Cutting back siberian iris foliage has been discussed on the iris forum. I mentioned that we used a Japanese rice knife which could not be located at the seller: Lee Valley Tools. At this weekend's meeting of the Iris Society Of Mass. a root knife from the same company was suggested, also was stated as rust resistant. A member from Maine uses a sickle (hello rice knife). Cutting back prevents mushy leaves giving places for pests to hide over winter. Question for those who have many daylilies? The leaves seem to be able to gives fewer problems as those on our daylilies seem to be deteriorating at a faster rate. Do they have to be cleaned up? What about providing homes for pests? Which other plants need fall clean up?
Fall chores
Wrong forum--switch to NE gardening.
LOL. Welcome anyway Iris!
I am very sorry about hitting the wrong key. I didn't mean to disturb birds & wish that the posting could be switched.
I'm sure you can have administration change it. It happens to us all!
How does one contact them?
Hit 'Contact Us', at the bottom right of any/every page
Resin
Thank you--I gave the change a try.
Hi Iris! I have 18 flower beds with over 300 DL 's.....some get cleaned in the fall, some don't! lol I don't have a problem and sometimes I feel it's almost like mulch with all those dead leaves. Some people are neat freaks and cut it all back,(does look nicer) but I think it's what ever works for you.
Due to lack of time ... and the weather ... we are trying the blowing leaves mulch this year. LOL!
Sometimes I cut them back sometimes I don't....real helpful, huh?? lol
I cut my iris back to control borers, but not my lilies.
Okay - here is my problem. I want to shred my leaves and mulch my gardens for winter. But supposedly you are supposed to wait until a hard frost. Well, by that time all the leaves will be picked up by the city for composting.
What I don't get is why we are supposed to wait. For example, we are told to mulch during to summer to help control weeds and to help retain moisture. Why does it suddenly become a problem in the fall? Why are we now told to wait until a hard frost?
Honestly, does anyone mulch their gardens in the spring and summer, then remove the mulch to wait for the soil to freeze, then replace the mulch?????
I put the shredded leaves down anyway, I kept them from covering the crowns of plants, I only used leaves that would breakdown over time and create humus. I suppose slugs and possibly disease vectors potentially are thriving under the leaves - but what is the alternative for someone with lots of leaves and no money for buying straw, etc?
I think they say to wait because the mulch will keep the ground too warm??? you do make a great point about mulch already there. I'm bumfuzzled.
I believe you are supposed to wait till the ground freezes and then the mulch helps keep the ground frozen. This way there is less heaving from temperature fluctuations.
I wait till December (or later, if it is still warm) to put down shredded leaf mulch because I have a vole problem. If I put it down too early, they find nice cozy homes in the mulch.
I shred my leaves now and store them in the leaf bags in the garage until December. In the spring, I use either cocoa mulch on the front beds (it's a bit more decorative) and leaf mulch in the other beds (cutting beds, vegetable gardens, back beds, etc.) I don't take up that mulch in December when I put down the new stuff; I just toss it on top of whatever is left (which isn't a lot, usually. Most of it has broken down nicely.)
We use pine needles on our iris plants once the ground is hard to prevent heaving. If the ground stayed frozen all would be well. It alternates freeze & thaw so the plants can heave up & expose the roots to the cold air. We don't mulch other plants.
Thanks for the feedback ^_^
Iris, I cut back my irises and my daylilies about a week or two ago...don't have a ton, probably 10 irises and 15 daylilies....no particular reason, I just like it to look neat...
As for leaves, I've been putting down manure and shredded leaves for a couple of weeks...though our first hard frost was probably about two weeks ago so stuff is black and crispy now....cut most of it back for the winter (sad).
MAF
It's very sad when the glory seasons have come to an end. Does that leaves us more time for planning for next season, or for catching up from last season, I wonder?
Can't weed either at the moment--too cold!
It only got up to 23 degrees outside today. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
I blinked and missed fall ...... :-
Also, about the timing of when to put the leaves down...rodents.
If you ask a lot of hosta peeps, they use leaves as a winter mulch, and move it in the Spring time. If you put it down to early, before the ground freezes, it leaves ample time for voles/mice/rabbits to burrow underneath, and make themselves a nice home and root buffet...more so voles than anything else.
Good point!
Help Please: I have read (somewhere - wish I remembered where) that we should "trim" the roots of rizomes which arrive with dried out roots.
Is that true?
How much to trim?
Will soaking the entire rizome for 24 hours help get it growing?
Thanks - Anne King (Mesquite, NV)
Hi Anne,
Welcome to Daves Garden!
Are you talking about bearded irises? If so, you may trim the roots back to about 4 inches. I personally don't trim them, but a lot of people do. And I wouldn't soak bearded irises unless they are really dry, and then not for more than 1/2 hour or so. Bearded irises may look like they are totally dried out, but they come back to life easily.
If you are talking beardless irises, like siberians, or Japanese, don't trim the roots at all, and soak them for up to 4 days. Beardless irises should never be allowed to dry out.
Any other questions, just ask. Come on over to the iris forum, too.
Polly
When soaking bearded irises because the roots seem to be dry, soak only the ROOTS. The rhizomes are really a stem & should not be a long period in water. This is different from the quick imersion in a water/bleach solution for health reasons. then the plant is rinsed afterwards & allowed to dry. I have had bearded plants out of the ground for too long a time & helped revive the roots by soaking in water being careful to not have water on the rhizome. Really dry plants will recover, albeit slowly over a season . Hope that you will tune in to the iris forum, when active in the spring you will find a great deal of information. Lucy
Thank you Polly: your answer was specific, clear, and comprehensive! It answered all my questions - yes, they are reblooming bearded iris. I've attached a photo of my Reblooming Hawaiian Dreams - first year, second blooming this Fall - prior to my cleaning up the debris and trimming (I just returned from traveling to the Galapagos).
and Thank you Lucy: I quickly rescued my new iris and will plant them today. Our desert weather is quite mild this year - 70 degrees today.
- Anne (Mesquite, NV)
Anne,
You're entirely welcome.
And that's a gorgeous picture.
I soak the whole rhizome (not the leaves) for about a 1/2 hour if they are really, really dried out, and have had excellent luck with that. But I garden on sand. And I will bow to Lucy's superior knowledge on bearded irises.
Lovely picture. Hope to 'see' you again on the iris forum. The more the merrier.
Anne, your iris are gorgeous. I lived in Nevada for 17 years, though I lived up north, in Reno for 7 years, then Fallon (60 miles east of Reno) for 10 years. I loved it there, but winters were still cold for me. Less cold than here, but I would have liked warmer. But then the summers were nice, 90's mostly, and dry heat, which I much prefer over the humidity we get here.
Karen