Iris are amazingly hardy. Plant them. I would be surprised if they actually bloom next year, but then you are in CA & very different from my weather. Plant them in the ground & water them in, then leave them alone. I would even plant the dried up roots, sometimes there is still a bit of life in them. If there is mold on the leaves, you can cut that back. I would not bother to soak them before planting. I tend to worry more about rot.

I second ngraham's comments. Soaking can rot them. Just plant them and see what starts to grow. I would not bother with a fungicide.

I'm glad to hear you have recovered from the surgery.

Renee

They'll be fine and I too agree with no fungicide. You could give the molded ones 10 minutes in a 10% bleach-90% water mixture. But the sun will take care of it.

I wouldn't cut back existing leaves. After they are rooted in (2 months?) the old leaves may detach quite easily. That's when I would remove them.

I once received an order with totally moldy rhizomes! Can you imagine someone shipping that! And they all grew beautifully.

Thanks so much everyone! I now have hope! I'm going out today to divide a few of the iris I have in the ground, then amend the beds.

Will plant the poor dears in a few days.

Barbara

A method for starting Iris which are "not in the best shape" is to pot them into 4" pots with regular potting soil (not dirt) and keep them watered and in partial shade until they grow roots and start a new leaf or 2, before planting them out in the garden.

When potting you can remove the 'dead' roots entirely.

I use this for starting tired old rhizomes, toes* etc. with almost complete success. I also have started to do this when it's too hot to plant, or I don't have a bed ready...

* a toe is a new rhizome bud which has not formed a leaf yet.

Chad