I should know better...but

I was taking out very overgrown daylilies to plant other things. The feeder roots are extensive. How much do I have to remove in order to not have re-growth?

In my experience, to the center of the earth... Sorry, I've been trying since August. Round up does not work.

You could always smother the area with layers of wet newspaper or cardboard, treat it like you would a weed...

I did that, they pushed right on up, just moved it aside, like heaving dirt in the winter. If there is a solution, I sure hope someone will share. We've dug them 3 times, smothered them, tried round up, stomped them in frustration, wacked at them with a weed wacker to scar them, hoping they will rot this winter. I have some under a tree that are growing up under the bark, no dirt. Grrrrr

What kind of daylilies are you referring to? Are they invasive? I just planted my first ones this fall so I'm very ignorant of the ins and outs of daylilies.

They are yellow and orange, but I realize that is NOT what you want to know. I just don't know as they have been in you years and years. Before I was a DGer so I never marked anything! Sorry.

mine have been in for years, too. I love daylilies, I guess it is important to give them some attention every few years, haha.

edited to correct years

This message was edited Nov 30, 2007 4:28 PM

Thanks..I'll have to remember that!! Good luck with your roots!

Huh... might just be one of those plants you better want when you put it in, 'cause you're gonna have it for a while.

The only other method I can suggest is heavy black plastic. Fasten the plastic over it and let it bake during the summer months. If you exclude both light and water, not much is going to survive. Be sure not to put anything over the plastic except that which is holding it in place - you want it to absorb as much heat from the sun as possible.

Be aware that if you use this method you will have an inch or two of sterile soil where the plastic has been. That's good when it comes to weed seeds and any pathogens, but you'll want to put some compost back on that spot to reinnoculate it with soil microbes.

PC-

Hate to be a wet blanket but I actually did that here in FL- the Wandering Jew still wandered as did the worst weeds and I ended up with a bonus ant refuge. YMMV

Maggie

Okay, well - that's the only options I have to suggest, short of a torch and small plastic explosives!

What is YMMV?

Your milage may vary. I wasn't saying that wouldn't work for someone else, just what happened when I did it in the fl. sandbox we have for "soil" :-)

Funny how people who want daylilys worry about them not making it, it's always the way

Maggie

>grin<

Sho' nuff...

I used solarization (that's what the plasticking thing is called) to get rid of large patches of Bermuda grass in Phx - I'm thinking I'll have to do the same here.