Viewing post #1115860 by crowrita1

An iris (or any other living thing, for that matter) has an "immune response" to disease....when it's 'attacked" it tries to develop an immunity to the pathogen......most times , it's "temporary" immunity .....and how long is "temporary" ? ! I read an article in an old AIS journal concerning the use of aspirin to "boost" the immune response in iris (in fact, the fellow who wrote the article grew mostly arils, and aril breds). I started using his "formula (2 aspirin tablets in one gallon of water, as a drench), and, I *think* it DOES boost the survival of any little chunks that manage to survive the rot. Anyway, what seems "rot prone" to a gardener HERE, may be 'bullet proof THERE. Any iris I get from a "long growing season" area seems to "struggle " here, for at least a year....sometimes two, and, a higher percentage of those don't survive, compared to those that come to me from the areas with the same growing conditions I have here. I'm going to pot almost everything I get, this year, at least until it has a good root system established, in order to try to up my survival rate.