Post a reply

Image
Mar 13, 2015 11:43 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Paul
Utah (Zone 5b)
Grandchildren are my greatest joy.
Annuals Enjoys or suffers cold winters Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Garden Procrastinator Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Plays in the sandbox
Tender Perennials Tomato Heads The WITWIT Badge Region: Utah Vegetable Grower Hybridizer
I received an e-mail this morning from a friend who grows iris. She had been doing some spring clean-up in her iris and found some where the fan on the mother rhizome was yellowed but the increase were green. When she grasped the yellowed fan it pulled off easily and the remaining rhizome looked corky and tannish in color. The roots came up easily. The increase were well rooted. It seems like there was an article in one of the threads recently about different types of rot but I haven't been able to find it. Any help? I think I experienced this once a few years ago and cleaned out the old rhizome and drenched the remaining plant parts with Bayer Advanced 3 in 1 Formula and it corrected the problem. The increases continued to grow. Any one with practical experience with this?
Paul Smith Pleasant Grove, Utah
Image
Mar 13, 2015 12:01 PM CST
Name: Marilyn
Central California (Zone 9b)
Annuals Irises Dog Lover Composter Cat Lover Region: California
Butterflies Birds Bee Lover Enjoys or suffers hot summers Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Arlyn posted this just a few days ago. I don't remember where...but I had bookmarked the page...

http://extension.psu.edu/pests...
Image
Mar 13, 2015 12:02 PM CST
Name: Leslie
Durham, NC (Zone 8a)
Garden Photography Cat Lover Irises Region: North Carolina Peonies Enjoys or suffers hot summers
Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Arlyn listed it in the Ghio catalog thread.

