Every year after the first few storms, I realize I needed to do some serious staking of irises BEFORE they all are laying on the ground. Ideas?

I'm sure your idea of a pro active staking program is a good one......I've always said I would do the same thing, but, I just never seem to . So, any "floppy" ones only get attention when they are 'down". I just use the "cheap" bamboo stakes, and twist ties....nothing very high tech. They do make some very attractive metal plant stakes, with a "loop" on top, to contain the stalk.
Perhaps it's due to my "late staking", or, mu "cheap methods", but, I have about as many "broken stalks" when I stake, as when I don't !

Me and you both, Arlyn. Cheap bamboo stakes off of eBay. And paper tape.

Blessings

Ah! ebay! Good idea.

I have the metal stakes with the loop. Most places charge way too much for them unfortunately as I need more. I like that they hold up the iris without twist ties. I have bamboo stakes also.

Your local nursery should have them as well. I've used the metal stakes with the loop on top, and didn't find them to be terribly useful with Iris.. Ok with delphiniums, but the Iris had a way of bouncing out of them in the wind.

I use large tomato cages. I push the wires on the small end into the ground around the clump before it gets too big. As the bloom stalks begin I make sure they go up the inside of the flaring cage. I do this for gladiolas and tall lilies too. Sometimes the cages do not capture all of the stalks but it is easy to loop a wire or string from the cage around the stalk and back to the cage.

I am a cheapo... I look around most of the year and collect the good stout wire coat hangers. pull the apart and straighten them and bend the hook half way over.

I use the green metal stakes with the loop on top. Don't have much of a problem with the Irises escaping them. They sell them at Walmart and Lowes, etc. -- they cost a dollar apiece, which I don't think is expensive at all. Over the years I have collected quite a few. Oh -- and they come in two different lengths (height) -- so you can tailor their use to whichever works best for each Iris.

They charge more here for them. But they sure are useful. I need more of the shorter length since I only have three. They are great with any plant with a long stem. Currently they are holding up some lillies that have stems that overgrow. They were here when I got the house, and spent years growing up out of ivy and bushes so I guess they don't know how to grow normally anymore. I left them when I made the long iris bed behind my house. I suspect they were lillies from Mr. Troutman's funeral that Mrs. Troutman planted. Mr. Troutman built my house back in 1930.

I would need hundreds. Don't wanna pay that much or store them.

I don't care for a lot of iris which need to be staked. Notes from Portland last year have plants noted which don't have to be staked. I didn't see stakes in NJ last week.

That's cool that your house was built in 1930, Leslie. I love older homes. Ours was built in 1952 -- so it's only 60-some years old.......... Practically a kid compared to yours -- which isn't too far away from 100 years. I grew up in a house that was 100 years old. It was gorgeous -- a French Colonial. They tore it down and built three brick two-flats on that property. From beauty to ugly -- in no time flat.

It's tough to have your childhood home disappear. I Googled mine & it is still there (built 1935). There is some short of attachment on the rear upstairs. the 2nd chimney is still there which is on a built in grill on a screen porch.

The home I grew up in was over 100 years old when we moved there. It had been a stage stop in rural AR. The walls were planks a foot wide and the length of the room with 12 foot ceilings. I loved that house. It was torn down many years ago and replaced with a ultra modern home under the stately trees. My old swing tree is still there but even the old barns have been torn down now. My surviving sister went with me to visit the site this spring. I hardly recognized the road it is so big and populated with beautiful homes. Used to be all farms and cattle concerns. The memories of my childhood were so incongruous I felt like I was from a different era....... well, I guess I am.

Well, the bamboo stakes that I could find seemed expensive to me, at about 6 for 3.98 or so. And I would need dozens if not hundreds. So for the time being I am just cutting branches and tying with twine. I would like to find something better but for now the iris bed looks a lot better. I know there are shorted ones that don't need staking, but the tall ones I have usually succumb. Where is the info about varieties that don't need staking?

I often plan for the bigger ones and plant them by a fence so that I can run a twine from the fence in a big loop around the stalks and back to the fence. This helps a great deal. If you have a long bed you can run a section of wire fencing down the middle or just two fence posts near each end and run wire up the middle of the bed. This will allow give you something to tie your twine to. You can use shepherds hooks seated very firmly to attach your fencing to if you do not like the metal fence posts fit with your garden. Then hang something from the hook and feel creative.

That's just what I was thinking today, Granny! I need to plan for some cattle panels here and there and plant the tall ones alongside. Of course, that will take a little more work than my chop and prop technique. I DO have a lot of metal coat hangers to try too. I also use the metal campaign signholders and electric fence fiberglass stakes. (don't forget to use gloves if you handle a lot of these! )

Come to Charlotte, NC for bamboo. The city would actually thank you. It's very invasive here and I love cutting it. It grows along alot of waterways and people use it for privacy. I only had to use them on four irises this year. I like the pretty green ones with the curly end, but mines are free... I just cut it down at an abandoned site.

Check the local Home Dpot and Lowes too. They often have bamboo stakes in packs of 25 or 50. I only use the stakes when the iris are top heavy with buds and blooms and start bending, or if there is suppose to be high wind and I have really tall ones in bloom. I try to let the iris do the work if they can. Unfortunately I have far more iris now, so my 25 metal stakes don't go far enough.