How to Lift Iris Bulbs

Lifting your iris bulbs means digging up the bulbs to divide them or amend the soil. Just follow these steps to implement the procedure.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Gardening spade or pitch fork

1. Wait until the iris bulbs have finished their blooming season. Late summer is a great time to lift them.
2. Locate the bulb around the leaves. Since irises are shallowly planted, you should easily see the tuberous bulbs around your planting bed.
3. Using a garden spade or pitch fork, go out a few inches from the iris leaves and push the spade in at an angle under the bulbs, taking care not to pierce any of them.
4. Gently pry the bulbs up and out of the dirt.
5. Work your way around the entire iris planting bed until you have lifted all the iris bulbs from the ground. This will let you divide them and amend the soil to encourge more blooms next season.
6. Divide the iris bulbs if needed.
7. Amend the iris planting bed by mixing in nutrient rich soil or compost.

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