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Iris foliage looks diseased....can I save the plant or no?

prairiemoon2 z6b MA

14 years ago

We have had an unusually wet and cloudy season here this year. We had weeks of almost daily rain. To add to that, I had no opportunity to weed the bed the iris are in and so the air circulation was not what it might have been. All the iris looked healthy last year. So I am wondering what I should do? Can I save the plants by cutting the foliage all the way back or do I have to throw them out and start over? Some of them also need dividing and replanting.

Thanks...

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Comments (2)

iris_gal
14 years ago
Foliage always looks bad this time of year but cutting it "all the way" back would deprive the plant of the ability to manufacture food.

The wet conditions may have encourage iris leaf spot. Not to worry. Some years it's prevalent and others not.

Dividing may be done up to 6 weeks before your first frost date. The leaves are cut back by 1/2 to prevent tip-over. So if you don't have the time to divide this year, cutting the foliage by 1/2 should be ok.
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
Original Author
14 years ago
Excellent, thanks very much! :-)
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