Diseases of irises. Irises: outdoor care

Such beautiful flowers as irises are loved and widely cultivated by flower growers and gardeners in various natural and climatic zones of our planet. Varieties of this plant, adapted to a variety of conditions, many, and on their basis, the breeders created delicious varieties. About the various types of this flower, features of care and reproduction, as well as about what pests and diseases of irises meet, this article will tell.

Who gave him the name?

The famous ancient Greek philosopher and healer Hippocrates called this flower for the variety of its colors in honor of the goddess Irida. It was she, like the rainbow, that connected heaven and earth, proclaiming the will of the gods to men. In addition, in the ancient Greek language "iris" meant, above all, a rainbow, and then the name of the flower. In the XVIII century, the naturalist Karl Linnaeus, who created a unified system of classification and names of plants, retained for iris its ancient name. Before we talk about what can affect the irises of diseases and pests, let us briefly dwell on the biological features of this plant.

Botanical description

Such flowers as Iris, more known to gardeners as pinks or tangents, belong to the family of Iris. As a rule, these are perennial rhizomes, but there are also tuberous plants. In our strip the most widespread are the rhizome representatives of iris, rather unpretentious in care and moderately water-loving. Iris garden forms a thick rhizome, located shallow under the ground and quite often sticking out of it, with a lot of thin threadlike roots. The flat leaves of this flower are dense and rather rigid, covered with a whitish waxy coating of xiphoid form. In most species of irises, they grow in the form of fan-shaped beams. Flowers irises, planting and care for which is in accordance with the features of the plant, blossom from the end of spring and until mid-June.

Features of flowers

In all types of irises, flowers are located on a strong and strong peduncle. In most cases, the flowers are single, but also found in small inflorescences. Coloring can be the most diverse - from white to almost black. Today there are varieties, the flowers of which are painted in two or even more colors. There is such an iris flower of six, and sometimes three petals, the inner and outer parts of which differ in shape, size and color. After flowering, the plant forms a fruit - a ribbed triangular elongated box, in which there are about 20 large brownish seeds.

What are the types?

Foreign plant breeders and flower growers subdivide all iris plants grown in orchards into 13 main groups, although some consider them to be about 17. In our country, it is common to subdivide the garden forms of the catacomb (iris) into the following 10 main groups:

• Bearded;
• Siberian;
• Japanese;
• Remanufactured;
• Arylbreds and aryl;
• Sporia;
• Louisiana;
• Evansia;
• Plants of the Pacific coast;
• Little-known.

This classification is really needed, but in ordinary life, a simpler and more understandable subdivision of all rhizome irises into two groups is made: bearded and non-human. The most common in the gardens are large, exquisitely painted representatives of bearded irises. These include many varieties of so-called German high bearded irises.

Unlike bearded irises, on the lower petals of which there is a "beard" of contrastingly stained villi, the bare-faced have no such decoration. This group includes the following types of irises:

- Siberian (I. sibirica);

- marsh (I. pseudacorus), it is also called false-aira;

- Japanese (I. japonica);

- Louisiana (I. Louisiana);

- sporia (I. spuria);

- Californian (I. californian).

We will try to briefly characterize each of these species.

Iris barbata

Iris bearded is most popular from the whole group of iris. To date, there are about 35,000 of its varieties, and every year there are several new ones. Its name was given to this flower because of the gentle villi located on the lower petals. In many varieties, the color of the "beard" contrasts with the main color of the flower, which consists of six petals. The height of the iris, the bearded is divided into three groups:

1. High - more than 0.7 meters;
2. Medium-sized - from 0,4 to 0,7 m;
3. Low, whose height does not exceed 40 cm.

Coloring of colors can be either monophonic or combined. Iris germanica belongs to the group of bearded irises .

Siberian Whale

Unlike the hardy and unpretentious species of the Siberian Siberian iris, the varieties derived from it have a higher need for warmth and light. Plants of this group can grow up to 1 meter in height. Their leaves are narrower than those of the bearded, and have a lighter color. Varietal representatives come in different colors and blossom in late spring. You can pick the variety so that flowering will continue until the end of July. Diseases irises cultivated and varietal to him are not terrible, and even he rarely attacks pests.

False Irish (Marsh) Iris

Opens its golden-yellow, with small brown "strokes", flowers in late May - early June. This kind of irises grows well in shallow, up to 40 cm water bodies, as well as on their borders. It develops well both in the sun and in the penumbra.

In the middle belt, such types of irises as California, Louisiana, Japanese and Sporia are rare, since there are few varieties adapted to our conditions, and they are, due to their rarity, not cheap.

