Or cut up old bleach bottles into tags and mark them with paint markers on both sides. Punch a hole in them and use twist ties to attach them.You can assign a number to each cross you make and just put that number on the tags. If you make 6 identical crosses, they each get the same number.

Good idea, Tom. How about scattering grit around the irises which you use for hybridizing.

My chickens make short work of getting rid of slugs. I've heard that you can use shallow dishes of beer and they are attracted to it. I don't know if it kills them or just makes them into lazy drunks!

I understand they drown in the beer...they can't get back out. Another thing I'm going to try is that I bought (super cheap) 3 'snail hotels' which is a piece of wood slightly raised that you set on the ground. The snails are attracted to the moist shade, so then you just lift the hotel & scrape the snails into a bag, tie it, and throw it in the trash. Seems like it might be less messy to dispose of than the beer traps. We'll see.

Thanks for the great ideas on the tags. Since I seem to be going through a lot of bleach that idea might be convenient and cheap.

Speaking of bleach...I had to dig up Shadows of Night yesterday. The mother rhizome had rotted and some of the babies were goners too. Maybe I'm just putting it in a bad place...but that's the second time I've had to rescue it from rot. Has anyone else grown that one?

I lost Shadows of Night last year to rot, but I replaced it and put it in a different place, we'll see what happens next spring.

Hmmmm......I guess we'll see.

For what it's worth, I've had Shadows of Night for a few years without any issues with rot. Seems to grow well here, doesn't always bloom real heavily, but the plants always look good.

It's a good looking Iris. Might have to ponder getting that one...

You might attract me into your beds if leave beer out.

For slugs and snails I use a few shallow beers bowls (beer is too good to waste ), some shallow used cooking oil bowls (great for earwigs too!), washed crushed eggs shells, copper tape and in bad cases liquid sluggo. If I see the plants being eaten to death, you'll find me out there at night with a flashlight doing the crunch-a-munch snail dance.

The shallow bowls I use are saved plastic containers from fresh salsa, hummus, etc..

That sucks you both lost Shadows Of Night.

earwigs will go to cooking oil in bowls? I will need to try that one.

I got another Shadows of Night, so I'm good. Hopefully this one will do better. That nasty winter we had took a lot out.

I can see Rob out there with his light attached to his hard hat, club in hand taking out those nasty slugs!

LOL!!

Marilyn, I have noticed if I have used an eraser on the tags that they deteriorate very fast.
If I haven't used an eraser on the tags that they will lasted all summer. I wonder if there is some type of coating on the paper tags that's being removed by the eraser. I also thought about putting a piece of clear tape over the writing. This last summer was the first time I've tried to do any of my own crosses. I also tried to tie a different colored ribbon to each iris to help find the pods faster. One color was for crosses I made and another color was for bee pods. I also tried to write information on the ribbon which was a disaster. By the time I cut the iris pods off the ribbons were so faded you couldn't tell the colors apart other than where the ribbon was knotted. The other thing I tried was to photograph the pods with the cross information in the picture.
Barbara

The tape idea might work! I used pen and did not erase...and most of the tags were completely gone with just the strings hanging. I had not heard about the oil. I tried egg shells and did not notice any difference. I have done a lot of hand picking! So far that's been the most effective, but very time consuming. That's why I thought the 'snail hotels' might be a good idea. If I can get them to congregate on the bottom of the wood and then just scrape the lot of them off it would save time...depending on how many of the hotels I placed in and around my yard. I bought 3 and will give them a try after I get back from a trip I'm taking. If they work well they would be easy to make. I'll report back on whether they work.

I soaked my seeds for 5 days before I left for Mexico, then wrapped them in wet paper towels and foil. I couldn't remember how long it took to sprout, so I checked them today. Needless to say, two weeks in the refrigerator was not enough to see any changes! I re-read the posts to refresh my memory. I guess I'll check them again around Christmas time. Thanks again to Paul and Brad for the extensive descriptions you shared with us!


As I was re-reading these notes I noticed...Liquid Sluggo Rob? I don't think I've seen that. I'm going to have to find some!

Ooops, my bad, it's liquid "Deadline", not Sluggo.

Thanks, I'll look for it!

Marilyn glad the pictures helped try to get them potted and growing before they reach the stage I showed in the 1st picture they don't need to have long roots showing to germinate in the pots just need to be soaked well to get the hard coating off the seed and go through a month of cold in the fridge and you will be able to plant them. I left mine to long last year and had to plant paper towels and all because the roots grew through the paper towels try to get them planted before they reach that point.

I will put mine in the fridge to begin to chill today. I will plant them after the first of Jan. Last year I planted mine and they didn't have any roots showing yet, they germinated quite well.

I tried to start a plant of I. missourienses, and it isn't going to "take", I'm afraid....so I sent for some seed, and received a "packet" of 1000 ! Anyway, I planted *some* of them directly in the garden , in late summer, right after I received them. Question is, I want to plant some more, in the spring, and wonder if I should give them the "soak, and refrigerator " treatment? I "assume" they need the cold stratification, as well?