Iris rot - severe, what to do ?

We are having ran at 2-3 day intervals for two months, thus no periods to dry out. From 100+ established plants, several times a week I am removing many leaves that have fallen flat, that have fungus, severe streaking. I simply lift from the clump without any resistance. And yes, some stink.

Is there anything that I can do, ie. Neem or other fungicide?

I don't have time to dig 'em up, treat 'em, dry 'em out, and replant in the fall...or is this my only option ?

Has anyone lost all their Iris due to rot ?

thanks

Try & scoop out the rot when plant is in place and treat with a clorox rinse. Keep checking & repeat if necessary. Are leaves of other plants collectiong water, or perhaps they are in lower ground.

I went through this problem last year. Cut off rotting fans to prevent the invitation of iris borers. Take a pencil or whatever you have with you in the garden to poke holes in the dirt surrounding the rhizomes. That will hasten the drying process. A lot of times as long as the rot is not too severe, the rhizome will regenerate it's self with fresh fans and no bloom. The stink is truly the death song and the bleach, 1C of bleach in 1 gal of water is the only cure. Cut the rotten part away, dip the hard part of the rhizome in the bleach water and let sun dry. I dug out quite a bit of the surrounding soil and replaced it, as well. I am happy to report that the fix seems to be successful, had great fan growth and good rhizome growth. I expect bloom next year.

Rot is happening here too. Just too much rain. I need to find time to treat some. i am in the process of making a raised bed for the new Iris I have coming in July or August, but the wet soil is making it hard to get finished.

Susan

I agree with digging and treating with the bleach solution, however you can try scooping out all the rotten stuff and treat with "Comet" powder (it contains a bleach) but I've had not much luck with it I almost always ended up digging and treating it with the bleach anyway. I don't just dip the Rz in the bleach solution I submerge it completely (I put a flat rock on them) for at least 20 minutes then rinse it off real good then "stand" it upside down at least overnight before replanting. (I use a solution of 1 cup bleach to 10 cups water, 10%) Others may have a better solution to the problem it doesn't occur very often to me because I have well drained soil for the most part.

Thank you. I'm intend to follow through on your advice, albeit will take several weekends. Digging, bleaching, setting out/drying out will begin this weekend.

Are you sure you don't have the dreaded iris borer? The symptoms you are describing sound like what I went through. At least dig up some of the worst ones and see what you see.
Sharon

Soft rot is running rampant. Don't think it is iris bores unless you see the dreaded fan hole. If you have a rhizome that you think is soft rot and you are thinking it may be a borer, splash some hydrogen peroxide on the rhizome and you will see the bug squirm. The rhizome is probably shot, but you will know what caused it. You don't have to dig it up, if it is soft rot, it will pull up easily, and you will see that all is dead, roots and all. The stink of death will be there as well. Plus, the rhizome will have no hard areas left. The roots will be limp and brown. I have pulled two rhizomes out and pitched them just last week. You want to know what caused the death only because if it is the borer you want to remove the dirt around the affected patch to remove the insect. It won't help with the soft rot. If you have a solid section of rhizome left, a 10% bleach solution will clean it up after you have removed the rotten sections and you can replant with a feeling of success.

I'm with onegoodman. the base of the fan is rotting first and pulls away with ease. Rot is rampant in my back bed where I put all the expensive ones, because during the drought for last two years, they were surviving better there. Now I discover that bed does not drain as well. have last maybe 2/3s, several 2006 and 2007 intros I bought for hybridizing with.

Definitely rot....the smell reminds me of changing diapers !!! I've had other perennials rot also.

Nearing end of July and Central Illinois is still seeing heavy rain (1-3" at a time) at least once weekly, sometimes more. Flooding has not been an issue here, well except for farmers fields. Temperatures have been well below typical July temperatures...which has been nice but we haven't dried out.

The moisture, cool temperatures, and Japanese Beetles have been horrendous this year- all have made gardening challenging this year. Usually the Japanese Beetles are just an annoyance but this year I consider JBs THE ENEMY !!!

