Lily Question
Forum Archives
Canuck
Location: British Columbia, Southwestern
Posted: Apr-04-2005 at 1:48pm
I planted 6 oriental liles in October , & only three of them have popped up so far . Three of them were Casablancas & the others were some type of pink orientals . The 3 that have sprouted are about 3 inches high . Is there a good chance that the remaining bulbs have rotted away ? This is my first go around with lilies .
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Apr-04-2005 at 3:48pm
The lilies are growing pretty fast this year, aren't they? It is still early for some lilies, so I would give your casablancas and orientals a bit more time. I doubt they have rotted away. It has been a dry year, even for BC. Hang in there and give them a chance! Good luck.
Jeanne
Verena
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: Apr-05-2005 at 9:13am
Hi, I've lost a lot of lilies to rodents, especially gophers who happen to adore them even more than me. Putting the bulbs in underground cages was just too much work, so now I grow them in large containers interplanted with perennials that don't spread quickly. The idea of having these luscious drifts of lilies among some ferns is gone but hey, it beats all my lilies being gone. Oriental lilies also like humusy, well drained soil. Look for tunnels where the bulbs were. Good luck!
Canuck
Location: British Columbia, Southwestern
Posted: Apr-05-2005 at 12:05pm
Took a look this morning , & what do you know , the other 3 bulbs are finally poking there heads out . Should I be fertilizing them now ?
Susie
Location: Washington, Southwestern
Posted: Apr-08-2005 at 6:05pm
Last year the rabbits ate the stems and leaves of most of my lilies before they got a chance to bloom. That hasn't slowed the lilies down, though. They're all up and looking good this year. (There is no evidence of rabbits in my garden this year for some reason. Maybe because I put wire cages around many of the lilies. Murphy's Law?)
This year's problem is that several of the lilies look like the tops have been scooped out. Is this slug damage? I've got a ton of slugs this year, while I only had a few last year.
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Apr-09-2005 at 2:47pm
Most lilies are very easy care. You don't need to fertilize them other than at planting time. They do quite well with just compost to feed the soil. My lilies (trumphets, orientals and asiatics) are now 5 years old and seem to do fine with out any additional fertilizer. If you want to use want one, use a slow release fertilizer. If the soil is in good shape, the lilies will be also.
Jeanne
bakingbarb
Location: Washington, Western
Posted: Apr-10-2005 at 10:26am
I was wondering about slug damage on some plants but I had put out the slug bait from Gardens Alive. SO hmmmm if it isn't slugs what is it, since I don't see many slugs either. I started checking a plant that was severly chewed on (not worried about it, its is a digitalis) and I am finding what I think are cutworms. So upon investigating I am finding these bugs on many of my plants. Thank goodness they have not found the lillies yet but they did last summer and the buds were chewed through.
~BakingBarb
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Apr-10-2005 at 10:55am
On the HPSO discussion email list, someone mentioned he was having problems with climbing cutworms. The damage he have has sounds very much like what you are seeing, Susie.
Solution advice offered included:
Treatment with the botanical agent, Bacillus thuringiensis, commonly labeled as Bt (this isn't a brand name, but an ingredient). It targets caterpillars, so it won't harm bees, etc. Unfortunately, it doesn't differentiate between cutworm caterpillars and wanted garden visitors, such as monarchs and swallowtails, but since lilies aren't host plants (at least not listed as such), these should not be affected provided you only apply Bt on cutworm-affected lilies.
I learned something new; Bt isn't effective with half-grown or older caterpillars. Apparently, this is true with many caterpillar control agents. For these, nightly hunting expeditions are effective (they are night feeders). Grab a flashlight and a bucket. Your culprit is a dull gray or brown caterpillar, which curls up into a crescent shape. They hide in the soil during the day and come out at night. This won't get them all; one cutworm moth can lay up to 1,000 eggs.
Collars, such as toilet paper tubes or other type of mechanical barrier, placed around the stems of plants are supposed to deter feeding and damage.
Trichogramma wasps are a natural predator of cutworm caterpillars.
JeanneK
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Apr-10-2005 at 11:38am
Great info, Lisa. Thanks! I don't believe the wasps are out yet. That's usually the problem I have is that the natural predators are still hibernating. Once they are active, I don't have the problem!
Jeanne
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Apr-11-2005 at 7:39pm
Way more people than usual have been coming into the nursery with samples of leaves with cutworm damage. I never really considered it a big problem but maybe it is a good year for them, bad for us. I wish there was a bt product that was ready to use, alot of people don't want to mix it and only need a little amount. A little off the subject, but some people have been coming in with leaves that have been damaged by hail and wind. Some plants leafed out early and we have had some wild weather in the Puget Sound area lately.
Fern
Susie
Location: Washington, Southwestern
Posted: Apr-12-2005 at 6:32pm
Lisa, I read the HPSO email about the climbing cutworms too, but I haven't yet had a chance to go out there at night with the flashlight on a cutworm hunt. Maybe if the weather isn't too bad tonight I'll do it, but with all the slugs here I thought they were the more likely cause. Thanks for the great info.
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Apr-12-2005 at 7:20pm
So you're an HPSO-lister, too? Cool! It's great how often I find my gardening path crosses with others' paths.
DebbieTT
Location: Washington, Kitsap Peninsula Posts: 4341 Posted: Apr-12-2005 at 9:17pm Originally posted by Fern
Way more people than usual have been coming into the nursery with samples of leaves with cutworm damage. I never really considered it a big problem but maybe it is a good year for them, bad for us. I wish there was a bt product that was ready to use, alot of people don't want to mix it and only need a little amount. A little off the subject, but some people have been coming in with leaves that have been damaged by hail and wind. Some plants leafed out early and we have had some wild weather in the Puget Sound area lately.
I am going to have to see if I am having that kind of trouble. Do you think this may be a local problem?
Lisa A
Location: Oregon, Greater Portland Metro
Posted: Apr-12-2005 at 11:03pm
Susie, you brought up a point that I negligently forgot to mention in my info. *Always* do a positive ID of pest problem before applying any treatment. Not only will it save you time and money treating the right problem but it will prevent you from doing harm.
I remember this lady who brought this very dead tree into the nursery one year. She gave us a laundry list of products she had tried to "fix" it. After some questioning, we figured out the problem was that she was overwatering the plant. If she had taken the time to find out what was causing the problem, she might easily have saved the tree before it was too late. What a shame.
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: Apr-13-2005 at 6:40pm
I don't know how bad the cuttworms are for sure, or how wide spread. I don't have any myself but I have lots of birds and ground beetles. So they even eat digitalis! You are so right about finding out the real cause of the problem. Some people really want to buy a chemical as a magic cure. For instance, hail damage, the plant will just out grow it, save your money to buy more plants! There was more heavy hail here yesterday.
Fern
bakingbarb
Location: Washington, Western
Posted: Apr-14-2005 at 8:31pm
It was cutworms too then last year for me. Most of my plants have them on it, or the damage anyways. I saw a few last year and not in just one flower bed so I know they are in my entire yard. So I would have to start treating now with the BT? AND DUH BT!!!!!!!!!!! Now why didn't I think of that! As for the wasps and the caterpillars, we had found a hollow shell of one that had been used by a wasp. There were little holes in two neat little rows up and down the back and the bugger was hollowed out! Very cool, the kids saved it for years. thanks for the bt thought
~BakingBarb
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton