New to Iris, what type of Soil for poting?

[Angel3K]

I ordered Fragrant Iris, and I like to put them in pots, just like my hosta. I;ve read on soil requirements, said easy on compost or else I will have all green leaves, no bloom. Now, I don't have a clue what to do with these?

Now, what type of soil should I put?

Hosta was Perlite, Vermaculite, Compost, Peat, Garden Soil. Reading and reading, I got dizzy and at the end, still don't know which soil to put in the pots. So the Iris are just soaked in water...till I know what to do.

Here is the list, just in case each variety needs different types of soil. FRAGRANT IRIS
TB - acapulco gold
TB - Banana Frappe
TB - Bright Fire
TB - Cavaliers Cape
TB - Habit
TB - Navajo Jewel
TB - Old Black Magic
TB - St. Helens Wake
TB - Violet Turner
SDB - Fresh Start
BB - Batik

Thanks in Advance.

Angie

[BillyB]

When I recieve new rhizomes in the summer, I will pot them up in Miracle-Gro potting soil. I would use the organic form of MG if I could find it. To much nitrogen can lead to rot. But they're only potted up until the fall when I move them to their permanent beds. Schreiners say's to mix a little super phosphate in with the soil when planting. May work for potted plants also. I have also used Garden Soil mix, but like the other, it just temporary.

BTW, another great fragrant iris is "Fancy Notion", Ron Mullin, 2003. Smells like the candy we had as kids called Pixie Stix.

Billy

[Chris_W]

Personally I would keep them dry and not soak them in water at all or you are risking rotting them. They aren't water lovers like hostas and would be happier out of the water.

We use a really coarse, well draining mix through the summer, but like Billy we don't overwinter them in pots outdoors as you risk too many losses. But in the nursery we use the same mix that we use for hostas: no compost, just a mixture of peat, perlite, and pine bark (about 40% bark), with a slow release 3 to 4 month fertilizer (not osmocote). If you mix garden soil or compost into any of your containers you will face a lot of winter/early spring losses due to too much moisture. Same with the miracle gro soil.

Many years ago we potted up hundreds of rhizomes in the fall and put them in covered hoop houses for the winter where we thought they were protected enough from excessive moisture to survive. I'd say about 25% were eaten by mice, another 40 to 50% rotted completely from being slightly wet, and the rest were in such bad shape that they barely surived and none flowered. On the other hand, the rhizome pieces that we pitched during the dividing process survived thrown on the ground and some even flowered. Now we put them in the coarse soil very early in the year, keep them on the dry side and then completely cover them dry in the fall if we are going to overwinter any and we bait for mice.

To protect your purchases, I'd plant most in the ground somewhere and then only experiment with a couple in pots so you don't lose them all at once.

Good luck,

Chris

[Angel3K]

Hi Chris, Billy (i will look up that fragrant Iris next spring- if something survive in this batch).

Thanks for the ideas, I took them out of the water, and dry them out. I was looking for pine bark, (about 45 % was said in one website), then perlite, peat. Sort of this is the type you both were suggesting.
I end up using cedar mulch, to replace the pine bark part (did not really find anything like that here, some wood chips), then canadian peat moss, perlite. I put them in white pots temporarily.

A neighbor told me that few years back, all her Iris in pots died slowly in spring and did not really do well. OPPSSSS

So Chris, I might just take this Iris off the pot and put them down in the veggie garden, to replace the empty spot after the squash die down.