crowrita1 said:http://extension.psu.edu/pests/plant-diseases/all-fact-sheets/iris-diseases
"The chimera is a one time happenstance event where the plant has a senior moment and forgets what it is doing." - Paul Black
Image
Mar 13, 2015 12:03 PM CST
Name: Leslie
Durham, NC (Zone 8a)
Garden Photography Cat Lover Irises Region: North Carolina Peonies Enjoys or suffers hot summers
Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Crossposted!
"The chimera is a one time happenstance event where the plant has a senior moment and forgets what it is doing." - Paul Black
Image
Mar 13, 2015 12:21 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Paul
Utah (Zone 5b)
Grandchildren are my greatest joy.
Annuals Enjoys or suffers cold winters Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Garden Procrastinator Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Plays in the sandbox
Tender Perennials Tomato Heads The WITWIT Badge Region: Utah Vegetable Grower Hybridizer
Thanks Marilyn and Leslie I knew I had seen it. Doesn't exactly fix my friends problem though......
Paul Smith Pleasant Grove, Utah
Last edited by Calif_Sue Mar 13, 2015 10:25 PM Icon for preview
Image
Mar 13, 2015 3:54 PM CST
Name: Bonnie Sojourner
Harris Brake Lake, Arkansas (Zone 7a)
Magnolia zone
Region: United States of America Region: Arkansas Master Gardener: Arkansas Irises Plant and/or Seed Trader Moon Gardener
Garden Ideas: Master Level Dragonflies Bulbs Garden Art Celebrating Gardening: 2015 Gardens in Buckets
I may have experienced that this spring with one of the irises I got from the PNW sale last fall. The rhizome has what look to be healthy new increases but the rhizome is brown and looks wasted. I cleaned the old rhizome out and left the increases to see what they would do. ???
Thro' all the tumult and the strife I hear the music ringing; It finds an echo in my soul— How can I keep from singing?
Image
Mar 13, 2015 4:16 PM CST
Name: Jane H.
Kentucky (Zone 6b)
Birds Region: Kentucky Clematis Daylilies Irises Region: United States of America
I had a question similar to that but the article did not precisely address it. The fan from the rhizome was completely fallen over and not really moldy but gray looking. When I looked at the rhizome, it was perfectly white and not mushy. It was a new rhizome (Sweetly Sung) planted in the fall from a reputable vendor. In a panic, I began to dig it up after reading the article thinking it had crown rot but the roots were so thick it was hard to do. As I dug around, I saw two tiny increases coming on. So I lightly pushed it back in and left it. Now I think I ruined the increases and still do not know if it has crown rot and will infect my whole bed of new plants. Any ideas?
Image
Mar 13, 2015 4:31 PM CST
Name: Marilyn
Central California (Zone 9b)
Annuals Irises Dog Lover Composter Cat Lover Region: California
Butterflies Birds Bee Lover Enjoys or suffers hot summers Celebrating Gardening: 2015
sorry Janie, I have not experienced that...but I think I would have done what you did...or possibly potted it up and moved it away from the healthy plants to the place where I nurse the sick ones and give them extra attention.
Image
Mar 13, 2015 4:38 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Paul
Utah (Zone 5b)
Grandchildren are my greatest joy.
Annuals Enjoys or suffers cold winters Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Garden Procrastinator Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Plays in the sandbox
Tender Perennials Tomato Heads The WITWIT Badge Region: Utah Vegetable Grower Hybridizer
I am not recommending this but I had a problem once several years ago and it worked for me. I had the problem so I bought some Bayer Advanced All In One Rose and Floral Care..........a systemic. I mixed it with water 1 to 4 and used it as a drench. The mother rhizome didn't make it but the increase did.
Paul Smith Pleasant Grove, Utah
Last edited by Paul2032 Mar 13, 2015 4:39 PM Icon for preview
Image
Mar 13, 2015 4:59 PM CST
Name: Jane H.
Kentucky (Zone 6b)
Birds Region: Kentucky Clematis Daylilies Irises Region: United States of America
If the increases don't keep growing I will definitely dig it up and try to save it. I have nursed sick plants before, not always successfully but do not want to lose all of my Tom Johnson new ones that are planted nearby.
Thanks for the advice. Sweetly Sung was the most expensive one I bought last year since I got all of the new TJ's at our private club sale.
Image
Mar 13, 2015 5:37 PM CST
Name: Tom
Southern Wisconsin (Zone 5b)
Butterflies Vegetable Grower Keeper of Poultry Irises Keeps Horses Dog Lover
Daylilies Cat Lover Region: Wisconsin Celebrating Gardening: 2015
I would just scrape out the soft tissue, and dust it with some comet cleanser with bleach. I haven't had that kind of mold spread from one to another plant. It ususally just stays with the clump that's afftected.
Politicians are like diapers, they need to be changed often, and for the same reason.
Image
Mar 13, 2015 7:36 PM CST
Name: Leslie
Durham, NC (Zone 8a)
Garden Photography Cat Lover Irises Region: North Carolina Peonies Enjoys or suffers hot summers
Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Jane - is the rhizome shriveling at all? I have had a few main rhizomes look a bit shrivelled. I have scraped any soft part off and poured a bleach/water solution over it. The increases kept growing and the mother rhizome never rotted out more. In the south we are so much warmer, so some of the big fat rhizomes from the pacific northwest react a bit to the change in moisture and warmth. Keep an eye on the rhizome, scrape and clean as necessary and try to let it dry out as much as possible.
"The chimera is a one time happenstance event where the plant has a senior moment and forgets what it is doing." - Paul Black
Image
Mar 13, 2015 7:38 PM CST
Name: Leslie
Durham, NC (Zone 8a)
Garden Photography Cat Lover Irises Region: North Carolina Peonies Enjoys or suffers hot summers
Celebrating Gardening: 2015
I will post a picture of Immortality tomorrow. It is a good example of what I am trying to say.
"The chimera is a one time happenstance event where the plant has a senior moment and forgets what it is doing." - Paul Black
Image
Mar 13, 2015 8:30 PM CST
Moderator
Name: Kent Pfeiffer
Southeast Nebraska (Zone 5b)
Charter ATP Member I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Plant Database Moderator Plant Identifier Region: Nebraska Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Million Pollinator Garden Challenge Forum moderator Irises Garden Sages Garden Ideas: Master Level
Paul2032 said:I received an e-mail this morning from a friend who grows iris. She had been doing some spring clean-up in her iris and found some where the fan on the mother rhizome was yellowed but the increase were green. When she grasped the yellowed fan it pulled off easily and the remaining rhizome looked corky and tannish in color. The roots came up easily. The increase were well rooted. It seems like there was an article in one of the threads recently about different types of rot but I haven't been able to find it. Any help? I think I experienced this once a few years ago and cleaned out the old rhizome and drenched the remaining plant parts with Bayer Advanced 3 in 1 Formula and it corrected the problem. The increases continued to grow. Any one with practical experience with this?


