Iris borer blues...

A couple of my favorite bearded irises are down to two fans, and one didn't come up at all. They were all fine and gorgeous last year!

When I dug into the one that didn't come up to see what was going on the rhizomes were mushy, slimy and full of holes. I am assuming iris borer. I have always practiced good sanitation, and never saw the supposedly "telltale" lines in the leaves, so I wasn't too worried about it until too late.

So I guess my question is, what do I do? Is it too late to save my irises? What can I use to kill those dirty bugs? I looked in the Home Depot and hardware stores, but was unable to find anything that specifically said iris borer. They haven't bloomed here yet, but I do have buds.

The iris borer creates the opening for rot to develop in the rhizomes. Your rhizomes have been infected by a fungus and must be destroyed if you haven't already done so.

There are a number of things that can be done and this web site has a lot of information that will help.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/e122irisborer.html

~Carla

Thank you! I was planning on dividing and moving them this fall anyway, so I will see what I can save. This site is very helpful as well. I appreciate the link!

You're welcome. I saved it for my own information, too. I learned a lot from reading it.