My experience is the fans do not get very large their first year so you should be fine.

I noticed at the place where I work , the flower beds surrounding the parking lot is fuI of african irises.I noticed that the seed pods at different stages were very dry and brittle, but still contained seeds. how can one tell if the seed are viable ?? Is there a good tome or a bad time to gather the seed ??

Here Dietes or african iris seed them self and I dig the seedling when about 6 inches tall and pot them up. If the seed pods are dry the seeds are ripe. Al

I collected a few hundred ripe seeds from a couple african irises at my old house, 5 months ago, knowing we were moving. I have used a seed starter kit and planted 1 seed per small pot and covered (like a greenhouse) for about a week now. I also planted a few wild flower seed in the same seed starter greenhouse box and they have all started sprouting. Which makes me wonder if I am doing something wrong with the Irises. They are in warm shade right now. Should they be out in the florida spring sun to grow or do they just take longer to sprout?