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londa_gw

Fix Fallen-over Iris?

londa
9 years ago

Planted a slew of Iris which bloomed beautifully this year (they're done now) - however, some of the flower-bearing stalks were practically growing horizontallyl What did I do wrong and how do I fix it?

Comments (5)

  • iris_gal
    9 years ago

    Was the foliage standing straight? If so good. Means roots were deep enough to anchor it. But the stalk was too heavy. If their 2nd year bloom still leans you will need to stake.

    Be sure to use deep soaking on beardeds to force the roots deep. And don't water again until the top few inches of soil are dry.

  • londa
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thank you, Iris Gal! "Some" of them have leaning foliage, others are upright. Do I need to re-plant the serious leaners and put them deeper? On the photo you can see she was really laying down!

    Staking next year is now the plan!

    And I'm willing to bet I watered too frequently - I'll do less often now.

  • iris_gal
    9 years ago

    Is the soil coming up 1/2 way or more on the sides of the rhizomes? See if the new babies are deeper than the parent. The parent rhizome that bloomed is going to die so I think I'd watch to see how the babies are situated.

    Do you have summer rains? Might be enuf for the rhiz. In any case, using your trowel to check soil moisture is the best way to judge. I see the pansies in front. They would need more water than the iris.

    If the new baby rhiz. are at the right depth and stalks keep falling even with deeper less frequent water, then stake. Oh, also, do not use high nitrogen fertilizer.

  • dublinbay z6 (KS)
    9 years ago

    I have several beds of irises which stand up straight--except one batch planted so that they only get afternoon and especially late afternoon sun (very hot here in my zone6 Kansas). Those irises are always leaning over reaching for the western sun and I repeatedly have to use single flower stem supports (available at stores like Home Depot) to keep them up.

    If I had any more sunny spots open, I'd move those irises (beautiful batch of "Superstition") so that I wouldn't have the headache of always propping them up. No way I'll get rid of them, however. They are gorgeous, but you can kinda see how they reach for the western sun and part of one support I tried (it didn't work very well).
    {{gwi:228930}}

    Kate

  • madeyna
    9 years ago

    If the whole plant is falling over you can stake it using the U shaped gardenfabric staples right over the rysom to give it more support until the roots get a chance to really dig in. If its just the flower stalks falling over I have had good luck with making a point of shaking the water off them in the morning to take the weight off or in some cases using peonie cages.

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