Gulf Coast Daylily Society of Southeast Texas
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Daylily Problems Gulf Coast Daylily Society of Southeast Texas
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DAYLILIES HAVE VERY FEW PROBLEMS
Some have called the daylily the "perfect perennial." It is almost true. Many daylily varieties are close to carefree. They don't show many signs of pests or disease. Most varieties of daylily require very little fertilization, can tolerate cold and heat and drought and lots of rain, too. They will bloom year after year and thrive in our area without much attention. One of the keys to carefree daylilies is bed preparation before planting. A good raised bed with plenty of soil amendments, such as sand, to break up the clay gumbo soils of Southeast Texas, and plenty of organic matter, such as well rotted manure or humus or compost. See PLANTING DAYLILIES PAGE. Once the daylilies are established, most will do just fine. There are a few problems though. Here are some and some tips, from experience. APHIDS AND OTHER PESTS Aphids and thrips can be a problem, found on leaves and between petals. The feed by sucking plant sap. Thrips have natural enemies, beneficial insects, so avoid insecticides as much as possible. Blue sticky traps (blue painted cardboard with petroleum jelly near daylilies) will help protect daylilies from thrips. Aphids are sometimes a problem during cool spring weather. Like thrips, they suck plant sap. Again lacewings and ladybugs are natural enemies. Encourage them. Insecticides don't control aphids well. Some do use Cygon 2E, a systemic insecticide to control aphids and thrips. CROWN ROT Something causes the crown and sometimes the roots to rot. It is thought this is bacteria in the soil. Some of the factors that favor rot are: high temperatures, poor air circulation, poor soil drainage, and over fertilization. To prevent crown rot, avoid the above factors. Permit wounds in plants to heal or dry out before planting. Discard all rotted plant material. Some find they can stop crown rot by removing the plant, washing off all soil to a bare root plant, cutting away all rotted areas back to firm flesh, soaking in a bleach solution and allowing the bare root daylily to completely dry, even 24 hours or more, before repotting. Bill Jarvis of the Houston Hemerocallis Society has a good page on crown rot treatment see BILL'S DAYLILY CROWN ROT PAGE Clarence and Beth Crochet of Prairieville, Louisiana, about 14 miles south of Baton Rouge, have a page that is helpful, too: SOUTH LOUISIANA DAYLILY GROWING TIPS AND CROWN ROT ARTICLE. (If you have other treatments for Crown Rot, please contact the Webmaster.) RUST Daylily Rust is a BIG PROBLEM with many varieties, particularly here in the South. See the helpful site on on DAYLILY RUST. Rust first appeared in 2000 and 2001 and quickly has spread throughout the daylily world. Rust looks like small brown dots or dusty brown residue on the leaves of the daylily. Although it does deter from the appearance of the plant, in many cases, it does very little harm to the plant. Here is a list from a Texas A&M Extension Service bulletin in 2004 http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/newsletters/hortupdate/apr04/Rust.html and a Cornell University Report http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/daylily%20rust/daylilyrust.htm
The Gulf Coast Daylily Society of Southeast Texas, under the direction of Dr. Gene Orgeron, is conducting a continuing rust resistance survey among our members to identify even more plants which are least susceptible to rust in our area. JUST DON'T GROW WELL IN THIS PART OF THE COUNTRY. Some daylily varieties just don't grow well this far South, where it can be extremely hot and humid and there is little winter for dormancy. It is equally true, that some daylily varieties do not fare well in harsh northern climates either, where they are not suited to the very cold temperatures and severity of the winter. We have found some varieties don't do well here. The extreme heat and humidity or the lack of cold weather for really going dormant in the winter does not suit some varieties. Although the daylily "habit" labels Dormant, Semi-Evergreen, and Evergreen may give some hint of where a particular daylily variety will grow best, with Evergreen and Semi-Evergreen tending do fare better here in Southeast Texas, the "habit" is not a 100% accurate predictor of viability here in the South. Some of the varieties our club members have found DO NOT FARE WELL in Southeast Texas are: (Coming Soon) Some of the varieties our club members have found DO FARE WELL in Southeast Texas are: (Coming Soon)
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