Experience with lillies?

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Dargin
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Experience with lillies?

Post by Dargin » May 16th, 2020, 3:43 pm

A previous tenant must have planted these maybe 5 years back. The photo is terrible but it's the only one I have; had to crop it.

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I think it's some type of asiatic hybrid lilly? It has never grown over 4' tall.

They're coming up very beefy this year, even a couple new stems. Tallest of them is about 16 inches and a couple are 1-1/4" diameter at the base. Never seen them like this before!

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There's one or two spindly ones in the mix. Would clipping those weaker stems at the base redirect more energy to the bigger ones, possibly leading to bigger blooms?

Appreciate any thoughts.

TimmyG
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by TimmyG » May 17th, 2020, 12:20 am

The "spindly" ones are just babies. Lily bulbs multiply; it's what they do, and why it's good to dig them up and thin the herd every now and then. Leaving the smaller ones won't impact the larger ones until they get too crowded. Leave 'em if you like 'em and want more.

Dargin
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by Dargin » May 17th, 2020, 9:19 am

Cool. Thanks! Read up a bit more as well. Into the fall I'll have a dig and see if I can divide and transplant a few bulbs/bulblets to spread things out. I think they'd look nicer if they took up a wider space. Hopefully the bees will enjoy them, too. It's looking kinda desolate for them so far.

Dargin
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by Dargin » May 29th, 2020, 11:39 pm

5 weeks ago they were just poking out of the soil, now the tallest is at 44".

Hit a snag though; I'm sure I over watered last week. The soil is very moist. My lilac got wilty for a bit too, but it bounced back quickly. I pulled the mulch out around the bases of the lillies. I'm seeing some symptoms and not sure what to make of them yet.

There is some slight canoe-like curling of the newest growth, along with an overall loss of foliar rigidity; leafs a bit wilted.
The oldest growth -about 3 or 4 bottom leafs- have paled and yellowed. One came right off with a very light pull. To me that sounds like possible nitrogen deficiency and overwatering. Odd though, I fed them about a 1/4 cup of blood meal in late april, and milo and corn meal since. Maybe they need more than I thought.

What has me most uncertain is this:
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These appear on three leafs, about four pairs down from the newest growth. Only one lilly is showing these symptoms. Fungal caused by the watering?

TimmyG
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by TimmyG » May 30th, 2020, 12:24 am

Quite likely the first sign of botrytis.


Dargin
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by Dargin » May 30th, 2020, 9:45 am

Seems pretty likely. Thanks, man. At least it doesn't sound like the end of the world if so. I guess the cool nights we're still having won't help much, but at least humidity is supposed to drop off for a spell.

This morning I noticed a spot forming on another lilly. Must be earlier stage. It's just the faint yellow, irregular shaped blotch without the browning in the middle yet.

Gonna head to the hardware store and see what has copper sulfate or hydroxide. Will post some pics of how the treatment works out.

Thanks.

Dargin
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by Dargin » May 30th, 2020, 3:23 pm

Could only find copper soap so I had to order the sulfate.
I might test some neem oil on those few leafs tonight; was gonna do the roses anyway, something thinks they taste good.

Gonna do 1-1/4 tsp neem oil to 25 oz water.

Dargin
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by Dargin » June 1st, 2020, 1:54 pm

I decided to remove 3 infected leaves from one lilly and 2 from another. I got nice clean cuts. Hopefully this will reduce spread. Also pulled back some mulch to help things dry out more.

Totally forgot about Serenade... Sprayed them all with 2 ounces.

Also realized I have a bag of hydrated lime from a couple years back, so when the copper sulfate arrives I have the Bordeaux mix as an option.

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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by TimmyG » June 1st, 2020, 3:35 pm

Good luck!

We all get the lily virus. It's similar to what ails clematis: sometimes you deal with it; most times you go, meh, maybe next year.

Dargin
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by Dargin » June 2nd, 2020, 2:50 pm

Thanks, Timmy. I'll be very happy when i can adopt that attitude. It'll probably be easier to shrug off once I get a wider assortment of things established. Yeah, more variables should help...hehe

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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by Dargin » June 19th, 2020, 9:52 am

I've applied copper sulfate and also sprayed serenade about every other day. The disease is still present but seems to be slowed down. Before I started that treatment I cut off 5 leaves from the worst lilly, over a few days of progressive spread. Didn't seem like the way to go long term. I'm over it. Will see what they produce. :)

The biggest of them just broke the 5 foot mark.
The roses are coming along ok too. Just planted them this spring. Not many blooms but they're pretty big. Really liking the color.


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MorpheusPA
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by MorpheusPA » June 19th, 2020, 11:54 am

Those are simply gorgeous. Will you post a closeup of the blossoms?

Dargin
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by Dargin » June 19th, 2020, 5:00 pm

Thanks, Morpheus. Hopefully these are close enough.

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Just hoping it fills out nicely over time. May get another variety rootstock to plant in the fall. Something more fragrant.

Dargin
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Re: Experience with lillies?

Post by Dargin » July 31st, 2020, 9:56 am

I continued with weekly applications of copper sulfate along with serenade twice per week. I never eliminated the botrytis, but it didn't take off and kill all the foliage; I think that's probably good news for next year.

Probably not the most amazing looking blooms, but they're growing on me. :no:

I like the structure of the blooms. I think I just need to thin them out this fall; make a nice tall back row, spaced about a foot apart, with some 2-3 foot "somethings" in front to mask the gangly stems. I'd like the spacing of the leafs to be tighter, more compact, but being a westward facing garden smack dab against the house, I'm betting the lack of spring sun may be more an issue than fertilizer. Will find out next year.


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The tallest hit 6' 3". Woohoo! We got some decent wind gusts a few days back and the big one was literally bent over touching the ground. No breaks. Couldn't figure how to stake it at this point so I went with string tied to rocks and the basement window to anchor it. I'm checking it daily to make sure the string isn't wearing on the stem.

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