a lot nicer! :0]

Dee~

A LOT of bending and stooping, huh?

Good timing! I just sprayed my iris for leaf spot - with a stickative of course. I don't have too much trouble with weeds as I use preemergent. I've pretty much got it down to a science except I'm having trouble getting them watered right. I've turned all the sprinklers off because of all that good dirt I put them in rotting them and I have to water once a week by hand. And it has to be a good long watering too or it doesn't work. I'm working on getting this fixed. We won't be getting much rain until December.

Well if the weather man is correct we have a 60% chance of rain tomorrow. Did get all the spraying done in the field took 7 hours total...and did clean up on 4 rows...doesn't sound like much to me...oh well it will get done.

The catalogue is almost done...then the hard work of the webpage OUCH...that takes sooooooooooooooo long to do.

D

D - you are an incredible energy machine. 4 rows sounds like a lot to me. Needless to say, my spraying didn't take 7 hours. Thank goodness.

How often do you guys spray? I haven't ever sprayed for leaf spot before...but I'm going to start this season. Last season was the worst I've ever seen! :0(

I spray every two weeks in the spring alternating fungicides until things slow down. Then whenever I notice it's needed. I do try to keep the damaged leaves off but it's a lot of low work. I only have about 300 cultivars so it's not too bad. The other thing is to stay out of the iris bed if it's wet. Leaf Spot can be carried by your clothes if the leaves are wet.

I thought you guys were talking about spraying now (in the Fall)? Was I mistaken?

I'm spraying now because I can see it happening. It goes pretty fast if you don't catch it early. It doesn't kill the plants but it sure looks ugly, doesn't it?

I spray for numberous things, today round up on the rows only no drift today at all, sprayed the daylilies potted and garden for rust which I will continue to do until freeze, then as I clean every four rows I spray for leaf spot until frost again.

I do not want the mess I have had last year because of all the late rains

D

Hi, everybody,

I am finding all of your iris clean-up chat very interesting. So, if you don't mind, I have a question for you experts please---

I only have about 30 kinds of iris planted throughout the mixed borders around my house and the guy who helps me in the yard went around and mulched the borders with mushroom compost and pine mulch last week, I think he got awfully close and up to the iris leaves with the pine bark (even though I told him NOT TO!). So...how far do I have to pull the mulch/bark away from the iris plant? A few inches, or a foot away? More?

And I am fearful of iris borers and slugs eating the iris up--so should I be spraying now, even if we have had rain and frost all week? Or do you think pulling the mulch/bark away is good enough?

I have been trying to stay away from excess spraying and herbicides, but, there are times when I think they are necessary...

Thanks for everything. t.

p.s. I loved looking at all of your pretty iris pics last spring. So I hope I will have a few to add to the photo collection in June!

Do you pull up your rhizomes every year to check for rot or soft spots, or are you just talking about checking the part of the rhizome that you can see on/near the surface?

I have a bunch of new iris whose fans were trimmed back when they were dug up... do these leaves need to be trimmed back further (like down to the rhizome) when they die off?

Thanks for all the tips -- I want to do right by my new beauties!

I don't pull up my rhizomes every year. I just check the exposed part of the rhizome and around the base of the leaf fan for any signs of rot.

There's no need to trim back your leaf fans any further than they are now. Healthy leaves supply energy for the rhizome next year. Just pull off any dead or diseased leaves and burn them or throw them away in the trash. If your plants are just settling in, put your hand on top of the rhizomes before you pull at the dead leaves, or you might dislodge your plant and disturb the new root system.

Hope this helps!

Just got a ton of TB, Siberians, JI, species, and daylilies from another grower friend that is moving, he is also a hybridizer and am cleaning them for potting out of 40 bags down to 2 to finish off.

Got the TB in the ground except the ones I needed to treat for rot and they are drying and will still plant those as they are his seedlings. Will pot 2 each so in case the weather does not allow them to set roots, which sometimes they will now and sometimes they will not.

So far on cleanup no rot! hippy now if we do not get a ton of rain at the wrong time everything should be super!

D

Denise, Do you think that iris are more susceptible to rot before they are rooted?

Sometimes they are...what I do anymore with as many as I plant I bury them at first by the time I finish the field I go back and make sure the rhizomes are exposed and have had less trouble with rot than before I started this. Sometimes do not get it all uncovered before the weather knocks me out of the garden but come spring I recheck and they do find, they will not bloom if I leave them that way but will multiply twice as much

Hopes this helps with the answer Doss.

Thanks, dee. I had rot for the first time ever and it was hard to deal with. But I uncovered the rhizomes too. We'll see what blooms but I couldn't afford to lose any more.

Sooo....everybody, do I cut off the green leaves off the bearded iris before winter? Or do I leave them?

And do I spray or drench the iris rhizomes or leaves with fungicide or insecticide now as part of the fall clean-up? (We are in zone 6a and have had our first frost but the leaves are still green).

