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Research to benefit Louisiana iris producers

08:07 PM CDT on Saturday, October 9, 2004

By KATHERINE KELLY GILBERT The Houma Courier

CHACAHOULA, La. — Rustella "Rusty" Ostheimer has been raising Louisiana irises since 1963 and doing so commercially since 1983. Each spring, her field of 500 or so irises — some old varieties, some hybrids — blooms across a four-acre field in Chacahoula.

"It's like a sea of color," she said, with nearly every color imaginable gracing the landscape. The beauty inspires Ostheimer to welcome visitors to the garden in May to see their splendor and has resulted in her making a number of friends. "It's amazing." But when Ostheimer's husband, Ed, died a couple of years ago, she lost not only her gardening partner, but a business partner as well. The two operated Bois d'Arc Gardens, their Louisiana iris field. She feared the workload would be too heavy to bear alone as the garden, one of a handful its size in the state, wasn't her only responsibility.

Ostheimer also teaches art and computer science at St. Matthew's Episcopal School.

Planting rhizomes, weeding rows, harvesting irises to ship all over the United States, Japan, Canada and even Iran a few years back — all add up to countless hours of work. Ostheimer was nearly ready to mow down the entire field.

Instead, she turned to a longtime friend and fellow gardener, Bernard "Bud" McSparrin, for help with the business. And the two have been managing the iris fields ever since. But with only the two of them working, the load is still heavy. With their demands and complications in life, Ostheimer found it necessary to reduce the acreage toiled.

That's why the duo turned to the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center Research and Extension Service. The agency's mission, according to area horticulture agent Bobby H. Fletcher Jr., is to help local growers become more productive and make better decisions based on research. The result is a two-year, cooperative research study to test the effectiveness of herbicides on the Louisiana irises at the Chacahoula site. The aim is to reduce the weed population within the iris beds to increase efficiency and productivity, said Ron Strahan, AgCenter assistant professor of agronomy, who is leading the study.

Strahan regularly conducts weed-control research and extension programs in turfgrass and ornamental plants for the AgCenter. "The key to iris weed control is to have a good pre-emergent herbicide, since post-emergence weed-control options are limited," Strahan said. Iris production is labor-intensive, so any help a grower can find — through herbicides, for example — can be beneficial.

The study involves 105 plots growing five different iris varieties — four of which are registered, and one is a hybrid Ostheimer developed. It also involves evaluation of seven pre-emergent herbicide treatments being applied in cycles.

"Now, they've got a lot of chemicals that should work, but most have never been tried on Louisiana irises," McSparrin said, although some have been used on bearded irises.

"This research won't just benefit here," Strahan said. The results will be published and available for use by iris growers throughout the country. "The research has never been done," Strahan added.

Toward the study's end, the site will be showcased as part of a national tour when the Society for Louisiana Irises hosts the national iris group's meeting in Lafayette in 2006, Ostheimer said.

The study also furthers the AgCenter's mission — helping a local iris grower become more productive. "They're going to be working with us, learning at the same time," Fletcher said. "If, through this research plot, we can develop a plan they can follow ... that will definitely assist them in being more productive and efficient."

With luck, McSparrin said, the AgCenter's study will reduce manual labor by about 50 percent.