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indyrose_gw

Pinch-and-squish method

20 years ago

I'm a little confused. Since this is already May, and my irises are up, it's too late for Merit.

So, I need to resort to the pinch-and-squish method, right? However, I don't seem to find any buggers in the fans or in the rhizomes. Where are they?

I sort of wonder if this is really is borer damage -- I've never seen borers before. The irises had been doing poorly for the last few years, but I figured it was due to negect, and the crabapple starting to shade them out. The fans always looked nice, not like the photos I've seen of borer damaged fans.

In a different bed, I went to remove a couple of older, not-doing-well irises and replace them with daylilies. When I pulled them up, only about 1/10th of the usual rhizome was there, with huge craters where the rest was supposed to be... The remaining 1/10th looked quite healthy and solid, and that's where the new growth was coming from. There were empty rhizome skins littering the beds.

Seeing that, I checked all my irises, and they were all in the same condition.

So I panicked and dug up all the irises I could find. I looked to squish the buggers, but I didn't really see any. My irises are currently out of the ground and being kept damp until I figure out just what to do!

Am I too early for squishing? Should I replant them and squish later in the season? Is there anything I can apply NOW that might chemically kill them? (A systemic pesticide, like I use for roses??)

Is it just too early (they are too small to see) or what?

Help!

Indyrose, who usually posts in other GardenWeb forums...

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