I pulled all my lily bulbs out of their pots this fall and removed the small bulbs that grew near the surface, on the stems, and the ones that were deeper near the mother bulb. I saved seeds where the seed pods were too.
I put the bubls in an onion bag and hung the bag up, like I do when I do dahlia tubers.
The smaller bulbs I put in small containers and left the container open so they could get air and not get mildew or mold.
The seeds I put in envelopes and plan on starting them in the spring when I plant the original bulbs.
With all that said, How much did I do wrong?
I'd really like to get as many lilies as I can out of each one but I'm probably doing it all wrong.
Can someone help me out with this?
Thank you.
Darrell
What do I do? "Saving Bulbs"
Hi Darrell. Lily bulbs are not the kind of bulbs that like to dry out. If you need to store them, they should be in bags with peat moss or vermiculite and kept in the fridge. I take them out every few weeks to check them and move them around to get rid of condensation. That reminds me...
Oh wow. Ok. I'll go take care of them right now.
Thanks!
PS: Good to hear from you. :)
Darrell
Hope your fridge doesn't have any apples in it.
No apples. I'm guessing that if there were apples, there would be some sort of reaction.
This message was edited Jan 10, 2008 10:05 PM
Well, almost half of my bulbs were no good and I threw them out. I didn't know you were suppose to put them in soil and bag them up. I put them in ProMix, about a cup of it and then sealed the baggy.
I have a lot of little baby bulbs that are green, should I plant them now or wait for spring?
Darrell, most lilies need a period of cold, about 12 weeks. If you want to keep these in pots, I would just leave them be, maybe add a new top dressing of soil and overwinter in an unheated garage. You might want to cover with burlap for some extra protection in case it gets really frigid. Otherwise, Echoes is correct, they can be kept in baggies in the fridge with some kind of medium such as peat moss. I usually just use regular potting soil and they do just fine. The trick is to make sure that the bulbs and soil are not overly moist as this promotes mold and rotting. The soil should feel dry. If it looks like the bulbs are getting too dry, you can spritz just once for added moisture.
Okay, beaker. What do I do with the small baby bulbs that are still green that I took off the stems? (some of them had bulbs on the stem, some at ground level, and some next to the bulb.) What about the seeds I took from the pods? Can I start growing them now?
I don't know that much about lily seed. I think some may have to go through a cold period before planting. There are several old threads that discuss growing lilies by seed. Maybe someone can jump in here and point you in the right direction.
As far as bulblets go, they are pretty easy. I don't have any experience with the ones that grow along the stems of some lilies, but I have lotz of experience with the ones from below ground.
I use snack size baggies and place about a 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of Miracle Grow potting soil (do not use the soil that has those crystals to hold water). Place them in the fridge until spring. Come spring, plant in a nursey bed just below the surface, no more than one inch. I would fence off the area to protect from rabbits and pets. Depending on what they are, you can leave them there over winter and plant them in a more permanent location when the bulb is big enough. Again depending on what you have, it could be anywhere from one year to three before you see a bloom. As the lily matures, the bulb will become larger, will put out more blooms and start producing bulblets.
That's cool, beaker. :) I can do that.
I did put all the larger bulbs in the fridge. But I didn't put the baby ones in there. I put a few of them in a pot under the lights. I'll take the whole pot and put it in a bag for the winter and then put it out later in the spring.
Thanks. Darrell
With seed, there are exceptions, but in general, if the lily is not recurved and downfacing, it is a good bet(but not a safe bet) that seed germination will be immediate epigeal. If your seed is from a hybrid, Darrell, than most likely it is this type, which are the easy ones and you can plant like any seed.
See here for explanation of lily seed types:
http://www.lilyregister.com/ldis/?q=node/265
Just to clarify, aplples and some other fruits give off a gas as they ripen. This will inhibit bloom on lily bulbs.
I think it's ethylene gas they give off; it can hurt other flowering plants too, like orchids.
Joanne
My daughter dug up lilies at my Mother's house. When is the best time to plant them. I live in NE Texas.
Dug up just recently? Go ahead and plant them right away.
You can plant lilies anytime the ground is workable. Generally, in the northern climes, this means after the first hard frost. But anytime is OK because lilies will reset their internal clock after going through one winter in the ground. What this means is if you planted an asiatic in the spring that didn't bloom until later in the summer, next year it will bloom on schedule when your other asiatics bloom.