Laurie,
I don't know what you can do about the nitrogen or spot. I do know that Iris
generally don't blooom if they're planted too deep. They seem to do best
sitting on top of the soil, that is the tops of the tubers should be visible,
and about the bottom half to 2/3s covered by soil. I don't know why!
Good luck,
Eileen

"laurie (Mother Mastiff)" wrote:

Last year the iris bed (about 3 years old now and new corms added each year)
bloomed PROFUSELY. I put some rotted chicken manure in their bed in late
summer and mulched with pine straw. There was nly space to add two new
corms.

This spring I was excited because of the big lovely bluish green leaves (the
bed finally looked mature somehow, or close to full), but only two plants
(out of over 30) bloomed. I kept looking excitedly for the buds, but --
nothing!

What did I do wrong? If the chicken manure had too much nitrogen, what can
I do now to balance things out?

Also, due to the rains, they are showing signs of leaf spot, which I have
never seen on iris before. What can I put on them for that? (Ideally,
something that won't wash off in our repeated rains!)

Please help, I adore my iris (they are a memorial garden for my grandmother)
and am just sick at all the problems my ignorance of their needs has
obviously caused.

-- laurie brooke adams (Mother Mastiff) mastiffs at mindspring dot-com
***If a DOG could choose whether to just be beautiful, or to be sound
and healthy TOO, what do YOU think the dog would choose?***
(C) 2003 My words are my own. If you want to use them, ASK ME FIRST.

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