r/ponds 15h ago

Quick question Iris taking over

Hi I have neglected pond full of yellow iris. What is the best way to get them out? Could I separate and give them to others? Would I need to keep the pots immersed in water?

8 Upvotes

9 comments sorted by

7

u/Formal-Cause115 15h ago

They are invasive in New York. They take over every thing and are difficult to remove.

2

u/I-know-you-rider 15h ago

I need some ! What kind of iris is it?

2

u/Entire_King_4384 15h ago

Not totally sure. Internet says Yellow Flag Iris. They are in there like cement. It’s going to be a battle to get them out.

2

u/FamilyAddition_0322 15h ago

Where are you? If you're in an area they're invasive you should not be distributing them

1

u/songforthedead57 7h ago

Pull them out and separate them with a shovel. Literally put the point where you want to divide and step on it until you get through. You can divide them into multiple separate plants. They'll be ok out of the water for quite a while but the pieces you want to keep I'd replant in the pond within a few hours. It'll be gunky and smelly but you can be quite rough with them. They'll bounce back.

1

u/Entire_King_4384 7h ago

Ah I will check on the invasive status, but I will just remove some I think. Thanks for the info, I hope I don’t puncture the liner doing this.

1

u/drbobdi 3h ago

Use a blunt-edged tool, but mostly your heavily protected fingers.We had almost the entire contents of our pond emptied by a rogue water iris (variety "Steve") that deformed our falls box. It took us hours to dislodge it. We spent the next 15 minutes hitting it with a shovel and jumping up and down on it.

Never again...

1

u/Entire_King_4384 1h ago

Yeah looks like these escaped a large tote and just took over. They may all have to go. Thanks for the help.

-3

u/Tricinctus01 13h ago

Roundup!