I received some rhizomes who's fans dried up before I got a chance to plant them. Does this have an effect on the reliability of the plant? This is the first time I have ever had this happen.

Not really, just mine didn't bloom the next season. Growth wise they're all growing good and I should have multiple bloom stalks next year.

I agree, as long as the rhizomes are firm & nice. They usually grow new foliage anyway.

I think I posted this somewhere else -- I planted a rhizome last year that had no foliage whatsoever. The rhizome was firm, however, and it was a gift, so I had nothing to lose to plant it. It produced no leaves in the summer, none in the fall, and none (of course) in the winter. Even this spring -- there was no activity in this rhizome. Early this summer -- up popped fans. Great big fans. It will certainly bloom next spring. I have no idea why this happened -- I think that sometimes rhizomes go into dormancy and don't come out of it on the schedule that we're used to. Perhaps this rhizome was just spending its energy developing its root system.

Anyway -- I personally hang in there as long as the rhizome is firm. Also -- BTW -- I was really curious what would happen with this one. So it was a kind of experiment, as well.

When I divide my clumps, sometimes there is an old mother who has just the beginnings of increase but no leaves. They will eventually sprout something given enough time and the right conditions. Now if you have an expensive one, chances are it will not survive - lol. At least that is the usual luck.

Thank you all for your replies. I now feel somewhat relieved. I'm going to plant them all and hope for the best. Like you have all mentioned, it may take more than one season for them to get going and bloom. But I'm like Mary Ann, I like to experiment, so I will plant them and see what happens. What do I got to lose ....

I've planted some that had no roots and the fans were completely dried up and gone. I'll make a "U" pin out of wire, or as Leslie calls them the "Tutu holders" and pin them to the ground. Most of them came back and grew just fine. Only a few did not respond with new roots and did the shrivel dance. As long as the rhizome is firm, there is always a chance.

ehem, that is tutu toe holders if you please.....

I stand corrected!

"Tutu Toe Holders"...Coming to a store near you.

Hmmmmm..... Would a paperclip work ?

If the rhizome is small enough, yes. A thicker and longer wire (cut up coat hanger) would work better and it may even help it stay down during the frost heaving you experience on the East coast. I use a spool of wire I picked up at my local hardware store. It also helps keep them in place when the squirrels are digging under and around them.

Took me a bit to find this (it was in the 2016 Goners thread):

mbotanas said:My mother-in-law, who was the wife of one of the Cayeux brothers (Iris Cayeux) left some rhizomes in the cellar for 5 years. She finally planted them out and they're blooming beautifully! I believe they can take a lot and do just fine - I've only lost any to water damage so far (in 12 years of collecting), but I do put them in the shade when they've been pulled up.
Some even disappear for a year or 2 - then show up again. Always such a nice surprise!

oops, posted to the wrong thread.

UndertheSun said:I stand corrected!

"Tutu Toe Holders"...Coming to a store near you.

Also much more boringly referred to as landscape fabric pins.....Found bunch in a clearance bin at my local garden store. SCORE!!

Snork said:

Also much more boringly referred to as landscape fabric pins.....Found bunch in a clearance bin at my local garden store. SCORE!!

OMG I have a huge box of them and was wondering why I was keeping them as I no longer use the fabric. A vindication of my packratism - you never know when you might need it

UndertheSun said:If the rhizome is small enough, yes. A thicker and longer wire (cut up coat hanger) would work better and it may even help it stay down during the frost heaving you experience on the East coast. I use a spool of wire I picked up at my local hardware store. It also helps keep them in place when the squirrels are digging under and around them.

Right now I am having a problem with MOLES. Now I'm finding the moles are digging under my Iris gardens - which is something they never did before, infact, I didn't even know I had moles in my area until a neighbor pointed it out. I thought all the holes in my hard were from squirrels. Nope it's moles, and there are huge mounds of soil in my Iris gardens.

I guess moles mostly eat earth worms and grubs and other insects. They don't eat plants, but will mess them up while digging for grubs and worms. They like wet or moist soil. I think you can make an underground basket out of a wire mesh and bury it then fill with dirt and it is supposed to help. Voles on the other hand like to eat plants mostly. They tunnel much like a mole to get to the roots of plants. They are more destructive. I guess trapping them is the best way to get rid of them.

The voles follow mole tunnels so smash down the tunnels which you see. A friend who no longer has a cat, puts decon in his garage to help take care of voles. If you have cats one has to use traps.

I battle the same problem, Patrick. And the past couple of years have been awful for them multiplying -- they're everywhere...........

In the Iris beds, the moles tunnel around the Irises, for the most part -- but when it rains (and it has rained a LOT) -- the tunnels collapse and take the Irises down with them so that the rhizomes become buried deep in the soil. The consequences, of course, is rot. Moles have been responsible for quite a few of my losses. I've even found their runs in the Nurserybeds, which are raised!!!

I have yet to find a viable solution for them. Arlyn uses a trap, which works well for him -- but I bought one and could not exert enough strength on it to set the trap.

Since the new iris beds are the only soft soil out in my field, I've been attacked by moles too. I tried using some of those gas bombs on them, but they don't work well with moles. I looked into some traps, but I'm unsure if I will use them or not.