I've been keeping a close eye on my bearded Iris this spring. Not because of the precociousness of the buds this year, but because the irises suffered from iris borers last summer. It's possible to have bearded Iris without the disgusting insects, but I brought into my garden some irises from my mom's garden, and I knew that her irises had problems with the borers several years ago. I thought I was careful, only taking healthy rhizomes, but there must have been a hitchhiker.
To eliminate these pests, the gardener needs to remove all the old foliage in the fall where the little buggers overwinter, which I somehow failed to do. So now, I have to go on seek-and-destroy missions before the borers mature and make their way into the rhizomes. The tiny larva start out up on the foliage and chew their way inside.
Not a pretty sight, but there's still hope for this plant. A quick snip with pruners below the invasion site should do the trick. The infested leaves must not be put into the compost pile, but must be destroyed.
Yes, it's tedious to search every leaf, but it must be done and is much less unpleasant than digging full-fledged borers out of stinking, rotting rhizomes. Is it worth it? Here's my answer:
