Thought you all would get a kick out of this article.

http://www.dvis-ais.org/iris-b...

Great article! The way it has been raining here, we all need scuba gear, not just borers.

That's a nice write-up ! Thanks...Arlyn

I enjoyed it too, Greg -- thanks for the link.

Besides getting a good chuckle, I learned a few things. Thanks!

Guy's got a sense of humor, for sure!!

Humorous and informative.

You should see how he dresses! Quite the character.

Brilliant.

A good read. Laughed out loud when he spoke of singing the Circle of Life. Too funny, good humor!

On a more serious note there were two points that I found a bit confusing. One, when he described the borer, and the other when he described the moth that produces the borer. The borers I have seen that appear mature are much larger than described. I have found them to be nearly two inches long and fatter than a number 2 pencil. Obviously, they start quite teeny and can be found at any size along the way to maturity. Their color is a pale fleshy gray, yuck. The moth I have seen in person and pictures of is not white, but what I would call muddy gray and mottled with darker pigment to camouflage it, no doubt. We may be talking about more than one kind of iris borer. I hate to think about that possibility. Everything else he described was right on the money from my own ugly experience. It was by far the best article I have read on the subject.

Thank you, Greg, for getting that to us on here.

K

You see the big borers. We have found them white when very tiny. I have never seen the moths.

The mature borers that I find in rhizomes usually are larger than a number 2 pencil as well. They don't get to two inches long though, at least not in my neck of the woods.

Greg, when you see them at the mature size it can be shocking. Possibly I exaggerate from shock, but not by much. I am certain I have seen them 1.75 inches and no exaggeration in it. Even got out my ruler here at work to refresh me in just what that looks like and easily I have seen them at 1.75. The bigger they are the better target for my weapon whatever that might be at the time. The range in size is also amazing. I had never seen the teeny ones until last year and I found one rhizome with a variety of sizes and drowned them all. That was a visual lesson in range. The tiniest were white.

As I type I am getting squeamish. They are really repulsive looking to me. I treated heavier, ealier and more thoroughly this year than ever, as a result of what I saw at the end of the season last year. I had suffered an auto accident and for weeks lost my ability to garden effectively. By the time I got back to it a toll had been taken that I won't soon forget. Makes me want to get out there and treat again after going over this topic.

K

I have never seen one. I have never lost a lot of irises. I have had some just dwindle away refusing to thrive but no instances of goop on the leaves or moths or borers that I have seen or holes in the rhizomes. Now, that being said my irises will probably get a text book case. I don't want to see a fat, gray repulsive thing anywhere! ......especially on something that I take such joy in. Talk about nightmares!

I thought the canker worms that come down from the trees and nibble on all my plant leaves were obnoxious enough to kill. Not sure I could get the courage to squish a big fat borer. I would have to trowel it to death.