Do iris prefer acidic or alkaline soil?

The only iris I can get to bloom is Louisiana iris. My plants look great but no flowers. If they need alkaline soil, what is the best way to incorporate it into the soil? Thanks in advance for the answers.

LA Iris love acid soil so you don't have to worry about that! Tall bearded like a range of ph's around the middle and I don't know about the others. BTW, I have a place at Lumberton, MS, but leave here in New Mexico. Nevertheless, I visit there often and planted LA iris last time I was there. I won't know until I go back how they did, but I have ordered an LA iris called Red Velvet Elvis to plant when I get back there. I'll send you a D-mail next time I go and maybe we can talk LA Iris!
Betty

I live in Roswell, NM on the north end and we have alkaline soil and all of my iris do really good, and I have a friend that lives south of town with good soil and her's grows just as good. It may take mine a little longer to get rooted and start blooming than hers but thats about it. So I don't know if it makes a difference to an iris.

LAs and JIs need acidity. Up here we have anything but, so I water with vinegar water for my JIs and LAs.

inanda aka Ginny

What a good idea, Ginny! But for Tall Bearded iris, neutral to alkaline is the best PH and that certainly fits in with conditions here in New Mexico. I have some LA's in pots, my soil is more or less neutral, so I am pouring coffee grounds on the soil where I plan to put them permanently. I don't even plan to try JI's.

What does the coffee grounds do in the soil? Just wondering. Susan

Coffee grounds make the soil more acid, but gently. Plus they provide a supply of organic food for the plant/soil. They are a favorite food of earthworms, too. In general, if I have a plant that has dark green veins in its leaves and is significantly yellowish in the area between veins, I put my coffee grounds on top of the soil around it. One can often see the healthy green color coming back. Only one problem, we only make one pot of coffee per day so only the neediest plants get coffee grounds.

I use coffee grounds but if something turns yellow I give them a good bath of chelated iron & epsom salts. Only takes a cople of days for them to turn green again.

have had to do this recently with about 10 iris due I think to too much rain here, leaching out the nutrients from the soil.
inanda

acid is something I have plenty of. I spread some lime on my brug bed which also has daylilies in front of them and pinks in front of the daylilies. It was so acid that moss was growing on the ground. Now I have a lot of annual wild grasses sprouting but I hoed them away and mulched with pine straw. Ah well, I know pine straw is acidic too so I will have to lime every year. I did not lime the iris bed, but will do that tomorrow or Monday.
Glad for the reminder.

Most of us fight some sort of ph problems. I am lucky that my soil is more or less neutral, but I still have to work with hydrangeas to make them happy and will soon be planting some LA iris in the ground. I will remember your chelated iron and epsom salts for them. It is a constant battle no matter what your ph, because any change of ph you manage, will just have to be done in a year or so. As my county extension agent says, the soil always wins.

Thank you all SO much for sharing your knowledge, I'm sure they will bloom for me now!
Betty, Lumberton is about 15 minutes away from us, as a matter of fact, I had Sunday dinner there today with my 5 year old triplett grandaughters! They live there with their mother. By all means send me a D-mail when you visit here again, I would love to chat! Thanks so much for the iris help, your LA iris should do great, mine are beautiful. That is such a cool name for the one you ordered, you must show photos. Kathi

I hope I will be going to the farm in October. The weather is usually nice then. I like November, too. When I went there last year, the LA Iris were blooming, not mine, because I hadn't planted them yet. This year I will have some, blooming I hope. I think I will bring some regular iris and see if they make can make it. I hear that they can but will probably have to lime them.
Anyhow, I will definitely D-Mail you when I plan a trip. When I go there, I often spend time in Poplarville, dealing with USDA, Pearl River County, etc. I was born and partially raised in Mississippi and am always dreaming of going back where the trees are lush and the magnolias smell so sweet.
I get there at least twice a year, and most years twice, so I will probably see you soon.
Bye the way, Red Velvet Elvis was originally bred in Mississippi by a Mississippi county extension agent. I can't wait to see it. I had it sent to a friend there.
Betty

Woodspirit, a brug bed. A real brug bed.... You don't get any frost at all ....... How lucky. Is it the lake maybe. That bed must be quite a sight.

inanda

I only have 8 brugs. Some are beginning to bloom now. Of course I have frost in the winter, including hard freezes. We had a devastating Easter where temps dropped to 15 degrees. Since everything was beginning to come out and grow, they took a beating. All the farmers lost the peaches, we lost several plants and even English Ivy and boxweeds were browned back. I lost some irises and all but one failed to bloom this year.
I take cuttings of the brugs I like and start them over each year. I have two new ones that I have not had before and will see what they look like. One is Audrey Heburn and I forget the other although it is labeled. They are both pinks so I will see if they are keepers. I like the bright yellows and oranges so I have Tequila Sunrise and Solid Gold.
I need to get a move on, need to buy some fertilizer, lime and mulch.

Chelated iron? Is that a garden product or a vitamin pill?

I want to know the same thing, Red.

"Chelated" iron (key-lated) is added to soil where there IS iron , but is tied up in the soil particles and thus unavailable for the plant to utilize.

Without going into a chemistry lesson,
the chelated iron "unlocks" the iron and makes it available to the plant.
This malady is common in alkaline soils.

ah....thank you.

JasperDale - Excellent explanation !

Thanks !