Getting through the first summer

John Bryan johnbryan@worldnet.att.net
Wed, 03 Mar 2004 10:53:56 PST
Dear All;

Jim McKinney's recent point regarding iris being brought indoors into an
air-conditioned house and then not drying out is interesting.

Jim, did you have the ones you brought indoors in any sack?

There is no doubt that left uncovered plants will dry out even in quite
high humidity. The movement of air would cause the moisture to disperse.
In the ground the immediate area around the rootstock would be made
moist to a certain degree and reduce moisture loss, as there would be no
air movement.

If indoors you had them in a sack, the immediate air around the plants
would be still, especially when compared with those you left outdoors,
even if uncovered indoors there would be less air movement.

I would suspect that left outdoors with some covering, perhaps a plastic
sack with  few holes to eliminate the air inside becoming too wet to the
point that rots would be encouraged by condensation brought on by
temperature changes they should be OK. Placing them in almost dry peat
inside a sack would, I suspect, also work well and be preferred. 

To my mind the shriveling was caused by air movement and despite the
humidity, the air immediately around the stored roots was not still,
hence the great loss of moisture. Cheers, John E. Bryan


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