heaved iris

So checking out new iris planted last fall,,most of them I stepped on due to roots showing..then I wondered,,maybe I hould give them a thin layer of mushroom compost that I have on hand..I am not sure if iris really need good fertile soil? Shoud I just push them down,,or when they start growing will they pull them selves down../?thanks for any input! Dee

when you step on them you may break new roots, they best thing to do is put some soil around them or compost is fine, and replant in the spring.

I push mine down if the soil is soft under/around them.

they are in the area that they are going to grow,,so a slight push and some compost will do wonders! Have I heard somewhere iris dont need fert? any reccommendation,,,12-12-12 or bone meal or mushroomcompost..I have 67 varities,,I really want to do whats best!! Dee

Always use a low nitrogen fertilizer or the plants will have more leaves than flower stems.

Good deal,,Ill go w/bone meal to start and after flowering then go w/12-12 12..

Would you like to reccommend how you post pictures,,which program you prefer?

I post pictures with difficulty & don't have a real program--work computer very poorly.

im doing some reserch now on how to do..I want to know how,,when my 67 varities bloom this summer for the first time! Im sooooo excitied! thank- you for the input! Dee

Hi d_lilly~ I posted this reply on another thread, but I'll post it here for you,also, just in case you don't happen to read the other thread. And this is just how we do it.....

In early Spring, when new growth is appearing, we always throw out some ColorBurst.
To this we add crushed eggshells that we accumulated over the winter.

After blooming season is finished, we get alfalfa pellets from the farmers co-op here in town, and spread that around throughout the beds.
Alfalfa is great as a fertilizer/soil supplement. Its concentration of tricontanol, a hormone which stimulates root development seems to keep our TB Iris happy.

Throughout the Summer, we always toss our used coffee grounds in all the flowerbeds.
The earthworms love the coffee grounds...(happy worms...happy flowers!!)

Then, ususally the beginning of October, we'll put down some Bone Meal.

That's about it...it might sound like alot...but it's really not. Just kind of spread out thru the growing months.

thank-you i bookmarked this and will be able to use as a quick referance,,thank you!

Make sure for the fertilizer such as 12 12 12 that the first number is low, as irisma stated too much nitrogen can and will lead to rot, be careful about alfalfa pellets and I am told too much can smother the iris, light sprinkling will do.

as far as pictures I use a program called Corel.

I have sooooo much to learn!!!!!:0

Good, this is the place to be then.

when I first started with iris, I used to push them back into the ground until I saw one of the roots break and then I lost it, it did what is called a "bloomout"

I've always lived where the soil has a lot of clay and had to be amended so if I have heaving, I put sand around the roots that are showing and in the "real" spring supplement with soil. I have used 5-10-10 for 20 years.

OOOOOOOOthe sand Idea..i have x-tra sand around...Does anything really need to be done??is this just a natural thing that only us flower frieks would be concerened with? The sun is out opday,,its gonna be fourty degrees,,,Im heading out,,to do something,,,even if its wrong,,thanks for all the great comments..Im off to save the iris!...:) :) Dee

Hi d_lilly,
I am no expert on anything to start with but, when I was first excited about my new irises and trying to figure out how to post pictures I went to the camera/photography forum and did alot of experimenting.
I am still not great at it but, can get it done.
Good luck with your irises and posting !!!

We have always used 5-10-10. Supplement with alfalfa meal. That does contain weed seed, however.

willit grow- what cultivar is that, it's fantastic, it looks like Definately Different

I want to know what cultivar that iris is also. It is just to die for. WOW

Nana3

thank-you all for great ideas,,now on to the photo shop,,to learn how to post pictures! See ya Dee

Thanks 1913cat & Nana3
... yes, it is Definitely Different. Sorry I forgot to name it before I posted it.
Actually ,LOL, I was just gonna apologize for that picture a blury one. I did mention that I'm no expert at anything. I'm glad someone recognized it.

D_lily,

OMG! You got 67 Irises last year?
I've ordered about 30 this year...DH is gonna freak out...LOL

this is my first shot at photos,, I do rows,,these are 1of my 5 lily beds...I cant wait to see the Iris,,I dont even know their color,,I only have their names...Im sooo excited!

