Yes! For bearded iris, most iris growers wait 6 weeks or so to allow for the maximum new fans to be produced. The rhizome that bloomed this year will send out new fans for next year's flowers but will not bloom again itself. If your iris was a rebloomer, you may not get rebloom this fall but you will have a good chance of bloom next spring. Don't forget a little fertilizer with a high middle number(phosphorus) in the bottom of your planting hole for good bud production.

According to Price's book and other breeders immediately after bloom is the preferred time to allow for maximum increases.

Logically this would be especially essential for rebloomers.

Could you clarify? The question was about transplanting optimum timing. Then there was a reference to feeding. So, was the advice from Price's book regarding what you do "immediately" after bloom about transplanting or feeding??

Irisawe

Hello............and a HUGE thnx! I guess I must wait 'til fall for new shoots/fans...........
Patience, by far, is not my strongest suit; which brings to mind an additional question:
Should the green leaves be cut down after the blooming is over?
Or perhaps strength is absorbed thru them like tulips....

Iris Nut: what is the fertilizer you recommend for the replant/relocation?????
Wonderful to receive advice from the knowledge base of folks. Jaemy

PLEASE, do not cut down green leaves. They are making your rhizomes bigger for better blooms this fall(rebloomer) or next spring. As the outside leaves brown, pull them away from the rhizome. If your leaf tips brown, cut them back so you can stand to look at them. Usually you only cut down the leaves in an inverted V shape when you transplant.

Dr E. Roy Epperson in his writeup in the AIS booklet 'Basic Iris Culture' recommends N-P-K 5-10-10 for general use. Low nitrogen, higher phosphorus and higher potassium. If you call your local County Co-operative Extension Service for your county, they can make better information about whether you typically have acidic or alkaline soiland make recommendations for lime or sulphur. I don't think you can go wrong with compost and any brand of 5-10-10 fertilizer.

Here in Las Cruces, NM we have plenty of the last number potassium in our soil, low phosphorus and inadequate organic matter. We have alkaline soil. I use 0-45-0 superphosphate and 14-14-14 time release in equal parts in my planting hole with compost or alfalfa (rabbit pellets) for organic matter. This gives me a fertilizer value of 7-29-7 at planting time. This isn't what Dr. Epperson recommended but it works for me and I have many pounds of 14-14-14 fertilizer to use up before I change my ways. Other Mesilla Valley Iris Society members use and swear by BR-61. It is pricier than superphosphate but has the advantage that it is applied as a liquid foliar feeding and has trace minerals that are usually not soluble in our alkaline soils. My favorite hybridizer in Denver uses compost and superphosphate at planting and superphosphate before bloom time.

To sum up: good drainage, compost, low nitrogen(for green leaves), medium to high phosphorus(for flowering) and some potassium(for root growth) if you need it.

As far as I know the six weeks period has nothing to do with maximum new fans, but with producing the 'embryo' (don't know if it is the proper English word for this) for the next year flower buds. At least it is what I read in a book on Iris.