Help please. We bought house 8 years ago and i have some daylilies around a tree but they don't bloom (1 small orange in 8 years) or get any bigger. It is a very shady yard and where they are gets the most sun. Would it be best to move them or something cuz they look so pitiful. Would fertilizer help. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance for any help.
daylilies
Most of my daylilies are under a big elm tree. I do get the tree pruned about every three years so it is not too dense. My daylilies bloom very well under it.
Have you ever divided them? It could be they're too crouded and need to be thinned out. When you replant them take the time to enrich the soil and they should perform much better.
they like sun most of all the never bloom in complete shade .they should be divided every 3 years or so and spead out.
Thanks all but this haven't even grown any since they were planted. I bet if the person that planted them could see them they would look the same. Will horses bother them? I'm thinking about moving them around to the fence where it gets more sun but afraid horse would munch on them. Checked them yesterday and 4-5 have 2 buds each coming out.
poppysue what would be good to enrich soil with for them?
Just love daylilies but never had good enough spot for them, but I'm going to try and at least get these to do something.LOL
layla, when you thin and move them be sure to scratch in some bone meal. I fed mine bone meal in the fall and again lightly in early March. I am amazed at the difference it makes. Also, if they are planted around a maple tree the maple roots may be choking them.
If your daylilies aren't growing and blooming, I've read by a hybridizer that they are planted too deep. You have to have the crown at soil level and not below. Dirt can wash over them and bury them deeper than they need to be. Lift them, and replant just a little higher, feed and I'll bet that will help.
Good luck!! btw, I have some in almost full shade, and they do fine.
Tig,
I to have daylillies in almost full shade and find I can hybridize a few weeks longer with them in the shade. I do know most hybridizers grow in full sun though and they tend to grow much faster in the full sun. I will tell you this though, I have also seen hybridizers grow daylillies in almost full shade. The ones in pots are generally the ones hybridizers put in full shade if any have to be in the full shade. These still bloom, but they don't need to grow too fast. I have also found that at least for me a daylilly in the ground grows faster and sets seed better than a potted daylilly. I enrich the soil here with tons of peat. We have sand here so tilling it in or simply throwing a few handfuls of milorganite around the seedlings once they are a few inches seems to help.
hope this helps a bit,
Brugmansia
No one mentioned that to spruce up the soil, you just need to add some compost or well composted manure to the soil and a little fertilizer like miracle gro or all purpose fertilizer wouldn't hurt also.
Daylilies do require a good deal of sun and some tend to do well without a lot but to get the best blooms, sun helps and they were likely planted OK if some are blooming.
I'm not aware of horses liking to eat the foliage but deer tend to like them.
Hope this helps
Darlene
I raise daylilies and I seem to have tons of bloom all the time. We have had a few years of drought here and I was unable to water them. The flowers were small but plentiful. This year we have had plenty of rain and they are big and plentiful. I think when they are setting bud they must have adequate water.
I fertilize with 10-10-10 around each clump in spring. To increase substance and size of bloom when I have time I mix water in Miracle Grow and pour around the plant. Spraying with Miracle Grow helps but not like pouring it around them.
Hope this helps. One more thing. Removing stems after flowering is done on that stem will put strength in the plant for the next year. When flower size dimenish it is time to divide the clump to keep flower size at maximum.
In the past I have had some do well under tree and some that didn't. It may be you need to try a different type or color under the trees. Don't give up, move them, they may just need a new home and are trying to tell you. Some perennials are like that they do well in one place but not in others. It could just be the soil as someone said earlier as well try what you can, they are telling you something, just like a baby crying you know it wants something.Mike
Nothing I have planted under trees does well. I bet they need lots more water as well. Even the hostas I have planted under the trees are robbed of their share of water! I didnt realized daylilies needed so much water as well.