To me the 'toe' of a rhizome is the point end of a rhizome opposite the fan end or 'heel.' It has nothing to do with the the mother rhizome planted the year before, at least in these parts of irisdom.

Because of our rainfall, I guess, old mothers here turn into either 'rubbery cardboard' or mush. If there is increase from the old mother, it is from the bloomstalk, and not the mother itself. To take an old mother and slice it like a potato and plant it, the gardener would just be inviting rot unless it had an 'eye' like a potato. It is doubtful here than an eyeless mother would do anything but vanish. We usually dig them out because of their inclination to rot. I leave on a bloomstalk for sometime, hoping for increase from it if it is a newer variety or one in short supply. Older ones, I just yank or cut out and toss.

I agree with Walter's description of toes.

I have planted old mothers with no sign of 'eyes' or roots at all. And they have produced new increases about 25% of the time.

Most ones with just one increase will have more later. I plant them in pots to reduce a chance of rot.

Only plant ones from seedlings now and not often then.

"Mainly since growers have found very pregnant toes will produce more increase than a rhizome."

A mother can be a rhizome with a fan, or a rhizome with a spent bloom stalk. I have found the both can very quite a bit. The variety can make a difference.

Mike G

I am not sure these would be called toes but if iris around here are left to grow on their own will soon not bloom anymore but will grow very long rhizomes that are in sections. I have always assumed(probably wrong) that each section is a years growth that did not bloom. You can easily see the sections because of an indention on the long rhizome. It has been my experience that if you cut these sections apart and plant them that almost all will put up new growth the next spring. Some will put up more than one fan. This may be something that just works on my hill since the soil has very little natural nitrogen so there is almost no rot here. I have seen some of these rhizomes that may be as much as 12 inches in length and most of the time are so crowded by grass and each other that they are growing almost on top of the ground. Most of the time only the very end will have a fan and roots. I might add that all that I have seen do this are historics that may have been growing in the same location for as long as 50 years. Some I had never seen bloom in my lifetime(I am 63 years old)until I pulled up a piece and planted it because they were growing along road sides and were mowed down several times each year. Lee Mincy

Lee,

I have seen those segmented rhizomes in crowded clumps that haven't been divided in years. Yes, each one of those segments is a mother that did not bloom because of the crowed conditions and lack of nutrients. You can cut the segments into pieces and plant them because they don't have the rubbery cardboard texture of a mother that bloomed. Most will form new plants. That type of mother is different from the mother discussed earlier. And it is the increase that will bloom and not the mother.

Walter Moores

Just to add to the "toes" discussion, I received a door prize of "Parisian Dawn" this year: a smallish rhizome, about 1 1/2 inches long. At the same time in late July, I bought a toe at auction. Looked like a potatoe with one, maybe two green spots. That "mother" now has 4 small fans; the small rhizome still has only the one original fan (about twice the size of the others though). I'll let you know which one (if any) blooms in the spring.

And I had been wondering about those long segmented rhizomes...

I'm not able to comment on the toes, but thanks for the explanation on segmented clumps. I was given a huge clump of a historic iris that had the segmented rhizomes and I cut the segmented pieces apart and planted them. They now all have green leaves, where I saw no evidence of life before. Glad I didn't throw them away.