Flowers irises: planting and care

Buying irises, it is necessary to clarify what kind of species you acquire, as this affects the choice of a place for planting. Most modern varieties of both bearded and non-dated irises prefer sunny, warm, sheltered from the wind place. However, such species as marsh, smooth and bristly, are hygrophilous plants. Smooth and marshy irises, as well as varieties derived from them, it is recommended to plant artificial reservoirs in shallow water, and bristly - on flooded shores or in humid lowlands.

Other types of irises are planted in the middle zone in spring or autumn, with the most favorable period being the end of summer - the first weeks of autumn. Before planting the rhizomes of these flowers, the soil should be dug to a depth of 20 - 30 cm, and also to make phosphorus-potassium and nitrogen-containing fertilizers and humus. After the irises have been planted, the care in the open ground behind them consists in regular watering and top dressing, removal of weeds as necessary.

These plants need to be planted every three to five years, as individual fragments of the rhizome are displaced to the surface as they grow. Because of this, the area of food decreases and they cease to bloom. It can also lead to the development of iris disease.

How to propagate?

These perennial plants can be propagated both by seeds and vegetatively. The seed method is used in selection work and plants obtained in this way bloom in 2-3 years.

A simpler and more accessible method of propagation of irises is vegetative, in which the rhizome of the mother plant is divided, and then the resulting plots are planted in the soil. To transplant and divide this perennial is best in two to three weeks after the end of flowering. Land plots are superficially and slightly inclined - so that the tip of the rhizome is above the surface of the earth. Too deep planting can provoke the development of disease colors of irises and even cause their death. The plants obtained in this way bloom in the first year after planting.

Symptoms of disease and control measures

Most of the plants in this group are fairly resistant to diseases, but with unfavorable weather factors and various damage to the rhizome, the following diseases of irises may occur:

1. Heterosporiosis (septoriosis) , manifested as a variety of yellow spots, chaotically located on the entire surface of the leaf plate. With further development of the disease, the spots become brown and merge into one. The plant looks weak, blooms badly, and leaves dry up. A heterosporium develops with a lack of calcium and phosphorus in the soil. Also its development can cause a long rainy weather and the accompanying high humidity. From this disease flowers irises in the early stages helps spraying plants with 0.4% solution of colloidal sulfur or 0.3% of copper chloride.
2. Bacteriosis (wet rot) is the most dangerous disease, as it develops quite quickly. The first "symptoms" of this disease are the drying and yellowing of the leaves. Then the base of the "fan", and then the rhizome is affected by rot with a characteristic unpleasant odor. The cause of bacteriosis may be incorrect landing - excessive penetration or too dark and wetland place. At the first signs of the defeat of this disease, you need to dig a plant and remove the affected part of the rhizome. Process the place of "operation" with potassium permanganate, and then with any stimulant of growth. After that, the rhizome is dried well, and then planted separately from other plants in dry soil, trying not to bury.
3. Fusarium . With this disease iris continues to grow and even blossoms, but here the leaves first turn yellow, and then brown. To prevent the development of this disease, before planting rhizome disinfected in a 0.2% solution of foundation for half an hour. If the blossoming plant is affected, then under the rhizome we water the same baseazol solution.
4. Leaf spot may appear due to bad weather conditions. The first signs are spots of different color and size on the leaves. Having noticed them, immediately spray the diseased plant with a 0.3% solution of copper oxychloride or 1% with a Bordeaux liquid composition.

Pests of flowers

Irises of disease and pests can affect. Among insects it is:

• Medvedka, gladly gnawing rhizomes. To combat it, you can use special bait granules, digging them into the ground around planting irises.
• Kasatikovaya (winter) shovel. The caterpillars of this insect feed on the rhizome, and adult individuals gnaw the bases of the peduncles. Such an attack contributes to the development of bacteriosis of irises. In the period of active growth of flowers it is necessary to spray them with infusion of wormwood: in 10 liters of boiling water a glass of wood ash, a tablespoon of any liquid soap and 300 g of grass are laid. The container with the solution is closed and left to infuse for 5-6 hours. Immediately after this use for spraying. You can also use a variety of biologics sold in specialized stores.
• Iris flower girl , resembling the most common fly, spends the winter in the ground, but in spring she crawls out and puts her eggs in buds. This is how irises are affected. Diseases of buds and their deaths are due to the inside and actively feeding larvae. The affected bud decays and, of course, does not dissolve. Experts recommend that plants be treated at the appearance of leaves, and also at the beginning of the stage of budding with special insecticides. Affected buds should be immediately cut off and destroyed.

In addition to the aforementioned pests, irises can be affected by slugs, May beetles, wireworms, various kinds of thrips and nematodes.