From time to time people mention bloom -out, a thing I've never experienced. Now I fear I may face that. Last year I planted Friendly Advice. It is not particularly robust - it has not even put out any increases. Nonetheless, we had a heavy thunderstorm that seems to have inspired it to send out a bloom stalk. I don't even think it's big enough to support one. Is there any preventative action I can take?

Last year I had a single fan of either Rustler or Tom Johnson that had only one fan, and one of them started to put up a bloom stalk. I nipped it out. I doubt it helped much. This year I have 2 fans of Tom Johnson and one of Rustler. They are in too much shade to thrive well and the rhizomes received from a certain vendor were small.

Now I have another decision to make. I have only one fan of Drinks at Sunset, and it, too, is sending up a stalk. But have waited so long to get and see this one that think I'll let it bloom and then fertilize it after bloom to encourage new starts. And hope for the best!

Thanks, Daisy. Super helpful.

Probably not so helpful, for you can see I am still exploring this matter, myself. I have a sneaking suspicion that once a rhizome initiates a bud internally and sends up a stalk, most of the mother rhizome's energy for bloom has already been expended and it has hollowed itself out in the process of making the bud. So it's going to be a "mother" rhizome, no matter what. It will never bloom the next year anyway is what I'm saying. Might as well see it bloom and fertilize it to encourage new start(s). It's a gamble, but I'm 74 and with age 74 comes a certain impatience.

I have a few iris that are doing weird things - though both of them are in the premium sunny beds, the plants are small - they don't look like TB's. Both were planted last year and are sending up tiny bloom stalks, when it seems they shouldn't be. They have put out other fans, so I'm not worried about the bloomout risk, but it's nevertheless odd. I'm wondering if this is a consequence of using a "super bloom" fertilizer. Just in case, I'm going to use a 0-10-10 natural fish based fertilizer that I just ordered for my post bloom feeding. Of course the other plants are loving the super bloom stuff. Any ideas would be appreciated. I'm new to this chemical fertilizer thing.

Some irises just seem to send out the increases after bloom. Bloom out is pretty rare, but does happen. If you cut off the stalk it will often have more energy to put into the increases. Even if you cut it when it just starts to bloom and enjoy it in the house, it can help. Good luck!

Thanks, Tom! So helpful

tveguy3 said: Some irises just seem to send out the increases after bloom. Bloom out is pretty rare, but does happen. If you cut off the stalk it will often have more energy to put into the increases. Even if you cut it when it just starts to bloom and enjoy it in the house, it can help. Good luck!

I agree with Tom. Cut the stalk & enjoy it indoors. The energy should go into making increases. As mentioned on another thread, I used that technique on SDB, Chanted, when it was new which resulted in formation of increases which saved the plant.

Thank you, Lucy!

bloom out is a regular occurrence, in my garden. i have very few large clumps with a few exceptions. two of the irises that fit into the exceptions category have been 'navy blues' and 'concertina'. ( 'c' is a reblooming intermediate.)

i haven't had 'nb' for very long, but under other conditions than my garden, i think it could become a bully.

my garden for the most part, is dry, sandy, lacking in organic nutrients (tho' i try to provide more), gopher ridden (DH has trapped more than he can count**), and we have alkaline water, with very little annual rainfall.

i've cut off bloom stalks, fertilized heavily with osmocote; and the results have been loss more than gain. so, the varieties i grow, have to be 'toughies' or they don't stay long.

** we now use a device called a gopher hawk that has been quite effective in this small garden, and less preparation than the other types of spring loaded traps.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KXE6RKK/






while these clumps may not be large for most garden standards, they are for mine.

Beautiful pics, Daphne.

Given your plant attrition, and that you now only have "toughies", it might be a good thing to start a new thread about "tough" (hard to kill) irises. That would be a benefit to newbies, or folks with difficult gardening environments, I should think.

I had a look at your Gopher Hawk thing. I'm stupid - I can't quite figure out how to set it, or how such a flimsy looking thing humanely kills. And if I can't figure it out, I'm pretty sure my garden helper (in charge of setting traps for the pests) can't figure it out. Maybe I'll discuss it with DH when he has some bandwidth.

thank you for the compliment, marilyn. both are in the same bed. one at the top of the bed near the house, and the other near the street and common sidewalk.

What's hard to grow in one environment will sometimes be a great grower in another. One sometimes just has to try them out and see how they do, I guess. I've had some that have struggled for a few years, and then seem to just take off. I've also learned that some like the soil to be more alkaline then others. So now when one seems to be struggling, I add a bit of garden lime around them. Very often that's all they want, even though others near them are doing fine without it. I guess they all have their own "personality".

Add to the bloom out risk collection

a plant Barb was kind enough to send me in 2018. It is another one that did not like it's location (right next to Money in Your Pocket that became a huge clump)

I moved the one small fan to a sunnier location and it was looking healthy though had not put out any increase. This morning it is showing a bloom stalk. This has never happened to me before. I'm thinking that it must be the super bloom fertilizer. It seems that it boosts plants ready to bloom like crazy, but also encourages ones that are too small to bloom to bloom instead of grow. Anyone have any ideas on this matter? There must be a reason why growers use 10-10-10 instead of 10-54-10.

Interesting, Tom, about the soil alkalinity thing. The soil here is somewhat on the acidic side.

I'll try that. We have acid soil here. THANK YOU!

tveguy3 said: What's hard to grow in one environment will sometimes be a great grower in another. One sometimes just has to try them out and see how they do, I guess. I've had some that have struggled for a few years, and then seem to just take off. I've also learned that some like the soil to be more alkaline then others. So now when one seems to be struggling, I add a bit of garden lime around them. Very often that's all they want, even though others near them are doing fine without it. I guess they all have their own "personality".

Just a word of caution. If the bloom out mother rhizome has no nubbins (bumps) then no amount of fertilizer, watering, cutting the stalk out as it develops and bloom will make it increase. We always let them bloom and when their done, dig it check for nubbins. If none, forget it and dump it and go on to better things.

Joseph, so appreciate you weighing in.

Thank you for spending your life creating such works of art for us to enjoy. The world is better for what you have done, and what is better than that?

JosephGhio said: Just a word of caution. If the bloom out mother rhizome has no nubbins (bumps) then no amount of fertilizer, watering, cutting the stalk out as it develops and bloom will make it increase. We always let them bloom and when their done, dig it check for nubbins. If none, forget it and dump it and go on to better things.

Oh,I so agree!
Joseph,thanks so much for all the beauties you have created through the years.Your creations have brought me so much joy.

joe! i am a huge fan of your pink bubbled/ruffled irises! as well as 'expose', 'day on the bay, 'spluge','starring','cardinal rule' just to name a few of my favorites. wish i could grow more, but alas, space is limited. thank you