My Honky tonk blues iris bloomed this past month and was beautiful and 2 years old
it began to die this week leaves yellow
and falling down..

I got the magnifying glass and saw tiny
black almost like ants down in the dirt

There are holes all in the rhizones..tiny ones...

What do you put down for the iris to stop these
and what month for prevention

what should I do now I had to throw the hill of Honky tonk iris away today
but I have 4 more hills of cherished iris left...

is there something that pets
will not dig and harm them if it got on their paws
that you can use for borers or whatever destroys
iris rhizones?

Hi Sherry. I don't have a clue what the little black ant like creatures are or if it indeed them making the holes in the iris rhizomes. I suggest you trap a few of the bugs in a little jar and take a destroyed rhizome to your county extension agents office. They will be able to id the bug and tell you what to treat it with that will not hurt pets. I have never heard of tiny ant like bugs eating rhizomes. It sounds a bit scary to an iris lover. Good luck and let me know what you find out. If it is the ant like creature making holes in the rhizomes see if you can post a photo of it here. Perhaps this is something new we all need to be aware of.

I put out a white ant powder and they are not there this afternoon
but I have never seen black tiny ants in alabama

The fire ants that came to the usa years ago back in the 60's
destroyed the black sugar ants we used to see as children in
the carolinas and surely down in alabama too..

Good idea on the ext agent but he is 30 miles round trip from me..
his office..

I appreciate your caring and your suggestions so much!'
thank you again and anyone else that might have suggestions
I do need for iris borers some help on what to do

I do have those....

last year when I divided iris that were 2 years old
there were many I had to throw out due to holes
in them ..borers...

I had them on elevated areas and not over watered
so what does one do to prevent them and not harm
our pets that walk in the flower beds?

sheri

I bet the black bugs were eating the nemotodes in the soil, possibility?
They appeared to look like tiny black ants at the top and down in the soil..
Never thought of that..

so someone please tell us iris lovers what to do kill and prevent nemotodes
safely or iris borers?

Sheri in alabama

Here's a link with some info http://www.irisgarden.org/bore...

the ant powder applied to the iris hill had orthene in it
so that was good ..but too late
will have to read more on that link ..
anyone else had ideas of when to apply
whether in march or when , share with me, okay?

I never saw what looked like that iris borer...nothing that large
or in that stage..perhaps it was way under the ground
there was nothing on the leaves or webbing before it destroyed
the iris hill of Honky Tonk blues this week.

I have found such bugs on top of areas that have soft rot (mushy stinky stuff) left after the borers have done their damage. The little bugs are eating the mush of the iris. It is probably too early for borers to have gotten big enough to see but if you had them before, the rot may be coming from the previous damage. Just a thought....I am no expert.
I also thought that beneficial nematodes were an non-chemical way to eradicate borers.

You may have a rot problem, and 'some kind" of insect is feasting on the rotten part of the rhizome . As to when to apply borer control...I guess you can do it anytime, but I prefer early spring, when new growth is about 6" long ( I use a Bayer Long Season grub Control, with Merit*. I use the liquid, but they also make it in a granular form) here's a link to iris diseases http://extension.psu.edu/pests... there are also articles here, or on the AIS site on ID, ,and treatment, of both borers, and common diseases.

thank you all!
sheri