Dos and Don s when dividing Iris and replanting?
Curious. We divide our iris in mid summer when they are somewhat dormant. Lousy job during summer’s heat, but the plants don’t seem to mind. I cut the fans back to about 7 inches and write the name or color on a leaf with a Sharpie. That way I know what I have. I let the rhizome dry a bit, in the shade so the cut end dries a bit. Then I dunk the rhizome into a bleach bath……1 ounce per gallon… to kill diseases (or I pray that I do.) I resent the rhizomes by making a little mound at soil level and spread the roots out from the mound, then add soil. Rhizomes hate to be over planted, 1 inch is absolute the most soil that can go over the top. Remember, iris from from the “heels”. If the leaves are the leg and the rhizome is the foot, the new growth will come out of the heel. So place the rhizome so the new growth will grow out into an open area. Don’t set them so the rhizomes grow towards one another or else you’ll be dividing again sooner than you like.
Divide Iris’s after flowering: in spring for fibrous rooted varieties like Pacific Coast Hybrids, Siberian a Spuria Iris’s. Dividing these is easy, as long as each piece has roots and of size you are happy with you can cut or pull apart. Lift Rhizomatous kinds, such as bearded Iris’s, in early summer and cut rhizomes into sections, each with roots and a fan of leaves, this can be reduced by cutting in a upside down V shape to about 10cm; replant, with tops exposed, 15cm apart. Flowers will be sparse the next year, but good there after. A light cover of bark wont hurt but not too much as this will rot the Iris. Cut rhizomes without growing points into pieces about 8cm long an put into trays, leaving tops exposed, shoots will soon appear. The plants will take about 2 years to flower. All Iris’s produce seed and can be reproduced by sowing them fresh, but some need to be soaked in cold water for at least 48hrs and in most cases will germinate in 2-4weeks, sooner with bearded iris’s. Don’t
