I have tried very hard to raise lilies but they won't come up. I finally dug one up and it looked healthy and firm. The soil is well-prepared and well-drained. Some are in part shade, others get more sun. nada.
Any ideas?
no da** luck
Rats! I don't know what to think. Are they different varieties too?
How did the roots on the bottom of the bulb look?
some are orientals and some are asians. Differrent cultivars. They bloom the year I first get them and plant them, but don't follow up in subsequent years.
And the bulbs are not missing (voles or rotted)... Do you have bunnies eating them off? that was happening to me for several years before I figured it out. Bunnies were eating them to the ground before I saw any growth, but the bulbs were okay underground.
Thank goodness for Plantskydd!
I don't think they're coming up but the bulbs look fine. If I had bunnies, they would also be eating down other things. So frustrating. I love lilies.
When you dig up the bulbs, are there nice healthy roots attached? Can you see any evidence of a stem coming out of the bulb?
What about your soil? Have you tested it lately? Orientals like acid soil.
Gosh, we should just make a list of things to tick off when this happens.
Last year when they bloomed, tell me what you did with the flowers. Did you cut them for use in an arrangement? How far did you cut them back? Did you leave the stems iin place until after your first hard frost or did you cut them to ground once they were done flowering?
ummm, they look like stems started to come up and then died. I don't remember what the roots look like; I'll have to try find more of them to answer you questions. I didn't cut any blooms last year, because they didn't come up last year either. But I would not have cut back the green growth; I know to leave it to feed the bulb.
How long has it been since you last saw stems? When did you actually plant these?
lol, some 4 years ago and some 3 years ago. They bloomed the first year I planted them but nada since. But the bulbs look perfectly healthy and firm.
"If I had bunnies, they would also be eating down other things."
Don't be so sure. They LOVE lilies. The "bunnies" up north (not just citified cottontails) have a whole array of things to choose from and they will stand on their hind legs and push their nose through a fence to get at my Doeskin. If they could take it out to the ground, they would! They even pushed the staked fence to one side in the process. Next year, I'm putting it in a pen AND using Plantskydd. The only way to know for sure it is not a four-footer is to fence it and cover the top with chicken wire and see if it makes it that way.
I am surprised that none of them made it, though.
Lily
I don't know what to say. Perhaps try a different location.
Asiatics grow fine in my clay soil or in my lighter soil--sun or part shade. The only time I get stems like you mention is when SOMEONE has eaten all the leaves & left nothing behind to feed the bulb. Bunnies, in my case. I never realized the damage they could do until I used Plantskydd. I missed treating Leslie Woodriff when she came up--I discovered just a "stem" yesterday--eaten clean & browing off. yuck!
Poor Leslie Woodriff, Wanda. But just think of all that you have saved that you get to see.....
Happy Birthday, woodspirit!
thank you, Moby. Maybe I'll buy some lily bulbs and start again, lol.