Hello, I hope you can help me identify the problem, I have lots of different iris, and this year they have all produced flower stems, yet all of them keep being chewed by something, and then the flowers never open.
A person on another thread had problems with stalks being bitten off. She lives in Arizona and found it was birds going after moisture. Not sure where you live or if it's dry there, but that's a possibility if it's dry by you. She solved the problem by hanging a bunch of CD's up to scare them away.
Politicians are like diapers, they need to be changed often, and for the same reason.
Name: Marilyn, aka "Poly" South San Francisco Bay Area (Zone 9b) "The mountains are calling..."
I would think "rodent" rather than slugs or snails. Not that they don't do damage, but I've got both here and I've never seen damage like THAT from them...they tend to go after the blooms instead of the stalk.
Evaluating an iris seedling, hopefully for rebloom
I would guess cutworms. They will feed on leaves, buds, stalks. I think I see chewed leaves in your images. Look for the cutworms during the daytime on the soil at the base of the plants, perhaps under debris. I think they feed mostly at night.
