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I had a thought(suprising, isn't it? ) I wonder if the Listerine could be sprayed to help control the bacterial form of leafspot? This season I had lots of problems with leafspot, and spraying fungicide helped, but not enough. I decided that I had some of the bacterial leafspot, and sprayed with sulpher water, and it did seem to help. I'm going to experiment with mouthwash( no cracks, please ), it would be much easier to mix/spray than the sulpher powder, and might work better! Anyone have any thoughts on this?...Arlyn
yeah. Sprayed on the foliage.I usually spray fungicide every 10 days, or so. Maybe try every 3rd spray with a biocide(mouthwash).My schedule for this past season was 2"doses" of systemic fungicide, 1 spray of sulpher water, then 1 spray of Daconil(another type of fungicide). Then I repeated the cycle.I was thinking of replacing the sulpher spray with Listerine. I think I'll experiment on a few clumps,to see if it helps....Arlyn
Name: Anne England National Collection of AJ Bliss iri
What's the ratio for mixing the listerine? I'm almost out of ideas here! The weather has been so wet in England and the leafspot is bad - I've never really had a problem before.
Anne
The problem with using a thing like Listerine for leafspot may be that leafspot is caused by a fungus and rot is caused by bactera. . . not the same trouble-maker.
Michele, there are 2 kinds of leafspot,from what I've read. Fungal, and bacteralogical(sp?). Fungal is the most common, here anyway.I never have too much trouble with that. But this year I just couldn't get my leaves to clean up! I assumed that I had the Bac. kind, so i sprayed with sulpher water ( 1 cup powdered sulpher to 1 gallon of water).I Know that sul. is a fungicide ,and a biocyde,and i sprayed it every 3rd spray, alternating with regular fung. sprays. I started seeing (IMO) some improvement. So I sprayed sul. every other spray , and saw more improvement.Problem is that the sul. is hard to spray( comes out of solution easily and clogs spray head, even with constant aggitation) I plan to spray the Lis. 50/50 with water, every 3 rd spray, as a preventative , starting at the start of the season. IF it doesn't seem to hurt the foliage, that is! I'll try it first on only 1 or 2 clumps, as a test. but I'm sure it won't hurt the leaves. I use a "sticker", and spray to the point of "run-off", with a "strong mix"(25-30 pec. more than directed) early in AM when the leaves are wet with dew. The mouthwash is still just an idea for now,and I'll know more next season. At the least, I believe the "run-off" on to the rhisomes and surrounding soil,will eliminate some bacteria(both good AND bad "bugs"). Worth a shot, I think....Arlyn
My apologies. . . but how often do you spray your plants during the season?? I only spray maybe twice all season long (once at the beginning when the vegetation start to develop noticeably and then again when I start to notice if there is a problem) even this year when the leaf spot was really bad. I can't see having to go crazy spraying, treating and all kinds of chemical stuff all season long when iris are supposed to be such hardy plants.
I start with one spray of systemic fungicide when new growth starts. Normal years, I mix miracle grow(at 1/2 strength) with fungicide for the next spray, that comes about 2 weeks later. Then I watch for any signs of leafspot. If I see it, I spray every 10 days. It's generally very warm and humid here in June and July, and I usually have leafspot. The spraying and normal bed "clean-ups" take care of it. This past year, it was very hot and dry,even to the point of no dew in the AMs. Some of the leaf "ugliness" may have been just heat stress, but I'm sure that was not the total problem. I don't like the thought of spraying, just to be spraying, either, BUT, I want my plants to look good and be healthy, also. If the leaves are 10pec. affected, that's 10pec. less food supplied to the plant. And ,I'm sure that left untreated, the plant would eventually "starve to death" as more and more of the leaf area is affected..Just my thoughts!...Arlyn
Name: Anne England National Collection of AJ Bliss iri
Thanks. I'm hoping I won't need it next year - that it will hot and dry and sunny, and we will have a beautiful summer..... (optimistic or what?!), But at least I now have a couple of ideas to try out. Anne
Thank's Dee! I need all the help I can get! I sometimes think that a lot of the trouble we have with the iris is caused by mono culture, too many of the same plant in too small an area. It's easy for diseases to transfer through the whole planting, almost overnight. Thanks again for the help, Dee!...Arlyn
Name: Dee Stewart Willamette Valley OR Snowpeak Iris
You are more than welcome Arlyn, the key is copy and paste the link and not type it, and I find that if I put it more at the end of the posting that it does better
) I wonder if the Listerine could be sprayed to help control the bacterial form of leafspot? This season I had lots of problems with leafspot, and spraying fungicide helped, but not enough. I decided that I had some of the bacterial leafspot, and sprayed with sulpher water, and it did seem to help. I'm going to experiment with mouthwash( no cracks, please 
), it would be much easier to mix/spray than the sulpher powder, and might work better! Anyone have any thoughts on this?...Arlyn
I sometimes think that a lot of the trouble we have with the iris is caused by mono culture, too many of the same plant in too small an area. It's easy for diseases to transfer through the whole planting, almost overnight. Thanks again for the help, Dee!...Arlyn