I pushed all the mulch and extra soil away from the iris rhizomes and took away brown leaves already.

I read somewhere to give them a feed of super phosphate in mid october. Is it too late for this?

So now what's next? :-)

I want them to be really beautiful next May!

Thanks a lot. t.

Does this count as a fall cleanup? Ive kept this poor baby in a pot all summer and decided I better get it in the ground.
Poor Negra Modelo

drav--what is that? one iris with so many roots? wow! I like the iris's name (and the beer, too.)

I don't suppose anybody wants to advise me on what to do with my irises, do they?!

I have been going around today cutting them back to about 6 inches or so...even the siberians. I hope I'm not killing them. lol

LOL, theres around ten or so in there, but most of them are new babies starting off the riozomes.

I dont cut mine down till they die out. Do I want to cut them down? Yes, but from what I understand is they get alot of thier winter essentials from the leaves as they die down. Just dont cut any more off and they should be just fine.

Oh, dear! )-:

Now, that I have your attention, though, drav, do I spray them with fungicide and insecticide now?!

Thanks. t.

Now thats a question Im not sure of, sorry, Ive never sprayed mine with anything altho sometimes I think I should. I just dug up an unknown to split and part of it was rotting away even tho it still had green leaves on it. I just threw out the rotting piece and planted something else in that spot besides iris. I would think that the coming frosts would take care of any fungus and bugs now and if I were to do that I would wait till spring when they all start going bonkers on us. Otherwise just keep the area cleaned up and do not mulch unless you feel you really need to but make sure you uncover them as the weather starts to turn to spring.

I had let the falling leaves cover them. Is this a good idea or should I expose them?

I would say you should let them be exposed. Once the leaves start to rot, you may have a problem.

I don't cut my TB irises back unless I'm digging them up. I was told that you only cut the leaves back when digging up. Take off the dead and dying leaves but leave the green healthy leaves. You might be hurting next years blooms. I do cut the siberians way down though, doesn't hurt them.

Oh, I guess she could have meant it that way weegy. I thought she meant that she had let leaves that fell from a tree cover the rhizomes.

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought she meant she was cutting the leaves back. I'll re read it!

Hi, weegy and flowerfrenzy--Are you talking about me?

I did cut my leaves back. Now I wonder about it.... I think Boojum cuts her leaves back so I cut mine back! (I dunno... that's why I asked what to do...)

Maybe in our climate with all the mucky rain and rot, it's better just to get rid of them to stave off trouble....

My newly planted (in August) Siberians are all brown. I wonder if that is normal. My other siberians are green... )-: Oh, dear.

Yep, we're talking about you! I don't know about your climate and cutting back leaves, check out the iris sites and see if anyone has specifics for you. Sorry couldn't be of more help.
Doss will know!!! YOO HOO Doss...can you help this poor gardener!!!?!?!?

Hi, I was talking about the leaves from the trees. I sort of just pushed them on top of the cutback Iris, kinda thinking it would be like a mulch. Guess I had better go bag those leaves.

Yep, they don't need any mulch! I'd help if I could!

I'm a zone 9 gardener Weegy - and don't know much about it. Some of my iris die to the ground by themselves and then come back. The rest I only cut off diseased leaves but it doesn't freeze here. I fight with leaf spot regularly.

So I'm afraid that I'm not too much help. You might send a note to Wandasflowers or flowerfrenzy. I'm sure they have some ideas.

I usually leave all of my healthy foliage alone during the summer and beginning of fall, unless I've been transplanting. If I transplant an iris, I cut all of the foliage back to about 6 inches above the rhizome. Transplanting is done in the summer (for bearded irises, anyway), so the rhizomes have usually sprouted new, healthy foliage by fall. I leave that alone.

As the end of fall comes around, I pull all of the dead/dying or diseased foliage from the plant and either burn it or throw it away in the regular garbage can. (I don't compost my iris leaves because it spreads disease around my garden.) I leave the healthy foliage alone as it provides energy for the plant next year.

My father-in-law cuts his foliage back to about 6 inches every year, healthy or not. However, he does it towards the end of fall/beginning of winter. His irises always come back fine the next year. So, in other words, I do it one way and he does it another. I think the key is probably to leave the healthy foliage through summer and fall if you can help it.

P.S.

Irises are very hardy, so even if you did cut the foliage back too soon, I doubt that you hurt them much! :0]

I think in this article from the Nebraska extension is where I confirmed Boojum's cutting back process--

Nebraska probably has a similar climate to Ohio--lots of freeze/thaw cycles, so they recommend cutting back around the time of first frost and they even recommend winter mulching, which surprises me!

It's in this article under "Winter care" toward the bottom:

http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/horticulture/g833.htm

I think in mild climates you can leave them alone. I always did when we lived in LA and SF, too.

Hey, FF thanks for sharing that. That's what I do too.