I put in an iris bed last year. Everyone says not to mulch around Iris. But after a rainy week the weeds are as big as the plants and it's hard to get in to weed without injuring the iris. Plus it is killing my back. Any suggestions on how to win the weed war?

I mulch with pine bark. I just pull the mulch at least an inch away from the rhizomes. I need to mulch again.

I mulch with small redwood bark, but the small weeds are ubiquitous here. I'm resigned to always having a weedy garden, because I won't use herbicides, including pre-emergents, and I also just can't keep up with them.

Me too!

I don't use herbicides either! It takes me until August to get all the weeds out! Sometimes they are way to prevalent in my photos for my liking but it is what it is!!!
I have won some battles though and extinct certain weeds from my yard so my hope is one year I will have it under control to the point It will take very little maintenance.
The best advice I ever had came off this forum and sadly I can't remember who gave it. But they said get the weeds by the time they flower, to keep them from going to seed, or something like that. Since I started following that advice I have had much higher success. I also, each year pick one or two weeds i call Public Enemy #1 and I focus on wiping them out! I have had a lot of success this way! But I am fighting a clover war right now. I love clover but not in my Iris gardens, so I am trying to ban it from my yard. I should had a very flat tummy by the end of that battle

I have a lot of clover, too and grass weeds... I work at it every day. It is slow going. I didn't weed last year, so now I am paying the price!

We u se Grass B Gon as it doesn't hurt iris, but that is it! Sorry, computer, but that is the way it is spelled.

Lucy ~ Haha...you have to train your computer. Easier than training a cat!

I gave up on training mine and turned off the spell-check. Now I just have to deal with slight slippage of the touch screen so that unless I touch the left side of a key, the key to the right of that one registers. What a pain. I now have a new device on order.

This year the scarlet pimpernel (at least, I think that's what it is) has gone crazy... It's by no means my only weed, but it does seem to have increased in numbers from previous years. It's a charming little weed and I almost hate to pull it out, but... it IS a weed.



(Random comment here... In my junior year of high school my English teacher kicked me out of his class and sent me to another (better) teacher for independent study, which I did the rest of that year. That gave me carte blanche to pretty much read whatever I wanted, and one of the things that I read was 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', which was a pretty good romance/action/thriller novel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... Arguably certain modern superhero conventions such as having a secret identity derived from this character.)

Marilyn, I read and enjoyed that one, too. But I have to say that your scarlet pimpernel should be called the orange pimpernel!

Polymerous said:(Random comment here... In my junior year of high school my English teacher kicked me out of his class and sent me to another (better) teacher for independent study, which I did the rest of that year. That gave me carte blanche to pretty much read whatever I wanted, and one of the things that I read was 'The Scarlet Pimpernel', which was a pretty good romance/action/thriller novel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... Arguably certain modern superhero conventions such as having a secret identity derived from this character.)

Loved that book when I was in middle school.

I enjoyed the story, too. Didn't know it was a weed!

Still like it & have a copy somewhere.

lauriemorningglory said: I enjoyed the story, too. Didn't know it was a weed!

* cough * "common wayside flower" * cough *

Polymerous said:* cough * "common wayside flower" * cough *

(Chuckle, chuckle!)

Right now, I'd recommend just focusing on the weeds that are flowering and setting seed. Cut off the tops, deadhead, whatever, just keep them from reseeding (some weeds produce thousands of seeds per plant).

Later this year, maybe consider redoing the bed, and get all the weeds out to "start over". Or, if that's not an option, just work on getting the weeds out as much as you can. At any rate, the best way to deal with weeds is to prevent them from growing in the first place. I highly recommend a preemergent herbicide. I use Preen.

As for mulching, I think it depends on what you are growing (bearded vs beardless), and what you use for mulch. I mulch my beardless with bark mulch, and put it around my bearded irises (but not on top of the rhizomes). That said, in the fall my aunt piles up all the leaves in her yard and runs them through the lawn mower, then dumps them on her flower beds including her bearded irises. They still grow and bloom each year.

julieseward1 said:I put in an iris bed last year. Everyone says not to mulch around Iris. But after a rainy week the weeds are as big as the plants and it's hard to get in to weed without injuring the iris. Plus it is killing my back. Any suggestions on how to win the weed war?

We are both in Ohio. We may have some differences in situation like how much sun and drainage, but borers are a real issue in this region.

Some folks have pine needles("straw?") Which they say is less inclined to contribute to dampness and therefore rot and leaf spot.

I. Love. Tiny stones. Pebble mulch. I bought some as tiny pea gravel pebbles from home depot.

I have clay that I could sculpt with. Drainage challenges. A puppy. A pond. No weed treatments, because either the dog will eat them or it's going to drain as runoff into the pond. The pebbles are not perfect. But the weeding is easier, because the weeds have to get leggy to push their way up so they are easy to pull and significantly more sparse than without them. And they help with crappy drainage issues.

I apply a lot to shape the drainage paths, and not so thick around the irises. Stifles weeds and doesn't contribute to excessive moistness. It's a win for me.

...and it's pretty too!