Do you keep the tags?

Hi guys, I received my very first order of iris recently. Do you keep the tags that come wrapped in each rhizome? They each came with a tag wrapped in a rubber band around the base. Does that hurt the plants, or can I leave them there for id'ing?
Thanks!

Hi
We tell our customers to stick the plant tag right under the soil next to plant most tags will stay good for years
Dewpointgardens

That's a good idea. Squirrels and grandchildren) are less likely to walk off with them.

We keep tags temporarily until we make our own markers--metal & tape with a P-touch. We find that loose tags will be most apt to disappear.

we use metal tags too but put the temporary tags under ground as a backup.
Dewpoint

would it "hurt" the plants if I just left them wrapped around like they came in from the box?

Not recomended-- you don't want to limit the expansion of the roots.

That's what I was thinking after I thought of other plants.... Thanks!

I made the mistake of leaving the rubber band and plastic tag around the plants and it caused moisture to remain in contact too long and a couple of rhiz. rotted. These were nice healthy iris when I received them so my conclusion was that the tightly held tags got the rot going.

Good to know! Thanks guys!

one more comment - I thought I had all my irises properly tagged. I've been loving Midnight Revelry for three years. Last week dug it for division - it's not! The Sutton tag was still on it - it's Lord of the Night!

so a plastic or metal tags that will survive, planted under the soil with the plant, is great for ID later! Because we humans do make errors.

Good to know! lol!