Oh no! I think I have some iris coming up!!

I planted my bulbs in October and as I was walking to the mailbox today I noticed several tiny little sprouts coming up where I planted them. Will they die????

Nope!! They think its spring so they are sprouting. They do that all the time down here. Irises are very hardy and will be just fine. They won't bloom though unless it stays above freezing for the rest of winter.

Whatr zone is IA. Cover them with mulch/leaves/snow/whatever/ even soil. They do not enjoy freezing/thawing/freezing. Watch for heaving.


Santa brought me the Claire Austin iris book. What yum. Have ordered the Clarence M-------- one. Also a couple of lily books hat I need.

Found some pretty oldies in local garden shop here in BC. Can't wait to et home amd pot them up.

inanda

Good to know it should be OK. These are my first!! I am zone 5. You think leaves will be good enough?? I can do that tomorrow!

Unless your ground is going to stay frozen, I'm not sure I'd cover the iris. Our winter here in TN is non-stop freezing and thawing and wet. Covering them would make for a lot of rotted rhizomes. Mine are completely uncovered and green. If a new one heaves up, I just push it back down and cover the tip of the rhizome with a rock. It shouldn't effect your blooming this year unless it's so warm you're seeing buds.

Neil

I'm in Tennessee too. I place a thin scattering of straw around my seedlings so that the ground stays a little bit warmer where they are and to help keep them from being heaved up. I still check them often to see if any of them need a gentle push back into the soil, especially after we get heavy rain.

I'm not trying to be persnickity here, but did you really mean "bulbs" as in dutch iris or iris reticulata, or did you mean "rhizomes" as in bearded iris etc.? Either way, I don't think they'll die from a little out-of-season sprouting, but it makes a big difference with the question of whether or not to mulch.

These are bulbs. You can tell I am new - I didn't know the difference. But the way I am getting addicted to things I will very soon!! So what do you think being that they are bulbs?

My Siberian Iris bulbs have been sending up leaves since November, as well as my Siberian Squill. They seem to have stopped now. I posted this problem awhile back and people all over North America were commenting that their bulbs were coming up early as well. Those who had specific experience with this problem said they'd probably be okay - they'd just push up again in the Spring. The Siberian bulbs are supposed the be quite hardy. I've decided just to let them do their thing...

Of course I was talking about bearded iris rhizomes, not bulbs, in my earlier post.

inanda

This message was edited Jan 6, 2007 6:09 PM