Potted irises... plant now, or wait until spring?

I have a bunch of irises and daylilies in pots right now because I was on activity restriction last month and couldn't dig. Now I can dig away and am trying to catch up. I'm pretty sure I can put the daylilies in any time up until the ground freezes... they might heave a little but should be fine. I'm less sure about the irises.

I know it's too late to plant bare rhizomes -- I put some in just a little earlier than this last year, and they survived, but they heaved around a lot and I kept stomping them back in or putting rocks on them... And I know I could keep them in their pots and put them up against the house this winter. But since spring is such a busy time in the garden, if I can plant them now, that would be a good thing. It does look like they've got some good roots going in the pots, since all have put up new shoots. We've already had our first frost (early!), but the ground probably won't freeze for another 6 weeks at least.

What do you think -- plant out or keep in pots?

Thanks!

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/658261/
we got you covered ,
read lastpost fron die hard planters

I did read through that thread, but couldn't find a recommendation re. irises that had already established themselves in pots.

But upon re-reading, I did find the following from Pajaritomt, "I recommend planting your iris in 1 gallon pots and watering them from time to time. Then planting them, whatever time of the year it may be." I guess fall is a "whatever time of the year" time, LOL.

Does anyone think they would do *better* if I waited until spring to plant them out?

not me !

I just got 3 iris rhizomes, I couldn't resist the temptation about 2 wks ago. Because it is so late in the season and we had snow 2 days ago...I potted them up when they arrived in the mail. They are putting on green nicely already and I plan to keep them in the house this winter. I know it's probably the wrong thing to do but it's too late ...lol.

I have them stuck in a corner near a grow light along with the rosemary and the thyme I just brought inside. Hooked my little bubbler up next to them with my brug cuttings in it. It's going to be a very long winter...I can feel the withdrawals already...lol

~Julie =0)

I just came in from dividing some irises that had been in place for years. Glad I did too. I found they were planted in about 2 inches of soil on top of heavy duty landscape fabric. Underneath the landscape fabric was a huge rock, somewhere between 50 and 100 pounds. I pried the rock out, filled the hole with bone meal and compost, then mixed those with the soil that was there. I replanted the old iris which had spread all over the place, then planted one of the new irises I planted back in August.
I have done this type of thing for years. I am not even slightly worried about failure of irises, but I will try to remember to confess if they die. But I rarely lose an iris. The only time I lost iris using the potting method was the year I stored them in too shady a spot. over the winter. Some rotted. Iris like sun, though perhaps not full sun when potted.
I found a partially shaded spot and now they live ( embarassingly) up to 3 years before I plant them. If they haven't been indoors they should be fine. And I expect the ones I divided to be fine as well. Of course, I did use a lot of compost in planting them. Compost contains antibiotics that kill the bad guys that prey on juicy iris rhizomes.
There is still time for the iris to grow some roots in the cold but not frozen soil.

I hope you were able to put that rock to good use somewhere in your landscape after the work of digging it out... I'll bet those irises are just dancing a jig for joy!

It sounds like I should plant out as many as I can from my pots before the ground freezes. This next week is supposed to be nice weather... :-)

Thanks so much for everyone's encouraging advice!

In Tennessee I plant through October. You can lightly cover them with a little pine straw to help the soil from freezing before they get their roots established. I've found that a bit of frost doesn't seem to hurt them any. If you apply the pine straw be sure to remove it when the weather starts warming up again next year.

I am at the Maryland Penn Border
If the Iris have rooted well in the pots I would plant as if a potted plant dirt and all.
The biggest problem I have had and that has been few is that I get some heaving.
Lime them if pH low or if you want to mulch.
:)
Anita

Thanks!! I am certain that what works for Anita and for rootsnrhizomes will work for me! You've all increased my confidence -- again! I love this forum!

Hey paj, I just posted under WH iris thread before I read this. I know we have a cold snap coming tomorrow night(Tue) that will keep the sub-freezing temps at night for about a week, then a warming trend. I was thinking of waiting till after the cold snap to plant the bearded iris'(and some hostas). They should get good morning sun until abt noon-1, before the house shades them. Someone on the other thread said not to mulch to much? I lightly composted & mulched it(kinda loamy sand), but mainly because I'm planting native/wild flowers in it and trying to keep it somewhat natural(now on the backside of the maple, I heavily composted and mulched because of the hostas). Does that sound alright? I got the beards for free, so not to worried, but I hate losing to mother nature(it's a sailor/guy thing).

I don't think you should put much mulch on iris, except a light one in the winter, which you remove in spring. Leaves or pine needles are perfect. We will have a cold snap as well, though probably lighter than yours, but they are predicting snow and a hard freeze. I didn't worry about it when I divided yesterday. In dry areas such as ours, as long as you give your irises some compost and bone meal or rock phosphate or even super phosphate when you plant you should be fine. Just don't plant them on top of a big rock and heavy landscaping, as I found mine had been.

Falasy - Mulch equals rot.
Lime well keep pH above level the bacteria that causes rot can survive
keep mulch mostly off the rhizome and you should be ok,
Does rot still happen
Yep no matter what you do you can still get rot. I find closely planted Iris promote rot more than mulch because it prevents air movements. As long as there is good drainage and air you should be ok
:)
A

Thanks guys. Very sandy soil, maybe a real thin layer of clay about 2' down(abt 1/2" thick), with a substructure of slvr maple roots-drainage isn't an issue at all. I'll just not put much, if any mulch around them. Where I dug them from was covered in thick layer of weeds and clover and partly ontop of weed fabric and plastic(property line) with roots growing through 'em. I use super phsphate, because I heard squirells are ravenously attracted by bone meal. I just saw a fury tree rat in my maple, even though home is several yards away and in back, I still have some sunflowers in back and along fence, and the neighbors bird feeder is raided quite often. Hope they ain't migratin' youngsters. My main coon cat needs to get to work, or I'm gonna fire him!

I haven't had good luck with cats catching squirrels. I once had a very fierce cat who was determined to catch the neighborhood squirrels, but they used to trick him. They would from the trunk out to the branches which kept getting skinnier and skinnier then jump to the next tree. The cat would try to follow, but he weighed enough more that he fell through the skinny branches and the squirrel kept on going. He never quit trying though. He was excellent on mice and gophers though. He also loved caterpillars. When I would find one, I would put it on the sidewalk and he would eat it immediately.

One of my dogs brought me a baby squirrel, totally unharmed, earlier this year. It took me a while before I got it out of the house. Finallly trapped it a spare bedroom, opened a window and put food outside. Cute little thing. Other than that I haven't seen any close to the house so my precious irises are safe.

carol