Good morning, I was gifted 5 X Iris tubers last week, all tubers are firm, they had absolutely no roots but I placed in a bowl of water 3 days ago ano now there's plenty of roots. I have them in a bucket of water as can't be planted just yet. How would I go forward with these please? Should they stay in water? Should I just place in a tub with compost until planted in garden?
Lincolnshire UK.

I wouldn't have placed bearded iris in water.
Maybe a pot of dry sand...
I'd want to plant them out in the garden as soon as I could!

stone said: I wouldn't have placed bearded iris in water.
Maybe a pot of dry sand...
I'd want to plant them out in the garden as soon as I could!

Thank you, I will do. It'll be almost another 10 days before planting is possible,

When you do plant them, it sometimes helps "hold" them in the soil by pinning them down with a landscape staple, or a "hook" made from a coat hanger. The Rhizome never gets planted very deep...in fact, in most cases it should have it's "top" exposed....so, with no large root system, they need something to ho;d them in place, until the newly formed roots get established.

You can pot them until you can plant them in the garden. Many of us here have extensive "pot ghettos" of irises. It would be better to have well draining soil than maybe compost, but whatever you have... just get them out of the water before they start to rot. Pot (and later plant) them as Arlyn described.

The general rule of thumb is to water daily until you see new growth (foliage growth) emerging, then back off.

Welcome to the forum!

@startedold to the iris for(u)m. you're getting great, sage advice from avid and long-time growers from the two above.

wishing you success with your iris ventures, and please share your photos with us when they bloom?

share pictures!

to the iris forum Startedold.

Thanks everyone for your comments and advice. We're enlarging a wildlife pond, it's yet to be dug out and re-filled. Do I need to cut all those leaves to about 6" please? When those Iris are insitu, I'll be sending images! Happy Thursday everyone 😀

Do you know what kind of iris they are?

If they are bearded irises, they won't be happy in that bucket for long and they probably won't do well if planted into a wet environment. On the other hand, if they are Japanese irises or Iris pseudacorus. you will want to keep them in that bucket until they can be planted and they should do fine if planted in or near a pond.

Either way, cutting the leaves back a bit would be beneficial.

For what it's worth, they look like bearded iris rhizomes to me, but that's no guarantee that they are.

Year, bearded irises don't like being soaked. They rot easily.

KentPfeiffer said: Do you know what kind of iris they are?

If they are bearded irises, they won't be happy in that bucket for long and they probably won't do well if planted into a wet environment. On the other hand, if they are Japanese irises or Iris pseudacorus. you will want to keep them in that bucket until they can be planted and they should do fine if planted in or near a pond.

Either way, cutting the leaves back a bit would be beneficial.

For what it's worth, they look like bearded iris rhizomes to me, but that's no guarantee that they are.

I wasn't clear, they'll be planted in the soil beside the pond not in it 😊. I took them out of the water this morning, I don't have sand, but do have compost. I'll cut those leaves off.

DaisyDo said: Year, bearded irises don't like being soaked. They rot easily.

Bearded, and no longer in water, 😊

If you cut the leaves entirely off, they probably won't make it through the winter. During winter the cholophyll in the leaves is still making food to sustain them.

Unless you are planting in the next couple of days it would be better to plant them in some potting mix instead of just sand. That way their root system can start to grow and you will have plenty of root to hold them in the ground after they are planted.

I think it's better to leave the leaves alone.
Cutting the leaves off plants isn't actually helpful to plants... that's just something people do to make themselves feel good.

Also... I would NOT plant these in compost!
If no sand... just dig some soil out of the yard.

Agreed. Straight compost is too high in nitrogen probably.

Cutting the leaves to about 6 or 7 inches will help stabilize them when newly planted so they won't be top heavy and fall over. New leaves and roots grow quickly.. I'll use smallish rocks on rhizomes that don't have decent sized roots. They're easier to source out in the garden when the pins are all the way back to the garage..