Bearded Iris Care: How to Avoid 5 Common Growing Problems

Although Bearded Iris are fairly low-maintenance once established in your garden, there are five common growing problems that you'll want to be aware of. These issues can cause your Iris to produce less blooms – or even prevent them from making it through the growing season! The good news is that these problems are fairly simple to resolve. With just a little know-how in the Bearded iris care department, soon enough you’ll love this easy-growing, beautiful plant.

We'll Cover 5 Common Bearded Iris Growing Problems

1. Planting Your Bearded Iris Too Deep
2. Rhizome Rot In Bearded Iris
3. Not Enough Sun
4. Pests & Diseases
5. Overcrowding

If you have heavy rains or planted your Bearded Iris in an area that tends to hold standing water, you may experience bacterial rot in your tubers.

How Do You Spot Rhizome Rot in Bearded Irises?

• Rhizome rot usually occurs in the early spring.
• Check often to see if your leaves and fans are turning brown or yellow and falling over. That's a strong indication that you’ll need to remove the soil around the rhizome to do some further investigation.

To Remediate Rhizome Rot:

1. Remove the soil around the rhizome, making sure to keep the roots intact and still in the ground.
2. Using a garden knife, cut out any soft, mushy parts of the rhizome that seem to have rotted. (Be sure to dispose of these rotted pieces in the trash or at your municipal compost center, but don't add them to your home compost pile if you want to prevent the spread of future disease.)
3. If less than 50% of the plant seems clean and unaffected by rot, cover the rhizome back up with soil.
4. If it seems as though most of the rhizome is rotted, dig up the entire plant and cut out the affected tissue. Rinse the remaining plant in a solution of 10% bleach/water and let dry for several days before you re-plant.

To avoid rhizome rot, be sure to plant your Bearded Iris in an area with good drainage. If you don’t have any beds with good drainage, consider building a raised bed or adding peat moss to your soil. Overcrowding can also cause rhizome rot so make sure to start your Bearded iris out with plenty of room to grow.

 
Bearded Iris love sun, sun, sun! They need at least six hours of direct sunlight in most climates.

Be sure to choose a full-sun location when planting your Bearded Iris rhizomes.

If your Irises are not thriving in their current location, they can easily be transplanted to a new garden bed with full sun. 

Lots of sunshine also helps to prevent problem #2 (rhizome rot).

Pests and diseases in Bearded Iris often vary by geographic location and gardening conditions. One general rule of disease prevention is to keep your garden clean from debris and weeds as much as possible. Having said that, pests and diseases can show up in even the most pristine gardens, so it is good to learn how to diagnose and treat these issues.

Bacterial Leaf Spot (Disease)

• How To Identify: Bacterial Leaf Spot (or Bacterial Leaf Blight) shows up on the edges of the leaf tips as small, pale spots. They then grow larger and develop white centers. This disease usually shows up when there has been a particularly mild winter.
• How to Prevent: Bacterial Leaf Spot can be tough to prevent. Keep a close eye on your Iris after a mild winter and work to identify the disease at its earliest onset, removing infected plants as soon as you notice them.
• How To Treat: While there is no cure for this disease, there are measures that can help to control the spread of the bacterial leaf spot on Bearded irises.
• Because the disease can be transmitted via garden tools and water, always be sure to wash your tools with a 10% bleach/water solution after dealing with infected plants. Remove any diseased plants and dispose of them in the trash or municipal compost center, but avoid adding them to your home compost.

Fungal Leaf Spot (Disease)

• How To Identify: Fungal Leaf Spot appears somewhat similar to Bacterial Leaf Spot, but the small oval spots on the leaves do not grow in size. They do, however, form a distinct red/brown border. This disease is prevalent in wet, rainy weather so be sure to pay extra close attention during spells of rain-filled and high-humidity days.
• How to Prevent: Always give plants plenty of room to grow and be sure to divide them as they begin to spread and naturalize.
• How To Treat: If Fungal Leaf Spot appears, simply cut the tops off of the affected leaves. If the disease persists, you can use a natural fungicide, spraying in the fall and early spring, as a last resort.

Aphids (Pest)

• How To Identify: Aphids, which are small green or gray insects, appear on the Iris leaves and suck out the leaf sap. Aphids can also spread disease between plants.
• How to Prevent: There isn’t much you can do to prevent Aphids, but attracting beneficial insects (such as ladybugs) that eat these pests can be an effective solution. Marigolds are a great variety to add to the garden to help attract beneficial bugs. How To Treat: These little pests are large enough to pick off your leaves or crush between your fingers. Spraying a mixture of liquid dish detergent and water is also effective.

Iris Borer (Pest)

• How To Identify: Common in the Eastern and Midwestern parts of the country, the Iris Borer can wreak havoc on your Bearded Iris. Iris Borer lays its eggs in the fall on old foliage and neighboring debris. The eggs survive the winter and hatch in the early spring, finding a home on new Iris foliage. They are often hard to identify but can be seen on the foliage, often leaving a slimy trail behind them.
• How to Prevent: Keeping your garden clean and debris-free is the best way to prevent an Iris Borer infestation.
• How To Treat: If you catch them before they’ve made a home in your rhizomes, simply squish them between your fingers (fun, right?) Or, make a homemade soapy spray by mixing one tablespoon or less of dish soap (we recommend Seventh Generation’s Free & Clear) per one quart of water.

Problem #5: Overcrowding

Divide and conquer! Every three to five years, Bearded Iris tend to become overcrowded and the rhizomes should be divided. As a benefit, you get to add Bearded Irises to other parts of your garden free of charge! Plus, you'll be proactively preventing the spread of pests and diseases. 

Basic Steps To Divide Bearded Iris:

1. Dig a large hole around your clump of Bearded Iris and gently pull the roots up.
2. Wash the soil off with a hose.
3. Cut the rhizomes apart so each section has at least one healthy fan of leaves and firm, white roots.
4. Re-plant in different parts of the garden, making sure to leave the newly-transplanted rhizomes partially exposed, with plenty of room to grow.
5. Learn more about dividing and re-planting Bearded Iris here.

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