Hey how about that rain last night onegoodman? Dolly, right? Haven't seen that many JBs on my roses this year YET but sure know they're around when they bump off of my windshield.
Laura

whatever you do DON"T USE THOSE BEETLE BAGS with bait.

I spoke to an entomologist at NCSU many years ago. I was on the staff and had so many JBs I couldn't see my rose buds, just a seething cocoon of irridescent beetle backs around them. Made 'em look like a living grenade, and that's how I considered it, exploding on my beloved roses.

First thing he said was, "You're using those bait bags, aren't you? Guess what? JBs do not routinely fly more than 1 to 1.5 miles in their lifetimes, and if they find a food source they won't go more than 1/2 mile. That bait is a sex phermone (sp?) that says to the bugs "hey, food and sex orgy here - come and get it, all welcome" because they have sex where the best food source is, and then they mate until they are near dead from exhaustion. What you are doing is enticing every JB within 2 miles of your house to your yard." He went on to explain their processes, habits and life cycle. Bottom line, if they have food and sex in my yard, they will fall to the ground and bury in, make grubs, hatch, and come back the following year, never leave because all the food they need is at my house and because of the bait in the bags I'll have four times more the next year.

He said as long as I had the baited bags my problem would only get worse and worse. Then recommended something in the soil in January and again three weeks later, and that would kill the grubs. Then cut all the buds as soon as I saw one the following summer, as they only have a six weeks lifespan above ground, so keep all buds cut off for six weeks. hand pick and kill the ones I saw otherwise. I spread the news to all my neighbors - get rid of your JB baited bag traps.

My yard went from being the center of the JB universe, to being almost JB free within three years. I no longer trimmed back the rose buds after that. I have not seen but three JBs this year, and I have around 20 rose bushes!

The first day of fall is upon us and I was out trimming iris fans today. I ended up losing only one rhizome. My 10% bleach solution works for both rot and borers. Iris are amazing when it comes to regeneration. I have great new fan growth with no borer holes. The new ab's from TX are doing great in a soil mix of 50/50 sand and mushroom compost amending the soil. A rather disappointing gardening season in all, rain, monsoon, drought. Virtually no tomatoes.
Iris

The lime content of your soil should help the ABs. Look to ad extra if necessary.

There are several types of rot, if you are getting alot of rain especially in the mid-west, it is just from plain rot from moisture, if it smells it is usally Boryitis, the more serious rot. Yes clean everything to prevent borers. Comet has not worked for me, bleach has done the best for me. I took one of mine to a horticulturist to have it examined and he definately told me it was from too much water. He has me using Bonide "Infuse", it is a systemic fungicide to prevent leaf spot and Boryitis, I mix this and spray on the plants every 14 days. The first day I sprayed it, the next day the iris that were starting to rot, dried up. I was amazed. Also I have 44 raised beds, since all of this rain has happened I used a 11/2 inch auger bit and drilled holes on the sides of the beds for extra drainage so that this does not happen again. It has rained so hard that the water could not drain off fast enough.

Hi, this is my first visit here to the Iris forum, and I hope you can give some advice to an iris newbie.
I only have a few iris, and for the first time one of them started showing rot about a week ago. I'm pretty sure it's because we had over a foot of rain in early Sept. and are still getting quite a bit on and off.
I found this thread and have been removing the squishy part of the rhizome and sprinkling with comet cleanser, which has definitely slowed down the rot but hasn't totally stopped it. I've been afraid to dig up the whole thing, remove the rotten part, soak in bleach and replant because it's so late in the year; it seems like it wouldn't have time to get reestablished befor winter. Should I do this anyway? or should I keep going with the comet? Spray the foliage with a fungicide like Infuse? Just wait and hope the rot is killed by the winter cold?
Any suggestions would be very welcome! Thank you!!

I cup of bleach to a gallon of water, mix it up in a bucket and pour over the base of the rhizomes especially the infected part...it will be nice out this weekend to help dry them out.

Delane

Thank you so much for the quick reply! I'll do the bleach treatment this evening!