How short does Schreiners trim iris for their winter.

20 years ago

Hi to all you iris lovers....I made the statement a while back that I had read or heard that Schreiners trims their iris to the ground and so passed it on to this forum.

Last week we visited Schreiners for the first time and I got a few good questions answered.

I was told that they cut back their iris leaves to 4". For their wet winters. (beginners that is done when the growing, green leaves turn brown and are done feeding the rhizomes). Not to the ground as I thought but shorter than I had heard other places. I also asked them if in the spring they remove those dried leaves and he said no. That will save me a job anyway. Hope that corrects my incorrect piece of information.

Janene

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

irisrover
20 years ago
They have about 200 acres of commercial fields. Cleaning dead leaves would be an impossible job and not necessary, but small home plantings you definitely want to clean out dead/diseased leaves in the winter. They harbor diseases/bugs over the winter. They clean up their display garden winter and all during the year.
njiris
20 years ago
For those of us who live in borer country...not the West coast like Schreiners, cleanup of dead iris leaves is a MUST...either in the Fall or the Spring.
Got to get rid of those borer eggs!
Laetitia
Related Professionals
Middletown Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Kissimmee Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Fredericksburg Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Olean Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Atlantic City Landscape Contractors · McAllen Landscape Contractors · Kahului Landscape Contractors · Cornwall Landscape Contractors · Hot Springs Design-Build Firms · Portsmouth Design-Build Firms · Zanesville Design-Build Firms · South Bend Design-Build Firms · Hempstead Design-Build Firms · Carlsbad Design-Build Firms · Scottsbluff Design-Build Firms
irisrover
20 years ago
I should mentioned that they cut to 4 inches when planting to accomodate their machanical planting. Planting is done in October and everything replanted every year. Hence the "cutting" takes place at planting time, not later. In the past they "threw" up dirt on the irises during the winter, but I believe they no longer follow that practice.
randy_ca
20 years ago
That makes a little more sense.
I can't imagine a giant lawn mower mowing down the fields, which is the picture that I got from the original post.
Most shippers seem to be trimming to 4 inches now, either to save on excess postage or just to get rid of unnecessary foliage.
kimthenewgardener
20 years ago
Hello. I am so new at this I'm a little confused. To clean up my iris bed for the Illinois winter I need to 1) take out the dead stuff and 2) leave the green stuff. Do I trim the green stuff to 4 inches? What exactly is a rhizone? Is that the same thing as the bulb? The bulbs look like they are coming out of the ground practically. Is this OK?
njiris
20 years ago
Hi Kimthenewgardener:
Welcome to the Iris Forum. Bulbs (really rhizomes) coming out of the ground are perfectly OK. That is what the iris like to do. If you don't see this, means they were probably planted too deep. For the winter where you live (and I think NJ is quite similar) I don't do anything. I do my cleanup in the Spring. I leave the dead leaves and green leaves as natural mulch. The trick is to get the cleanup done before the borers come out; means they need to be all cleaned by early April. Some people do the cleanup in the Fall, and yes, you would then remove the dead leaves and trim green leaves, but try to let the leaves stay on as long as possible so they can maximize their growth and food storage potential.
Good luck with your iris.
Laetitia
kimthenewgardener
20 years ago
Thank you! So being lazy last fall wasn't such a bad thing! I'll make a note to clean it all up in early April.