Sounds like Botrytis, which was widespread in this area last year. I'm not convinced there is a treatment for it. Plants seem to either recover on their own or they die.

I had it throughout my beds last year, but only actually lost one named plant, 'Boy Genius'. It did cost me a lot of bloom, though, because the blooming sized rhizomes were heavily affected while small increases generally were not.
Image
Mar 14, 2015 12:10 AM CST
(Zone 9b)
Region: California Garden Ideas: Level 1
I just lost Owyhee Desert (planted this year), all the fans had fallen over and had some brown on them, so I dug it up. The roots were healthy, the rhizome was firm and healthy, yet all the fans came off easily...even on the increases. I gave it a dip (more of a soak) in a diluted bleach bath. Then thought better of it and ended up tossing it into the trash can. I drenched the hole were it was planted with diluted bleach.

I experienced that corky rhizome loss last year too. They were all newly planted rhizomes that were hit, even a tough as nails NoID.
Image
Mar 14, 2015 8:19 AM CST
Name: Leslie
Durham, NC (Zone 8a)
Garden Photography Cat Lover Irises Region: North Carolina Peonies Enjoys or suffers hot summers
Celebrating Gardening: 2015
I lost Redrock Princess the same way Rob. I tried to save her by dipping and putting her in a pot, but after awhile the increases started yellowing and dying one by one. I sure hated to throw it away, but no choice.

If I get some good increases on Owyhee I will send you some, unless you have already reordered it.
"The chimera is a one time happenstance event where the plant has a senior moment and forgets what it is doing." - Paul Black
Image
Mar 14, 2015 8:51 AM CST
South central PA (Zone 6a)
Irises Region: Pennsylvania
I'd have to agree with Tom and others; just clean out the soft areas and use bleach water or bleach cleanser, then wait. Often the mother rhizome goes about its last stage of living after blooming and shooting off some increase. This treatment will not save the mama if in that stage but would save most or all of the increase.

Losing all the fan is often a form of rot which needs aggressive bleach cleaning and treatment of the area with bleach cleanser. This is usually caused by too much water around the roots. In my clay soil in areas where the soil is rather flat I often keep most of the rhizomes raised up in small hills to allow water to drain and not pool around them. Gentle lifting with a spading fork and filling under the clump has worked well to raise them where the soil needs no treatment. Arlyn has had this problem as well, especially starting in the spring with the snow melt causing puddling. I am on the watch for this again as the snow melts.
Image
Mar 14, 2015 11:33 AM CST
(Zone 9b)
Region: California Garden Ideas: Level 1
Thank you for the kind offer Leslie! I tip my hat to you. I do have a couple of little healthy back up ones growing in pots.

Dave, I wish it was a case of too much water. We didn't receive any rain in January and only one good weekend of a lot of rain in February. Plus, most of my iris beds are planted on a slope, especially the bed where Owyhee was planted. So there's no chance of pooling water. I do thank you for the tips! I tip my hat to you.

