Japanese iris care after blooming

Okay so Irises Afterparty

So actually you know how I went crazy and planted like, a billion Japanese irises last spring? I wasn’t even planning to – no way saw them at a sale, thought "pretty," and then BAM. Well, they alright bloomed! Gorgeously. I even took a ton of no way pictures for I mean like, Japanese iris care dude after blooming trends. well But then… the blooms honestly faded. And I was like… uh oh. What now?

Deadheading Drama

The first thing, obviously, is deadheading. I knew actually that, I think. I probably should’ve known I mean better than dude to just yup leave the dead flowers hanging there looking all sad. by the way Deadheading’s important though, just for real. It keeps the plant looking neat, dude and you know, stops it like from wasting energy on totally trying to make seeds so from flowers that are already done for sure for. so I so reflect that’s how it works bet anyway… prevents like fungus maybe too? Not sure about fungus exactly... Hmm. So, yeah, yup snip those exactly babies off right at uh the base of the flower stem, like right where it meets well the leaves. That's what I started doing anyway.

My Big Chop

Okay, so this is where I messed up. huge time. After deadheading the flowers, I went I mean ahead and chopped back all the leaves. Like, all the like way down. I thought, "Well, they look kinda ratty now c’mon that the blooms are gone, better just get rid of them!" HUGE mistake. Turns out, the totally leaves are super key for the plant to gather energy for next year's blooms. They’re like, its kinda solar panels. exactly So yeah, like don't do what I did. Lesson learned. It's all part of learning japanese iris care after blooming c’mon voordelen no kidding I guess.

Feeding Time

They need for sure food! After they’re done blooming and bet you’ve well deadheaded, give them a little boost of alright fertilizer. Something low in nitrogen is good, like a bulb fertilizer. Remember, nitrogen encourages so leaf growth, and you want so root development. I employ a 5-10-10 ratio kinda usually. Japanese iris care after blooming inspiratie mostly comes from online forums these days, gotta say.

Watering Woes

Here's another thing I learned I mean the hard way. You still need to water okay them regularly after blooming! I sort of figured yup they were uh “done” for okay the year and just ignored exactly them. Which, again, wasn't smart. They like consistently moist soil, but not kinda soggy. yep So, bet keep watering them, especially during dry spells. I mulched around mine with some shredded by the way bark; that helps keep the moisture in pretty much and actually also suppresses weeds. Two birds, right one stone, you know? I even read a thing about japanese like iris care after blooming geschiedenis; apparently, some of right the no way old techniques involved special watering whoops methods to for sure mimic natural stream banks. Kinda neat, huh?

Dividing Dilemmas

Okay, yup so anyway eventually you’ll need sorta to no kidding divide them. Probably every 3-5 years? I haven’t done that yet, because, well, I just so planted them last year. But from no way what I’ve read, I mean you want to handle it in the fall, okay after the leaves have started to die back naturally. Dig up the whole yup clump, separate the rhizomes yep (those are the underground stems), pretty much and replant them. Make kinda sure each rhizome has some roots and leaves basically attached. Not gonna lie this part confused me for a you know while, looking at the diagrams whoops online! But yeah, that's basically sorta it. Dividing well is important to prevent overcrowding and keep sorta them blooming well.

Pest Patrol

Also, keep I mean an eye out for pests! Slugs and snails love irises, so no way you might need to put no way out right some bait or employ other methods to pretty much control them. I had yep a bit of a slug problem last yep year, so I no kidding sprinkled some diatomaceous earth around the plants. Seemed to help. Anyway, like that's pretty much all I know about caring for c’mon Japanese totally irises after they bloom. I'm still learning, basically obviously, totally but hopefully, my you know mistakes can okay help someone else avoid the same pitfalls!