Bearded Iris

[Nancyg56]

Garden gurus, I need help! My friend has a lot of iris tubers that have been given to her. It is extremely hot here in CT and we are not sure if we should store them until Fall or divide and plant hem now. Can anyone give me tips on how to best set tehm and when to do it. I know that this should have been done in the Spring but when they were gifted to is we did nto want to say no.

TIA!

 

[LindaBabe]

Garden gurus, I need help! My friend has a lot of iris tubers that have been given to her. It is extremely hot here in CT and we are not sure if we should store them until Fall or divide and plant hem now. Can anyone give me tips on how to best set tehm and when to do it. I know that this should have been done in the Spring but when they were gifted to is we did nto want to say no.

TIA!

Plant 'em. Cut the tubers in pieces with a sharp knife such that each piece has a few roots. Cut the leaves back to about 3 - 4 inches with a scissors. That will leave a "fan" of leaf parts on the sections that have leaves. Any "mushy" tubers, discard.

Scrape a few inches of soil off where you want to plant them - not individual holes but a space, depending on how many, - a foot to several feet square. Water the space well, but not so much that it's sloppy muddy.

Lay the tubers on the ground in your space with the roots spread out, and all the fans of leaves parallel to each other NOT willy nilly. When they're all nicely laid out and spaced, Shovel the dirt you removed over the roots. The Tubers should be barely covered, but the roots should be covered. Water gently but well, at intervals.