By Hooker T. Nichols
Planting
iris seeds in our warm Texas climate occurs this time of the year for me. Usually we have very mild winters in North
Texas. I have found that if I plant the
seeds either in the ground or in one-gallon black plastic pots and the seeds
germinate before mid-January and we have a cold snap where the temperatures dip
into the single digits, they baby iris will die from the extreme cold.
 |
| Hooker getting ready to plant his iris seeds. |
The seeds
have been air-dried after ripening on the iris stalks. Next, I place the seeds in the miniature
plastic bead bags and freeze them until I plant (typically now). The soil in the pots is comprised of
landscape mix topped off with a good potting mix (such as Miracle Grow). The seeds are planted 1 inch deep. The soil is kept moist. The seeds start germinating around mid-March. When the baby irises reach 3 inches in height
and the danger of freezes is past, they are transplanted into the garden with
spacing being approximately 4-5 inches apart.
I get 50 to 75% bloom the following spring. This is a tried and true method for me.
 |
| Who knows what will come from the seeds? |
I am in northern CA, and hybridized irises for the first time in fall of 2018, got some great blooms this spring. Many of my seeds did not germinate, I didn't freeze them...should I do that this year? I kept my pots of seeds inside(in good light) about half of final results had grown to about 2 in by late winter. This year I will leave the pots outside. Any advice is appreciated.
ReplyDelete