Iris borers

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flowerfool Grosse Ile, MI(Zone 5b) Jul 28, 2003

I live in Michigan, and my irises have been invaded by borers -- if you've never seen one be prepared. I have been digging up all of my irises and throwing most of them away and salvaging what I can. What I find most interesting is that due to our very late spring the eggs didn't hatch well into June, and I even found some on the ground around the plants in July. Does anyone know if this is liely. Irises that I checked in the spring looked fine -- little did I know what was lurking and waiting to do their job! Any comments, suggestions?

Post #595805
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poppysue Westbrook, ME(Zone 5a) Jul 29, 2003

Here's a page with some good info about control http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/ipm/messages2002/Iris%20Borer.shtml

Post #596227
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Calalily Deep South Coastal, TX(Zone 10a) Jul 29, 2003

I found these for the first time in 12 years of growing iris in these beds. They were in my LA Iris. I noticed some of the leaves were yellow but didn't notice that a couple of plants had died because the beds were planted so thick. I dug them all up, cut out the borers and dipped in 10% bleach and let them dry in the sun before replanting.
I usually clean up my iris beds in the spring but this year I didn't. I had never had borers before and found the first one on the ground, that's when I really took a closer look at the iris. I did buy some new iris from a nursery last spring.

Post #596320
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flowerfool Grosse Ile, MI(Zone 5b) Jul 29, 2003

I had read that once in awhile iris borers will also go into Siberian irises -- when digging up all of my irises and disposing of most of the plants, keeping only aone or two rhizomes from each plant, I remembered that my Siberians only had one blossom each. I dug up my white Siberian and was pretty well convinced that there were no borers, and guess who was peeking out at me? I have another clump of Siberians that will also go out in the trash. If you ever have borers do not throw the infected plants onto the compost pile -- the moth will lay her eggs there, and the journey will begin. I always throw iris waste in the trash, but I now realize that I should have checked all of my irises last year. This year it's war -- just remember to check your Siberians! Onward and upward!

Post #596972
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