As I was cleaning up my Iris cutting off dead blooms, I found a few patches of eggs. I searched online for what Iris borer eggs look like, but couldn't find any photos closeup enough to actually see.

I brought the fans with the eggs in the house. They began hatching out this morning and I had lots of little black *insects* crawling on my counter, though I didn't get a photo of them because I was squishing them. Below is a photo of an egg patch that hasn't hatched. They appeared to turn from white to black right before the insects appeared. So this patch is yet to hatch, and though very tiny, I'll try to get a photo of the insect if possible, unless someone already knows the answer. [Harmful or beneficial?]

Thanks.

I have no idea, but I'll be watching for the pictures of the insects that hatch. You might contain them in a jar with an air vent to keep them contained, then you can see them for a couple days as they grow.

I know of no insects that are predatory to irises and lay their eggs on the fans. My suspicion is that the fans were in the right location with the right shelter from the sun and/or rain.

The Orthacheta Bud Fly does hatch into larvae that bores into the buds to eat the pollen inside, but they hatch at bud time to do their evil. They do prefer Siberians, then Louisianans, but others at times also. Their eggs are deposited on the bud, near the tip. So this one is eliminated as the culprit.

Iris borer eggs are laid on the stalks and leaves and overwinter, often on the dead or decaying leaf residue near the ground, so if this cluster is on a newer leaf that one is also eliminated.

I'm sorry I never got back here. I couldn't remember where I posted. And I checked in quickly today (since was raining) and ATP was doing a wierd thing where the left side bar was gone. Somehow I clicked on something and it came up with a new post to one of my watcher threads.

Anyway, I got so darn busy, and had those things (actually 3 leaf fans) laying on my stove (gas range) since everything else was so crowded. They started hatching out right before I was ready to go to the farmer's market. Tiny tiny little black insects, all over. I just began squishing them with no time to take a photo because of more pressing matters. I threw the remains outside since I didn't care to have any more of those little things crawling around since I was going to be gone all day. Silly me, I should have had a jar with breath holes, but I didn't have one available, and as small as they were they could probably have crawled out of any nail holes I might have made.

Yes, this was a newer leaf or fan blade to tall bearded Iris (before I brought it in the house and it started decaying). So much time has passed now, I don't remember really well, but my Iris bloom time was late this year. Maybe I'll try to look up that Bud Fly ... perhaps that's what it was. You have any photos of it's eggs?

Thanks for posting.

Never mind paragraph three ... I re-read my post.