thing to help prevent rot

ive been seeing posts about the various ways to prevent or hinder rot . i was laying in bed thinking of what might be an organic way along with cleaning the bed often. im not completely green but i do worry about putting things in the soil . i worry about the worms lol . so i started thinking about tea . some people use tea in the potting mixture when starting roses because it has astringent qualities and prevents the cutting from rotting before it has roots . has any one aver heard or poured tea over the iris bed as an astringent type thing ? also i read somewhere that molasses was good for plants. i need to google that more . (just thought id throw that in incase any one could elaborate)

I have heard of putting a banana peel around roses, but never tea bags. Does tea have acid in it?

that and coffee does . my eye doctor told me that tea has astringent qualities . i was using it to treat pink eye . he said that works but its harsh and prolonged use would scratch my eye . so then i was reading about using tea when starting roses from cuttings to prevent the tip from rotting and to kill bacteria in the soil so the rose would have a better chance of rooting . so i thought it might be beneficial to iris too

edit..... i was wondering if any one has done i or heard of it . im gonna add tea to my alphalfa tea mixture in the spring and see what it does . i might make a bucket of tea and pour it on my iris bed it cant hurt . ill just open a bunch of tea bags and fill up a bucket of hot water and let it cool down then pour and cover with straw for the winter . what do you think

This message was edited Sep 23, 2008 8:57 AM

my grandma put tea and coffee on her plants and house plants . i put leftover coffee on my azaleas and hydrangea.

do you mix the tea with water? or do you do it straight? couldn't you just sprinkle the tea granules on the iris beds and when it rains it makes a liquid that goes into the ground? I have so many, I'd be brewing tea for days.

i would get a garbage can and throw a few boxes of teabags in there and fill with water . then let it sit to brew .OH OH !or you can fill up a pair of panty hose with tea bags and put it in the garbage can full of water out in the sun so it warms up and brews . that way you dont have to fish out the tea bags and you don have to tear open the tea bags

and im gonna put in a few drops of super thrive . its a vitamin tonic . its not a fertilizer so i dont think you have to worry about excess nitrogen messing the whole thing up

This message was edited Sep 23, 2008 9:59 AM

i suppose you could just sprinkle the tea on the iris bed . it seems like the tea would then be down deeper in the soill which is good . but i was thinking along the lines of a rhizome bath lol . to sanitize the rhizomes kind of . idk im just thinking as i type lol . sprinkling would be good to do for a second round before winter .

I make a tea for my garden, alfrafa pellets, any and all left over tea bags, all coffee grounds mix in a 55 gallon trash can for 5 days and take a coffee can of it out and put in a 5 gallon bucket and water...

D

I have been mixing Bayer lawn bug poison(contains imidacloprid) one of the few things that stop iris borers and sulphur as a fungicide, with my preen when I clean a bed out. My friend in Colorado said if he had a sick iris he put a couple of disolved aspirin over the plant. I had problems with borers 2 years ago, I have found none this year. This also has cut down on the Japanese beetles. My hostas are grateful!!!!

I have put used coffee grounds in the gardens for years with no harm. I get used grounds by the bucket from an espresso shop. I can't state it helps, but never have seen any harm. It does tend to keep the soil looser.

I just heard back from Keith Keppel said, No, he would not do this.

did he say why . is it the acid ? do iris prefer alkaline or acid soil any way ?

Bearded iris prefer neutral soil. ABs like alkiline & breadless prefer soil on the acid side. great for the garden when you wish to grow all three types?

Googled the coffee ground fertilizer & found this: Nutrients approximately
2-0.33-1 slightly acidic. Probably best for hydrangeas and azaleas etc.

i put the coffee grounds on my hydrangea and azealea and roses once and a while . usually in the planting hole

He did not really give a reason, but Mike said Tannic Acid, so that would leave me to believe that would be the reason.

I am having an epidemic right now with all of this rain, we are 21 inches above normal for this season, everymorning, there is dew on the iris. I have managed to save probably half of the 30 I have lost. I am going to the nursery supply today on my break at work to see what else there is, I will let you guys know. I am out there with my can of Comet daily, cleaning, scraping, and shaking.

what about baking soda or talcum to soak up tthe moisture . or peroxide a little on the rhizome

This message was edited Sep 25, 2008 6:00 AM

This is what I was told by a horticulturist to use, now this is just for viral soft rot, I am not sure about bacterial, but I think it helps it all and leaf spot too. It is not that expensive. But like anything else you want to check with your Agricultural dept to see if you can use this where you live.

Infuse Systemic Disease Control by Bonide

i think i may have saw that last spring . does it say it helps blight ,blackspot for roses and others. i was looking through the rose things and this disease controll stuff was on the end cap . it was for disease only . and it was for a bunch of plants .. not just roses

Right.

What about nematodes??? I don't know that I have them but wondered just in case!! Learning sooo much here!!! Ty guys!!
debbie

Nematodes are beneficial, but I am not sure if they help rot. If you want to know if you have them, look up the identity of nematodes and observe in your garden the bugs. I think nematodes help get rid of bad bugs.