Here are a few daylily hacks that have helped me grow healthy daylilies over the years:
- When bare root daylily divisions are purchased, I always soak them in a 10 to 1 bleach solution (10 cups of water to one cup of bleach) for an hour or two to sanitize them.
- After bleaching, I wash the plants thoroughly with a clean water spray.
- I typically hydrate newly purchased divisions overnight in a bucket in preparation for planting the following morning. If they have been shipped, it may have been 6-8 days without water for the plants.
- Cut the division foliage to about 4-6" above the roots. The daylily can focus on root growth instead of foliage growth.
- To accelerate root growth of new divisions, I plant them in a dark black plastic pot and place the pot on my warm patio brick. In about one month the pot is usually filled with new roots. At that time I plant the daylily in its permanent spot.
- This one's easy. I keep a huge black garbage bag full of dried up manure stored in a big garbage can that's hidden behind the garage. I routinely sprinkle dried manure around my daylilies - they love it!
- Be sure to deadhead the old daylily blooms. It's discouraging to find a pink bloom in a clump of yellow blooms. A seed from a dried up pod can fall into a clump and grow a completely new plant in the middle of your old one. Worst of all you may not discover it for two or three years until the new plant ultimately blooms. By that time, it's well established and you will have to dig the entire plant out and do surgery to remove the interloper. Not fun, in case you're wondering.
- I plant temperamental/finicky daylilies by the house for protection or in a terraced area surrounded by rocks for extra warmth over the winter.
- When you initially plant new daylilies, be sure to give them at least 2-3 feet of space between each other. I know a double fan division looks tiny and you may be tempted to put two plants in that one space -- resist doing that at all costs! I guarantee it will save you extra digging in a year or two.
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