Hi! I hope someone can help me. I am an experienced gardener but moved to the Nelson BC area only two years ago. Last year my German Bearded Irises came up very nicely. But this year my Irises look like they were planted near Chernobyl. I don't see any obvious insect damage, or damage to the flower stems, they look very healthy and strong. The leaves on most of these plants look healthy too. Strangely, some of these Iris plants had both normal stalks of flowers and deformed ones in the same clump - (but not normal + deformed flowers on the same stems). Also, some other Iris plants in my garden didn't flower at all. Only one non-flowering plant had some undersized deformed leaves. On others the foliage looks fine. (they are not large or old plants, so I didn't think it was because they needed dividing yet). All of these Irises are planted in the same area with a southern exposure. Here are pix of some of the mutant blooms. If anyone can tell me what is going on, I'd sure appreciate it! thanks Spotty
I was going to suggest problems with the soil then looked up Ron's suggestion and that is probably it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate http://www.rag.org.au/modifiedfoods/roundup1.htm Liz
OMG! It must be glyphosate. I had no idea. I sprayed Roundup on an adjacent area about a month ago. I didn't know it would do this to nearby plants! After your post I googled glyphosate and found some pix on this Aussie site that look exactly like my flowers - under the heading "Very Severe Glyphosate Damage". http://www.irises.org.au/faq.htm I'll go back to pulling weeds by hand after this nasty little lesson. P.S. I couldn't find any info on whether my Irises are permanently damaged, or will they bloom ok next year? I have daylilies planted nearby, but they haven't sent up flower stems yet, will they have been ruined by the Glyphosate too? Thanks for the help! Spotty
I think they are deformed if they had their head above the soil at the time of spraying. Ron may know. Liz
The damage is 'temporary'. Depending on how much Round-Up they were exposed to, all the flowers for this season may be affected, or just the early ones....same goes for foliage. They should recover completely when they put out new growth on their next cycle (late fall & next spring). Your daylilies probably won't fair as badly and will recover faster but some damage may still be evident.
Glad to know they should recover next year! The daylily foliage is looking good, so hopefully the flowers will be ok. Thanks to all for the help! Spotty
