I have a 5 foot area of small iris's on the southeast corner of my house. I
would like to move then to another area of my yard, when is a safe time to do
this? Is there anything special in moving them? I basically want to thin out
the area so more may bloom next year. They are all done blossoming now. I
only got about 5 flowers out of all the plants. Thanks for any help.
Kirsten in Ohio

Hi the

I'll tell you how I do it: If they are finished flowering, cut off
everything (stems and leaves) and leave just a couple of inches of
growth above ground.

Dig up the whole thing carefully, and then clean it off with your
hands or some water. Try not to damage the roots too much. Don't
leave the pieces to dry out too long in the sun. Cut them apart with
a sharp knife so you have at least a chunk of rhizome with some leaf
growth on each piece. Some people would put some root stimulator or
anti-fungal stuff on the cut edges. Discard any clearly dead or
rotten parts.

Prepare new bed. Replant just below the soil surface like they were
before--not too deep. Sometimes it takes 2 seasons for them to come
back strongly.

I hope this helps,
Cynthia in Zone 3 who is dividing her irises this weekend.

P.S. My husband would do it in 5 minutes with a shovel.

On 15 Jul 2003 13:27:27 GMT, (KatoKirk) wrote:

I have a 5 foot area of small iris's on the southeast corner of my house. I
would like to move then to another area of my yard, when is a safe time to do
this? Is there anything special in moving them? I basically want to thin out
the area so more may bloom next year. They are all done blossoming now. I
only got about 5 flowers out of all the plants. Thanks for any help.
Kirsten in Ohio

It depends on the Iris, if you have the Iris that grows via a rhizome, then all
you need to do is dig them up and move them to the new bed, but please do NOT
cut the fans off, if its a fast and short move, the fans will still live and
keep making food for the next years blooms, it's an old and bad tale that you
have to cut the fans back. If you have the bulb type iris, they should be
dormint by now and all you need to do is dig up, clip off the dead tops and
replant where you want too.

I have 300+ Iris.

High Mojave Desert Iris
http://desert-iris.netfirms.com/


--
"In this universe the night was falling,the shadows were lengthening
towards an east that would not know another dawn.
But elsewhere the stars were still young and the light of morning
lingered: and along the path he once had followed, man would one day go
again."

Arthur C. Clarke, The City & The Stars

SIAR
www.starlords.org
Bishop's Car Fund
http://www.bishopcarfund.Netfirms.com/
Freelance Writers Shop
http://www.freelancewrittersshop.netfirms.com

"KatoKirk" wrote in message
...
I have a 5 foot area of small iris's on the southeast corner of my house. I
would like to move then to another area of my yard, when is a safe time to do
this? Is there anything special in moving them? I basically want to thin out
the area so more may bloom next year. They are all done blossoming now. I
only got about 5 flowers out of all the plants. Thanks for any help.
Kirsten in Ohio


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.500 / Virus Database: 298 - Release Date: 7/10/03

Thanks, I'll try moving them this weekend. I don't know for sure what type of
Iris they are, we only moved into our house a year & a half ago and they were
already there.
Kirsten in Ohio