Our large bed of iris have quite a few that have brown spots and streaks on them. :p
Is this always an indication of the iris borer?
The bed had good drainage, plenty of sun....
We have iris elsewhere that have no spots on the leaves....
Please help!

Greg

could you post a pic?

I wonder about that too. I don't think it is always iris borer. I think it looks more like fungus. I have been spraying mine with fungus spray. I know they like really shallow planting and I have heard they get spots from being planted too deeply. My Siberian iris have never had them and maybe the bearded will not develop them either this year. I know it is extremely common. Another thing I am trying is being on the spot with cutting them in fall and deadheading in summer (which I mean to do in the next few days!). And I did divide and plant them more shallowly last year. I will post later if anything changes through fall.

I don't have a pic to post....
I trimmed the leaves that had it and keep the bed cleaned..
I put bone meal on the bed twice now.
Only certain iris get it...i wonder if i should dig those up and dip them in a bleach solution??
Does anyone know of a natural spray i could use to keep away the fungus and borer?
we use the murphys oil mix that someone told us about but it doesn't seem to be working..
We hate using chemicals...the $$ and the odor..especially with Cygon...

I use Soap shield from Gardens Alive.

I just bought some soap shield... Should be here this weekend...I think it is from all the moisture and humidity...The rhizomes aren't mushy...just the leaves look bad and some are rotting to the base of the rhizome.... :p

Greg

Weezie is posting a pic of the iris for me soon...
Thanks Weezie!

Greg

Here's your picture, Greg.
Sorry it took so long.

Bringing this one back up to the top...

Anyone with any guess's??????

Greg, my question to you would be....
What does the soil look like where the iris's
that are effected look like?
And is the soil starting to get on top of the
iris's rhizomes'???
Or are you putting like a compost around them?

That is what mine look like too at their worst. They are better now after being raised up and using the soap shield (this year they look better I mean). But I do wonder if it is the iris borer.
Anyway, like you said, not all have it. And they flower very nicely in spring despite the spots afterward. So I am keeping them trimmed and neat and removing brown stuff and spraying every other week for fungus. Later, I need to thin them out too. I tend to plant very closely together in general and thinning out will help with air circulation. I also have not fertilized my perennials this year except for compost and need to do that.

Here's my guess--

They look kind of stressed out, you know, like being transplanted during hot weather, during which time those cuts on their leaves provide entry for insect borne blight or fungus/mildew spores.
It's been my experience that the modern hybrid
cultivars are less disease resistant than the historic types.
They should perk up as summer cools down.

What are their names?

They seem to be doing better...With the absence of rain and water splashing on them it seems to help.
I try to keep the dead and brwon leaves trimmed.
Thanks for posting my pic...
One is Stairway to Heaven and Jesses Song...
I just won an auction of 25 rhizomes and more i won earlier are on the way so i hope to have the bed in better shape soon.
It seems this time of year all iris look kind of pooped!
Greg

We put 30 lbs of sand in the bed and removed any weeds or grass around them...

I put Bones Meal all round them about a month or so ago...Could that have caused this?
Greg

I do know that they do NOT like anything on them
or around their rhyzome thingies...
They resent anything on them..
Even leaves or compost..

If the soil has it in the soil,
it seems to be okay,
it's just when you side dress or sprinkle...
*it seems with mine anyways...*

Others' may do a different regime with
theirs, but for mine they don't like much!

Thanks Weezie and everyone for the help...
Greg

i had a client on nantucket (mass) with some bearded iris that always ended up looking like the above pic. i would just trim the ugly parts off. i divided them one year and took a couple of divisions and brought them up here to maine with me where i am on my second year of beautiful plants with NO dieback of the leaves at all!!! what is different? - nantucket was definitely foggier (thus breeding a fungus problem), but we've had an incredibly wet summer here in maine and i definitely have a blight problem with my lilies, but they are in a different bed (couple hundred feet away) & the problem varies in severity in that bed where i have several stands of lilies. obviously, here in maine, it is also a shorter season and a longer colder winter...... (some winters on nantucket the ground would barely freeze, some it would freeze and thaw, etc.). But still, my guess would be fungus in the soil. maybe replacing the soil or moving the iris or if you are going to treat, be preventative about it and treat before you see anything. make sure you get the infected leaves out of the bed because if it is a fungus it will put the spores right back in the soil. i'm sure i'm telling you things you already know, but i figured i'd contribute anyway. good luck! -mara