Do Iris borers eat Peony roots?

lazygardner · Post by **lazygardner** » Aug 05, 2005 2:32 am

I dug up a peony that was getting crowded out by a scotch pine and noticed that the roots appeared malformed. They looked just like Iris tubers that had been attacked by borers. In fact the peony was in a bed that it shared with some Iris that had borers in the past. Do you think the Iris borers attacked my peonies?

John · Post by **John** » Aug 05, 2005 10:40 am

My guess is no. Iris borers start in the foliage and work their way down into the rhizome, I don't know that peony foliage would lend itself well to that. Peony roots do have an odd look to them... And with iris that are currently healthy growing nearby, I think any borers would have gone to their preferred food.

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lazygardner · Post by **lazygardner** » Aug 09, 2005 6:39 pm

I did have a bad borer problem in the past, and I was thinking that the damage might have been old, from that one year. I remember someone saying that borers would go canibal if they couldn't find other food. So I thought maybe the peonies might have suffered.

Thanks so much for your reply. I had posted in 'Perennials" originally, but got no reply there.