Isn't that the truth!!!

In the garden today and in a "bad" section. Here it is so far:

Autumn Tryst = 2
Bunnicula = 1
Twiggy = 1
Sambuca = 1
Fall Fiesta = 1


On the other side, these two look amazing:

Alpenview
Repeat Performance

Only about 1/3 the way done on this bed.

Strawberry Freeze has been added to the lost list.

What are you guys finding ? Soft, and "rotten", or just a dried out husk ? If it's soft, and rotten, is it "stinky rot" ? Just curious

Oh boy -- I am joining the ranks of sick and rotting Iris rhizomes.

Tonight as I came in from the garage, I noticed that the *temporary* bed on the north wall of the garage had an awful lot of dead and dying leaves. I haven't gotten in there yet to remove tree leaves and old Iris leaves -- just a little bit. I had a little bit of time tonight, so I grabbed a pair of garden shears and started cleaning up. I noticed that an awful lot of of the small clumps had leaves that were blackening down almost to the rhizome. And the leaves were sort of hollow looking. So I started cutting and got down to the rhizome on one -- took all the leaves off and when I got to the top of the rhizome, it was mushy and an orange color. This would be last year's young rhizome that would bloom this year. Despite the condition of the top of the rhizome and the leaves -- the rest of the rhizome is firm -- and the side increases look healthy.

After finding that -- I started examining the Irises around that one, and they are similar. Looking at the entire bed, none of the plants look healthy -- they don't have the lush green leaves that they should be showing this time of year. I didn't think to smell what I scraped out of the rhizomes -- but I don't think it smelled bad. I've smelled bad rot before and it's hard to miss. So I don't think that this is that. But I don't know what it IS. And I'm not sure how to proceed. Any input will be appreciated.

Sounds like the same thing I had last year (or maybe still DO have!) , I *think* it is Botrytis, which is a "fungal' rot, rather than a "bacterial" rot....although, some of the "symptoms" seem to lean towards "crown rot", also a fungal disease. I don't know if my "treatments'"helped, or if things just slowed down when things cooled off in the fall . The extra dry weather this spring , I believe, is a good thing for my plants, and, so far, I see no "new" cases.....but time will tell ! I treated with a fungicide (Daconil) that was recommended by our extension agent for 'crown rot"....but most sources say there is no treatment for either . I also sprayed a 'concoction" of hydrogen peroxide & water on the plants, and the surrounding soil (read about that in an "Old" book on gardening, from the late 40's)....did it help...or hurt?....jury is still out on that ! http://extension.psu.edu/pests...

Mary Ann.. Sorry to hear that I didn't think your area got cold enough to have the same issues we are having. Would you take a few pictures of what your seeing and post it. Botrytis has a distinct look to it and has no smell at least not until the bulb is completely gone and most of the time with it the bulbs are soft and squishy although it fooled me last year I scraped it out and treated them like you would treat soft rot and thought I was OK until it rained and then realized I wasted my time.

Arlyn.. I had both the dried out winter kill look but it was only on plants that I put in the ground too late. The majority of the problem here is the main bulb has died over winter and the leaves pull off completely in your hand, exposing the bulb which has a dark brown or orange rot to it that turns into a mushy yellow color when left , depending on different stages of it there is no smell at first but with time the bulb will turn out and look similar to bacterial soft rot that normally would only occur only with humid conditions and heavy rainfall. Pageant is the only fungicide I have heard that will work to stop it, still not confirmed here yet though but I'm working with it the paperwork lists it as a preventive not a treatment so we will see what happens with it. I am experimenting to see if it will dry the main bulb up so I can leave it in the ground or if they need dug and treated? Won't know till after we get more rainfall. If you find something that does in fact work Please post it. There is so little info about Botrytis out there and for as bad as it is we need to find something to kill it or at least stop it from spreading to the increase of the plant without having to dig them all.

Last year it hit everything probably because of the record cold and no snowfall, This year it is still here but greatly reduced compared to what it was instead of the whole garden it is mostly in the brand new seedlings that have not gone through a winter yet and I expected to lose some over winter not everything is going to be hardy in Iowa so I am taking notes on what varieties got hit the worst and I know what I can use this year in crosses. The named plants that got hit were mostly new additions from last year very few that survived the previous winter had any problems at all which is Awesome and leads me to believe that it was just a horrible winter.

'open winters' no or little snow cause the problems here. I am sure that this year will have different problems.

I have lost Multnomah Falls. Only some rhizomes planted last summer seem to be affected this spring. So far I haven't found any problems is those planted in previous years.

