i too had very few iris's. i had added dirt to the area and think that i
lowered the bulbs too far down by adding soil. the leaves came up but no
iris. i have about 50 iris's along the fence and not one came up. . if
anyone knows why please give me a clue.i did add miracle grow
"JoanD'arcRoast" wrote in message
. ..
Too much Nitrogen. Simply sprinkle around some Triple Phosphate.

In article , 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?