I am expecting some LA wins. I know some of you soak your plants before planting. How long and in what solution? I have some super thrive from early last season, is that too old to use? I also have a few alfalfa pellets. Do I throw them around or put in planting hole? Don't want to burn roots.
I've been hearing about cotton burr compost. I'm out of my good compost. Could I add that to my hole when I plant?
thanx, Judy
soaking bare root dayliles?
If I soak mine at all I just use water. In the past a have used Super Thrive and yours should be fine to use. I have soaked from a couple of hours to 3 days because I didn't have time to get to them. Unless the roots are super dry I don't bother soaking
I do both with the alfalfa pellets, around and in the hole. I use a lot of it and have never had a problem burning the roots that I can tell. If you put it in the hole just mix it in the soil some so it won't be in direct contact with the roots. I've never used the cotton burr compost so I don't know anything about it.
I sometimes soak mine if I can't get them planted right away or they are exceptionally dry. There is not enough nitrogen in alfalfa pellets to burn the roots. Might not even give them a cheap thrill.
Soaking is great, especially if you can't plant them right away. Just make sure that only the roots are soaking. You court crown rot if the crowns are wet for too long. I lost a few when I started out because of that!
I soak bare roots in water overnight or at least a few hours before planting. I like to add a capful of SuperThrive to the water. I can tell a difference in the daylilies that soak in SuperThrive and those that do not. The ones that had the SuperThrive seem to recover from shipping quicker. Today I used the last of the SuperThrive that I have used for the two previous summers. I will be getting another bottle the next time I go to Walmart.
Thanks for all the great tips. Now just waitin' for the mailman! Rain has set in for a few days so hopefully they won't come too soon. It has been so warm.
i hate to disagree about the alphalfa pellets, but i have heard on several occassions about putting too many in direct contact with the roots of the dl. it isnt the nitrogen that is the problem, but apparently the alfalpha heats up as it decays and it can "cook" the roots. or at least increase the temp enough to cause problems or even death. of course that may only be a problem when you live in an area like mine where the temps get so hot for such a long period of time. i love using alphalfa, i am just carefull, just in case!
tracie
zone 8b, East Texas
I just soak in water overnight but just make sure you keep a eye on your plants because if they start turning yellow it's past time to plant them (don't soak to long).I use alphalfa pellets & superthrive when planting & give all plants a spoonful of epson salts. I use a 30 gal tub of water & mix i cut of alphalfa pellets for each gal of water & let set in the sun for about 5 days & it will make a good instant fertilizer, The neighbers always wondered what that smell is & I tell them someone must be raising horses or cows close by.
I agree with Tracie on the alfalfa pellets.
I had daylilies set in water for two weeks once and they were ok. But most of those didn't bloom for me that year. Coincidence? I don't know? But I don't want to do that again if I can help it.
They will survive quite a long time in water as long as only the roots are soaking. I suspect that Joy is correct about them not blooming though. I had some in 2009 that soaked for over a month before they could be planted and while they survived, they took a while to bloom. I suspect it is because they use up a lot of their resources just staying alive on a diet of nothing but water and sunlight that would otherwise go towards growing new roots and blooming.
It rained so much that we could not plant the new daylilies last spring so we potted them. Because it rained almost every day for a long time, we did not need to water them. The rain must have helped because most of them bloomed last year and they are looking very strong this spring.
Dick
This message was edited Apr 10, 2012 10:58 PM
i cannot find superthrive in either lowe's or home depot this year. does anyone (especially in my area) have an idea what other source i might try?
I don't know about superthrive. What I have tried (I read this somewhere on the web) is to add a Vitamin B transplant solution concentrate (it also has phosphorus in it) to the tubs that I soak incoming daylilies in. This is what I use: http://www.horticulturesource.com/liquinox-start-with-vitamin-b-1-gallon-p8630/ You can find it at most nurseries.
I have done this, and I have to say that the daylilies seem to like it, and are healthier and get off to a better start as opposed to just soaking in water. So if you can't find superthrive, then give it a try. (I basically soak the plants in whatever strength they tell you to make the solution to; the bottles that you get are concentrates.)
As for soaking daylilies too long in tubs, I suspect that whatever result you get depends in part on a) your climate, b) the time of year (and duration of time) that you are soaking the daylilies, and c) whether or not you are covering just the roots (with the water or solution), or are also covering the crowns (in which case you may be courting rot).
I have had the experience *cough* of leaving daylilies soaking literally for several months (that is, well over half a year - and that includes over the winter into the following spring) and for the most part (more on that later) they have not died - and in fact (remember I am not soaking in plain water) at least some of them seem to have done better than those that were potted out. (To some extent I think that normally dying foliage may have composted, so to speak, in the tubs, and therefore provided the tubbed daylilies some additional nutrients, and in our climate the tubbed daylilies certainly had an abundance of water that the potted daylilies did not. That's my guess, anyway.) But then - I am in the SF Bay Area (zone 9), these tubs are all in filtered shade, and we have mild winters. I doubt that you would get away with this in zone 6 or below!
Last year, daylilies purchased in the spring which were still in the tubs (allergies and other issues preventing me from getting all of them planted or potted in a timely manner) bloomed during the normal bloom season. In the tubs. (Not an ideal situation, I grant you, but they still bloomed.)
For what it's worth, this negligence is not without its risks; I *have* lost a few plants via this "benign neglect" due to the temperatures soaring too high, and the crowns possibly being at least partly underwater - said deaths I presume having been due to rot. Although we are zone 9 here, the weather is mostly temperate, otherwise this type of thing may have happened more often. I certainly wouldn't recommend extended summer soaking in the Deep South, or during any period of high temps whatever zone you reside in. I also try now to keep the crowns out of the water. However, some cultivars are seemingly "rotters" (or so I have read) and it may be possible (I don't know) that you might still get roots rotting under such conditions, even if the crowns themselves are out of the water.
All of this is NOT to RECOMMEND soaking the daylilies for months on end, you understand. This is just to relate my experience. YMMV.
corgimom, have you tried Walmart? The ones here carry it. Also, sometimes you can order on the Lowes and Home Depot websites and have it sent to the store for pickup there and there is no shipping charge.
corgimom, I found SuperThrive at our Walmart (garden section) last week. It was more expensive this year than two years ago when I bought 3 bottles.
Doris
I was in Wal-mart yesterday and they had Superthrive.