Sounds like we had (have :crying:! ) the same problem, Brad ! I *thought* that I was getting the "soft" areas dried out, by scraping, and a good spray of "Listerine."....but it always seemed to continue to re-develop. The few that I "dissected' showed a "brownish" stain, inside the rhizome itself, and cutting that out, really left no remaining tissue. Those that were "infected", and subsequently treated last year, *seem* to be "over it" this year....the "main" rhizome dried out, and in most cases, empty, and the increases are appearing to grow at ,what I would call, a normal rate. The one increase I "sacrificed" for a dissection, showed no trace of brown staining, and was a nice, creamy white color inside. I'd like to think it's over.....but my "gut" tells me it's not ! The information I have been able to gather, from several, "disease" web pages, seem to say there IS no cure, NOT to replant infected plants, and NOT to replant in previously infected soil ! And the few listed fungicides are effective ONLY for "prevention" ! I guess I will find out , by the end of this season, if it IS over....or whether my iris growing hobby is over ! ! I'm starting out with fungicide sprays, at 10 day intervals (which I've always done for leaf spot, anyway), but have added Daconil as one of the fungicides I "rotate" in the program, and am going to continue the monthly spray / drench with the Hydrogen peroxide mixture. I wish us ALL good luck ! I feel we are going to need it !

I agree, Arlyn. The weather is stressing out the plants and a stressed plant is vulnerable to everything out there that a healthy plant usually resists. And the early arrival and quantities of plant eating bugs (not to mention people eating bugs) is amazing. I have treated for two - beetles and aphids - so far and the bloom stalks are just forming on the dwarfs. ??? It is going to be a challenging year all around. sigh

All of my issues this year are in a new bed, with new irises.

All the iris I have lost to rot have been new iris. I think that the older ones have become acclimatized to the weather conditions here, but the new ones are still stressed from the changes and thus more vulnerable. That said, my rot has not had a smell, but was yellowish and mushy (like yellow pea soup). With the exception of a few increases, I lost those iris. Quite often the rhizome would be fine for awhile, then start rotting a bit more, and a bit more until it was gone.

This year, the soft parts I have had to cut out of rhizomes have been spongy instead. No smell, no mush. They literally look like sponges in cross section. The rhizomes that have had the spongy sections cut off, were bathed in bleach and water solution and have scabbed over nicely. So far, so good, but I will keep monitoring them.

Ironically the increases I saved from the mushy rot are growing very well, but not a single one of them has produced an increase. I hope they do over the summer, or I will have a one and done situation with them.

tveguy3 said:I have lost Multnomah Falls. Only some rhizomes planted last summer seem to be affected this spring. So far I haven't found any problems is those planted in previous years.

Sorry to hear that, Tom. I think Multnomah Falls survived the winter here, although it's still touch and go. Definitely lost the mother rhizome to what I believe is Botrytis, but some of the increase looks like it is going to make it.

I hope Multnomah Falls is not prone to have rot issues. It is such a beauty and I want to add it to my garden. Does MA have it in their catalog this year?

Yes Bonnie, it's listed for $30 on their website.

I worked in my problem bed this morning -- until rain chased me indoors. I made a pictorial record of what's going on. I will download pictures from my camera later and share them here.

This is my *temporary* bed on the north wall of the garage. These are all Irises that were planted in 2013. Some of them bloomed last year, some not. All of them increased and seemed healthy and fine last fall. In fact, I had begun to transplant some of them as I finished clearing sections in the fenceline bed. If this is a contagious issue, then I have spread it to other beds. If it's an environmental issue in that bed alone, then the ones that I moved last year should be fine. I intended to walk the fenceline bed today and look closely at the Irises moved there from the temp bed. If the rain quits, I'll still do that.

Oh, good luck, Mary Ann! I hope you do not find any more iris problems. It is raining here too. Everything is so wet and the TB's are getting leaf spot.

OK -- here goes. First I took pictures of the overall appearance of the bed:

The overall lack of health and vigor is obvious.



Then I took pictures of a couple of clumps that looked suspicious for having the rot issue:




This is a picture of one of the Irises that I dismantled today, after removing all the leaves on the center rhizome:


This is a picture of another Iris in the same clump. Note the rhizome on the left that looks dormant:


Here are close-ups of the center rhizomes in the above two shots. The rot at the tops is a mushy orange. No smell.



And here is a side shot of those two rhizomes after I dug them up. Note the bright white, healthy roots.


Remember the little dormant rhizome? Sitting right in the middle of all of this mess -- it has no rot issues.


continued in a second post:

I treated the side rhizomes of the two rotted rhizomes differently. On the first, I cut the two side rhizomes off from the rotted rhizome while still in the soil -- then dug up the rotted center rhizome and left the side rhizomes planted. On the second one, I dug up all three rhizomes together, then cut the two side rhizomes off from the center -- cleaned the soil off and then took this picture:
You can see that the flesh of the rhizomes is healthy, and each has started its own healthy root.

The side rhizomes that I left in the soil look the same way.

Here is a picture of damaged leaves that I removed from these rhizomes:


This is a picture of the bottom of one of these leaves -- still green, but split open:
All of the affected Irises have these wierd *open* leaves.

This is a series of pictures of the dismantling of Crackling Caldera, which looked unwell:

Peeling away the leaves, one by one.

And there's the rot.

continued in a third post: