Best time to mail irises?

If I don't care about the blooming, can I dig iris now and mail them? Dig up, rinse off dirt, dip in bleach water? cut back fans, use shredded newspaper for bedding and mail? Does this sound right?

You can dig and mail them now. I have written a FAQ with directions on my website at:

http://www.angelfire.com/mn3/shadowood/irisfaq.html

The most important part of preparing bearded irises for shipping is making sure they are completely and totally dry. If they retain moisture between the leaves of the fans, they can rot in transit. I have a section of chicken wire stapled up between two low trusses in my garage overhang. After I do a bleach water soak with the irises, I hang them upside down in the chicken wire and let them dry for a day or two. By hanging them upside down, any moisture held within the fans drains out. Gravity is a wonderful thing!

Laurie

Laurief, I've bookmarked your site for future reference. You've helped me immensly. This year I had huge beautiful iris. I need to spray again, but I have systemic on the ground and look forward to iris blooms for years to come, instead of narowly saving them to build themselves back up again. I love iris, and now will have a lot of iris! Thanks!!!

I've never had a problem mailing irises. I just dig, divide, wash, wipe with a paper towel and send them off. Maybe I've just gotten lucky......

You have just gotten lucky, mgh, or maybe the folks you've sent them to have been too polite to tell you they rotted in transit.

Back about 11 yrs ago when I was just becoming seriously interested in iris gardening, I dug a bunch of the old neglecta TBs (the only irises I had at the time) out of the quackgrass around my house and mailed them off in trades with internet gardeners. I didn't have a clue what I was doing and essentially did the same thing you just described. One of my traders got back to me and told me the box arrived with a big, rotting, stinking mess inside and asked me how I had prepared them for shipping. I told her, and she educated me about everything I had done wrong. I felt awful and incredibly guilty because the irises she had sent me were perfect. I decided right then that I would NEVER send out any bearded iris that wasn't perfectly dry again.

Unfortunately, I didn't quite understand what "dry" meant in iris terms, and another trader a few years later told me the irises I sent her were slimey but salvageable. I had left the irises lying flat on my back porch for several days to dry, and they looked and felt perfectly dry when I packaged them up. It wasn't until another online friend told me that irises tend to hold moisture between their leaves (duh) and recommended drying them upside down that I understood what I'd done wrong ... again.

I've been on the receiving end of slimed rzs, as well. Years ago I received an order of 30+ rzs from Cooley's that were covered with mold and slime upon arrival. All but 3 were dead by the next spring. Cooley's replaced them, but they couldn't give me back the year I wasted trying to salvage them.

So now I've been drying my irises upside down for a number of years, and I've never had another complaint from a trader or customer. I'm sure that damp bearded irises don't necessarily rot in transit under all conditions, but why take the chance? I'd rather go to a little extra time and effort to make sure the irises arrive in good shape.

Laurie

Well, since I've seen pics of the blooms, I don't think they were just being polite and not telling me they rotted. ;o)

I know of many big sellers that don't dry them hanging upside down.....I'm not saying that isn't a good way to do it. I just haven't had any bad experiences with the way I've done it.

The miracle of priority mail is probably the best thing to happen to plant traders. :-)

I had read laurie's advice before I ever mailed any iris, so I dry them in the garage upside down. I don't like to take any chances and iris rot is an ugly thing. Anyway mine are really wet after I soak them in bleach water, and rinse them.

Sandy

Mine had been rightside up, now are happily hanging upside down.

Laurie,
You sound like just the person to answer an iris question I have. Mine are all through blooming (have been for a month now) and we are solid 90 and above temps. I am in zone 8. My iris leave are starting to turn brown at the tips but I wouldn't say they are too brown. Is it alright to go ahead and cut them back now? I would probably divide some while I am at it.
Terrie

Terrie,

I don't recommend ever cutting back healthy, green iris leaves. The plants need their leaves to continue to feed themselves for next year's bloom. The only time I advocate cutting back leaves is if they are dead, dying, or diseased. When transplanting, I will trim leaves back just enough to allow the plant to remain upright without being top heavy.

If all you have are some brown tips, you could snip off the tips for the sake of aesthetics, but I wouldn't trim them severely.

Laurie

Thanks, Laurie!

Sent 5 boxes out today - at a horrendous postage I might say.

These were dug 10 days ago, soaked in chlorox for one hour, rinsed and dried for 9 days.

Packed today and mailed. I wrap each one in newspaper with names on the V shaped fans with a black marker. I ship in boxes with holes in them so iris are not shut up in an oven if anything goes wrong.

This of course does not apply to LAs, or Sibs. These are sent totally differently.

I only mail on Mondays. I use bus sometimes if it isn't too far away.
inanda