Iris going downhill

[Marb67]

Well I have taken heed of soil conditions for this “little black belt” plant and yet it seems to be pathetic. The base of the plant is spongy and the leaves look eaten.

I have planted in gritty compost mixed with loam and plenty of stones for drainage. Exposed the base of the plant to sun and it’s in the sunniest part of the garden but it’s just getting smaller and smaller.

Can’t post a jpeg from my ipad becuase this site throws it back as an upload fail. No idea why.

[nickdub]

Is it a bearded iris that has got the problems you describe ?

[Marb67]

No it's a "little black belt" small iris that is purple.

[nickdub]

right - not one I'm familiar with - sorry - hopefully someone who does know the type will be along.

[Martin H]

A quick gurgle says that Little Black Belt is a dwarf bearded iris, so they like a dry, sunny spot. I've never tried them in a pot but this site says they don't do well in containers because they have a large root system: https://www.countryliving.com/uk/hom...earded-irises/

[veggiechicken]

Is it a bearded iris that has got the problems you describe ?

Goggle says its a Dwarf Bearded Iris - looks lovely. Sorry its not thriving, Marb. can't help with advice, sorry, as the only iris I can grow are the wild yellow flag iris!!
With your photo, it may be a size issue - too big for the vine. If you crop it or resize it, it should load.

[Greenleaves]

I don't know much about them but know some people over feed with nitrogen based fertilisers which is detrimental to them.

After frosts I believe they are prone to be attacked by boring maggots with no cure. Normally if they get a minimum of 6 hours sunlight a day they are fine

[SarrissUK]

Irises do have massive root systems, but they dontcreally suffer as much as they should from being crowded in my experience.
I'd drag it out of the pot and check the roots. It sounds more like a bug munching on the roots. Good luck!

[Marb67]

Why wont the site allow me to upload a normal jpeg ? It isn’t too large or small?

[Greenleaves]

No problems as far as we know Marb if it is less than 2Mb it should upload

Test photo

[Marb67]

Nope, tried again with “ upload of file failed”

[veggiechicken]

Admin advice from https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ml#post1586015

I believe the issue may be the pixel height and width of the image. We have a maximum height of 1024 pixels and width of 1024 pixels.


and

The issue with those two is the file size of the images. The first image sent was just slightly over the 2MB limit at 2.02MB and when cropped the file was 1.9MB.

In this case, I'd suggest using an image compressor such as https://tinypng.com/, which reduces file size without affecting quality in a significant way. That way you will not need to crop the image in order to post.

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ml#post1586020

[Marb67]

Well it just gets smaller and smaller. A bit eaten by slugs but despite growing in full sun with the roots exposed (a bit like ginger) it is another moribund specimen.

[Scarlet]

They don’t like growing in containers. They need to be planted into the ground.

[Marb67]

Ok, it's just a case of finding room. Thanks.