Need Help RE: Storing Iris rhizomes?

We are moving from California to Ohio August 1st.
I am digging up some of my TB Irises and I'm not sure how to store them for the move.
I've done a lot of searching and googling, most everything I find tells me to dig, divide & replant.
Nothing about digging and storing for a few months. (I may need to store them over the winter)
I'm fine with them not blooming next spring, I just want to make sure they don't rot or dry out.

I picked up some empty sandbags at Lowe's and thought maybe storing the fans in wood chips inside the bags, what do you think?
This is just a few of them, do I lay them in the sun to dry (it's going to be about 110 today)

Thanks for your help
Dove

how many do you have? maybe just pot them up? i would think you would have to cut off the fans as they will die anyway because of no sun. i would think that drying them out will kill them. you may be able to store them in damp peat moss, but for any length of time that would probably cause rot. and also the top of the rhizome is the stem that should be uncovered in the sun. if you put in refrigerator might make them dormant. that's a hard one. pot them?

First, I would avoid digging any more of them until you absolutely have to.

Second, do NOT lay them out in the sun to dry. Lay them out in a (preferably cool) protected area, well ventilated, out of direct sunlight. You can also hang them in onion bags so that they'll have excellent air circulation around them.

Third, if you overwinter them out of the ground, they might survive, but they also might become so dessicated that they'll die before you can replant them next spring. If you can't replant them as soon as you get to Ohio, then pot them up and either bury the pots outside over winter, or keep them indoors under lights or in sunny windows until spring.

Laurie

I'd vote for potting them up over the winter, and piling mulch around the pots. If you can put them in a protected spot against your foundation or something, great, otherwise you might consider getting some hay bales and making a "corral" for them, then throwing some mulch between the pots. It's probably not a bad idea to somehow tilt the pots a bit to ensure that they don't fill up with water and ice.

Thank you everyone for your help, I really do appreciate it.

Well, dang... I was really hoping they could be kept in the dark for a few months like daffodils.

Len, I could dig up three more tubs and still leave as much behind.

OK, so they must be potted up which means I need to rethink how many of each variety I "need" to take with me.

Next question, am I correct in that the big lump should be removed and the smaller one is the part I should keep?
That would really save a lot of space if that is true.

Thanks again
Dove

You can't store irises the same way you store daffs because bearded irises don't grow from bulbs. They grow from rhizomes which don't behave exactly the same way bulbs do.

As far as what to keep and what to toss is concerned, it really depends on what you want to be able to replant in your new garden. In the pic, you have a mother rhizome with one fairly large increase and several little nubbins that will turn into additional increases if the mother is replanted. You can remove the larger increase and just keep that one, if you're pressed for space, or you can keep the increase attached to the mother and plant them together, which will give you a nice little clump within a year when those little nubbins grow up. It's up to you.

Laurie

Laurie,
Thank you so much.
I just grow them, don't know much about them.

A clump from momma and baby sounds good to me. I'll figure out a way to make some extra room.

Cheers
Dove

Ok, here's a little quick course in iris propogation. Each rhizome will only bloom once in its lifetime. In most cases, the rz also grows additional rzs (increases) from its sides. At that point, the rz is commonly referred to as a "mother". The increases will grow to blooming size, bloom, and grow increases of their own. That's how a single rz becomes an entire clump over time.

Eventually, a mother will exhaust all of her energy and disintegrate away into the soil. In the case of your last pic, however, you can tell that the mother still has some life in her because there are viable, white roots coming out from various points along her sides. Those white roots are probably attached to little nubbins that will grow into increases if she is replanted. It may take 2-3 yrs for the nubbins to grow to blooming size, however, so if you're looking for the earliest bloom potential in the rzs you save, choose the largest unbloomed rzs or increases in your clumps.

Usually there are so many rzs in a clump by the time it is divided that it really isn't worth the effort or space to replant the old mothers. Mothers with no foliage and no viable roots are probably done, anyway.

Laurie

When I moved from one side of the country to the other I did the following.

Dug, dried off the way Laurie described. Labeled each one - not writing on the leaf which will dry up - each in a mesh (grapefruit type mesh baggies) with the label. Some rhz. I was able to actually write on the rhz. They were still OK after 3 weeks when I potted them up.

As soon as I arrived I potted up. So this all depends on how long they will be out of the soil.

Just another idea for you. You certainly cannot hope to have too many left if you store them in any way for the winter. They have to be potted up or planted for the winter.

inanda

dovey it's really easy once you start, the main rhizome has other rhizomes attached, and you just snap them off the main one. the main one doesn't have any fans, just the ones on the perimeter. some can be very large and some might be real tiny. they seem to snap
at the right place. usually the old main rhizome is a little mushy and spent and the new rhizome is firm like a radish. i don't know what the ratio is, and depending how crowded they are, 1 sq ft probably makes about 10 sq ft of new plants. i moved in here a year and a half ago and the iris's probably were never divided maybe 35 yrs??
i think your suppose to use the forks to dig up, but i used a small chopper/cultivator, just chop behind fan and pull out of ground. soil seems to fall off easily from roots of rhizomes. i trim the roots and fans some and replant.i had about a 5' x 25' area and i cant't tell you how many wheelbarrows i filled

They store moisture in their rhizomes and can remain out of ground for several weeks, even a month or so. Give yourself enough time to dig everything you want to move with you. It will probably take a lot longer than you think to dig them. Put them in paper (not plastic) bags and keep them in a cool place (like inside your air-conditioned house) until you are ready to plant or pot them up at your new place. I have kept them over the winter fine in pots by packing straw all around the pots to insulate them through the winter. You'll need to remove the straw after the frost free date.

Last winter I moved daylilies and irises from the ground to pots and they survived the winter very well with the straw packed around the pots.

I was able to get free used nursery pots from a local nursery.

Best luck on your move.

Cathy

Also, until you plant them in pots, you want them to stay dry. Wash them and let them air-dry before you put them bareroot inside the paper bags. I totally agree with the others that you should pot them up when you get to your new place if you are not able to plant them right away in the ground.

dovey,
when we moved late last fall I planted some here at the new home on Nov.30th respectively and they all survived.

I had potted them up beforehand.The pots I didn't have time to plant I overwintered in our carriage house and cellar.They all survived but did loose just a handful later on in spring when I brought them outside due to alot of rain.

I also had a handful of iris in a onion bag hanging in the cellar but they didn't make it.So for me the most successful method was potting them up .Maybe you want to give that a try and then later replanting them when your time allows.

Thank you all, I will pot some up (space is limited) then store the remainder and hope that a few survive.
Of course I want them all to live, but as long as I have one of each variety I'll be happy.


This one is Jesse's Song

This sounds like a good idea for my problem also. I am fighting iris borers, and have extra rhizomes that I don't have a new bed for yet. (I dug up all that looked infested early so that I could get rid of the borers before they went dormant in the ground.) They are drying in my garage at the moment, and I think I will pot them up now, and keep them inside until after the moths have laid their eggs. Then make a corral for the pots with straw over winter. Some of them I will also plant outdoors, close together, and put an insect barrier mesh over them.

An experiment .. Last winter I planted a couple of flats - yes flats, the black 2 or 3 inch trays with iris. Put one in a west window, put the other under lights in cooler basement. Almost all iris survived and are now planted in garden. Very little bloom but now growing nicely, increasing etc etc. These were beardeds of diff. sizes. So, if you dont have enough pots, grow them in flats over the winter. It works. At least they will all live, even if they are not too happy.

Just another idea for you.

Ginny

Thanks for the tip Ginny, it's a great idea