What a lovely pic! Thanks for posting it :)

How big of an area did you plant the 67?
I'm curious so I can get an idea for my 30...
I know to plant them at least 12-15" apart, and I have a length of about 35' but I'm wondering how deep/wide I'm going to go...
I'm still in the planning stage...not quite sure yet.
I'm still trying to incorporate some host plants for the butterflies in the same area. I'm undecided if I'm going to put all the Irises in the middle...and have them flanked with the host plants...like Cassia hebecarpa, False Nettle, Rue and False Indigo...just to name a few...
Or, have all the Irises to one side and the host plants on the other. I still need to get the plans concrete. What makes it difficult is that almost all the plants/bushes are going to be 30-40" tall...
And everything can't be in front or in the back of the garden...my head hurts...LOL

This message was edited Mar 1, 2009 9:42 PM

I have my iris in my old garden area,and guessing it is about 60 ft.long..and I spaced them 12" or so..I was bad thoug,,I also have 6 blue berry bushes spaced in there,,lilies solid on oppisite side and daffodils,lupines,foxglove,poppies ...my thinking was ,,,color all season... I should still have room this year to do my pole green beans,cukes and tomatoes...a friend of mine is letting me do my gourds at his farm,,they get ulgy,,and this year I need a big crop!! great minds think alike! :) :)Dee

Usually the rows are about 5-8ft wide, mine are 100ft long.

Now I am really excited, I cannot wait to see my Definately Different bloom, hopefully this year. Beautiful picture !!!!!

thank-you and hopefully more to come!! Dee

I don't like my beds over 4 ft wide because they become harder to weed!

due to my job,,I have access to carpet,,and I also had 3 hugh old ucky maple trees cut down so I am working on putting carpet around all edges of everything,,then this rough tree mulch on top..that ought to keep DH from moving to close!! By the time I get done,,he can get a smaller lawnmower!! :):) Dee I keep my rows narrow also,,or try to anyway...

1913cat, do you think the broken roots contributed to the bloomout? Just curious, as I'm not sure what all that causes may be. Was it a new planting with only a couple rhizomes, or a mature plant?

Joan, yes I do, the rhizome itself was solid. It was a newly planted rhizome. I have never had a mature clump heave on me. I learned my lesson, now I always keep a trash can full of compost handy and pile it up around the exposed roots, then in the Spring I dig is up with a pitch fork, and replant.

Most probably already know this, but when you lift iris, using a pitch fork to lift will not damage as many roots

Why do you think we would have to actually dig up and replant an iris that has heaved ?
I saw a couple of mine that had heaved. (if I know what heaving is). I tugged on them abit. They seemed to be tight still so I just filled soil in under and around them.
Is that a bad thing ? why ?

I've only replanted a heaved rhizome if it didn't seem to be rooted in any more... if it had roots going down, I figured it was better to leave those roots in place. I've only been growing irises for a couple of years, so I'm not an expert, but mine have been doing pretty well without a lot of fussing.

that's kinda what I think also Critter, LOL, I figure the irises know more about what they are doing than I do.

We've grown Iris for over 35 years here and I think it really just depends on what kind of Winter/Spring a person has in their zone on any given year.

Sometimes we have Iris that we can just push back down into the ground, and at the same time, same year,.. we'll have others that have been pushed out of the ground completely so that we'll have to replant them.

Iris rhizome are really pretty tough.....that's why you'll see Iris blooming along side a country road sometimes........somebody pitched some of their extras...usually small ones....and two years later, they are blooming...with no help from human hands at all.

Just some musings from an old grower.....it never hurts to try something new.

This message was edited Mar 2, 2009 9:14 PM

The only heaving problems I have had turned out to be an issue with planting iris too late in
the fall such as in early October. I had received an order from one of the mail order vendors
who kept changing the delivery date. I have never had a problem with my own replants since
they are always in the ground by early July. The early planting gives them time to send out
roots deeply enough to anchor them, or that was my assumption. In my zone, we have had
3 or 4 days of 40 to 70 degrees and then 3 or 4 days of 15 to 25 degree nights with a high
of 35 or so. The pattern has repeated itself almost since mid December. So far, there is
no obvious heaving. I have some heirloom fern leaf peonies trying to leaf out which makes
me nervous but there are no problems with nearly a 100 new iris planted last year in my
temp beds.

I second that, oldgardenrose.

I depends Willitgrow, with my iris, if I just pile dirt around it it is just temporary, rain washes it away. I replant to be sure it is a little deeper so it will not pull itself out again and as grannyh had said it depends also on your zone, my iris will bloom out on me if I do not watch them. I only have a few now and then that heave, but I will not push them down again where I live, it is just safer to replant.
As far as why, if your dirt is solid enough around the rhizome and secure your rhizome can grow babies on the sides of the rhizome, I really only see wash with compost, dirt should be alot firmer, not clay of course.

My soil has a lot of clay, despite amending, and they do OK in spite of it... but there's a balancing act between keeping the rhizome showing at the surface (a good thing to prevent rot when you don't have excellent drainage) and having them heave themselves up too far. I do often end up making a little mound of soil when I plant them, so if they heave just a little I'll scrape a bit more dirt up around them (or push them down if the soil is wet and soft, although I'll be more careful about that now!). I think compost or sand would wash away here.