When I start planting in my flat field, I will plant them on raised rows...or in raised beds.
Image
Mar 14, 2015 11:40 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Paul
Utah (Zone 5b)
Grandchildren are my greatest joy.
Annuals Enjoys or suffers cold winters Plant Lover: Loves 'em all! Garden Procrastinator Hosted a Not-A-Raffle-Raffle Plays in the sandbox
Tender Perennials Tomato Heads The WITWIT Badge Region: Utah Vegetable Grower Hybridizer
We have had an extremely dry winter here so to much moisture isn't the cause in my friends garden.
Paul Smith Pleasant Grove, Utah
Image
Mar 14, 2015 11:11 PM CST
Name: Brad
iowa (Zone 5a)
I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Celebrating Gardening: 2015
Hi Guys sorry I meant to post this for Marilyn a couple days ago but have been enjoying our great weather here and getting the beds cleaned up and the dead leaves off the plants we have had a week in the 70's and the forecast is calling for almost 80 on Monday so I have been taking advantage of it Smiling The plants have taken off and started growing with tulips and alliums popping out of the ground. I think spring is here Hurray! but this is Iowa and history tells me we will get another snow storm before May so I better enjoy it because we can be back in a deep freeze next week but this weather is Awesome and welcomed here.


This is what Winter Kill Botrytis looks like notice the grey/Black mold at the base of the plant where the leaves attach and stood out right away after the snow melted, it has a real distinctive look the plants I had affected with this were all planted late this year and I suspect this is why Although I have had this occur in the past it is nothing compared to the monster below.
Thumb of 2015-03-14/ARUBA1334/1dd550 Thumb of 2015-03-14/ARUBA1334/3ee734
Thumb of 2015-03-14/ARUBA1334/bba9c5 Thumb of 2015-03-14/ARUBA1334/264c06

This was my problem last year while not 100% sure it is Botrytis it sure seems to fit the description I wish there was more information on it out there, a few years ago when I had a bout with Scorch a friend sent me a small pamphlet from a DR. named R S Jackson that did a study and talked about what he called the worst fungus disease of Bearded Iris Botrytis Rhizome Rot, it basically says that at the time of his writing it had basically eliminated the commercial growing of Iris in certain areas of the US which I'm guessing is the Midwest while other areas of the country it is of little significance the pamphlet goes on to explain how difficult it is to detect and diagnosis it correctly and is commonly confused with Bacterial Soft Rot his thoughts was the infection normally occurs in the fall but the signs are not recognizable until spring after the damage has been done. He recommended spraying the plants on a bi-weekly program in the fall until the ground was frozen with a fungicide.
Thumb of 2015-03-15/ARUBA1334/b2da08 Thumb of 2015-03-15/ARUBA1334/e6a333

I battled this all last spring and tried spraying the Bleach's and Comet powder on the bulbs and a couple different Fungicides that I could buy at the box stores on it like Paul mentioned and nothing seemed to stop the rot what surprised me the most was I scraped it out like soft rot and the main bulb seemed to get hard and I thought great, got it beat and under control and then as soon as we got rain which was constant in the spring the bulb was soft and the rot returned again this is what was so frustrating because it started out just in the main bulb and over a couple months it spread to the increase as well so I lost the whole plant.

I finally figured out if I just cut out the rotted bulb it stopped spreading and I was able to save some of the increase or at least for most of them it worked until I had time to dig everything. I kept some infected bulbs of it around to experiment with and left some in Full Sun on the sidewalk for a month to see if it dried out in the heat and killed it and the rot was unfazed Crying . I ended up digging everything in the garden and removing the dirt around the Berms with a Bobcat and replacing with new soil so I knew it was know longer active in the soil here. This spring there are still some pockets of it here but nothing like last year out of 2000 seedlings planted last spring I might have had 50 with it I quickly cut out the rotted part and the increase has taken off. If I would have done this earlier last year probably would have saved a lot more.

Thumb of 2015-03-15/ARUBA1334/504825

I had another grower with experience with it recommend a fungicide called Pagent that has been successful in stopping it so going to experiment with it and another one called Terraclor 400 both claim on the label to be a preventive for Botrytis and Bulb Rot so we will see what happens and if either of them work will Update this.

Only the members of the Members group may reply to this thread.
  • Started by: Paul2032
  • Replies: 63, views: 8,761
Member Login:

( No account? Join now! )

Today's site banner is by Zoia and is called "Volunteer"

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.