Starting lilies indoors

Is it OK to pot up lilies indoors? I'm going to receive them before I actually know where to locate them.

If I do them in pots I can position them later- my rationale. Would it be better to find a nursery spot somewhere and move them later? I don't know if they mind being transplanted...

I know I should have planned this out before.

I'm with you but I'm buried in snow where I want to put mine LOL
Gloria

Keep them in the fridge till you can plant them out...

Dem thats going to be at least 3 weeks and there sprouting ???
Gloria

Yes I do it..put them in your crisper then once you can dig plant them!!

thanks
G

Another prospective...I start all my lilies indoors in mid to late March. They can't go outdoors till Memorial Day weekend though I harden them off a week or two before. I have some type of lily in bloom from June through the end of August. Some go in the ground, some stay in their pots...This is a July 17 picture of a Muscadet that was started indoors on March 9, 2007...Notice it has a bud or two...

This is what she looked like 2 days later...

She was dug up, stored over the winter and was replanted last week indoors, along with her babies

Beautiful flower and great picture. It's always been a favorite of mine.

I agree that is a terrific picture - just like what you'd see in the catalogues! Nice job. I would be interested in hearing how you handle them over winter....do you put them somewhere they get some chill, since you don't/can't leave them outside? I always thought Orientals needed "some" winter to reset for bloom

Ours remain in place, winter and summer, all year. Some are 15 years old now.

Pirl...I'm envious of leaving them out...heavy sigh...

Steve...Nope! We go down to 50 below zero so they can't stay out through the winter though surprisingly, the Asiatics usually survive that.

The last two years I've dug up the others bulbs in early September. They get a gentle brushing off and are then put into individual ziploc baggies with wood chips and a sprinkling of Captan (fungicide). I poke a few holes in the sides of the baggies, but zip them closed. The tag that was in the ground with the lily goes in the bag so I know names/dates. The baggies all go into a big plastic tub, I give a quick spritz of water into the tub, cover it and then I cross my fingers.

Attached garages up here are heated just enough to keep the furnace pipes from freezing. With vehicles in and out, temps in the garage stay around 40 degrees (with blasts of much colder when the door is open...LOL) . I check the tub about once a month, say hello to them and tell them to be good. I never have to add water and they don't rot. The bulbs come out to be re-planted mid-March in the garage which slowly has the heat increased to hold a temp of 65...And the vehicles get relegated to the outdoors.

By the first week on March, they have sprouted in the baggies in the tub, so I have no choice but to start them indoors. Also, I don't like to wait till July for blooms which is the case if I purchase bulbs when they are finally available for purchase up here in April. By starting them indoors and ordering online in January (like you Southern folks do), I have blooms starting in June and lasting throughout the summer.

This is a Copper King Trumpet purchased in February 2007 at the Northwest Flower Show. I started it indoors March 9.

The picture shows it outdoors on June 14 at over 6 feet. It was never put into the ground because itwas too tall for me to repot once I decided it was going to outgrow me. It was wintered and was repotted last week (In a BIGGER pot then I knew to do last year).

So, Plutodrive, I am by no means in the realm of the experts and more knowlegeable people here but I say Go For It.

Thanks for all the info guys! I was a bit concerned that I was going to kill them but it seems like they are tough little buggers.

Seems like it's a lot of work but all worth the effort, ChocolateMoose. That's a beautiful lily.

A bit like harvesting dahlias every fall. I have a lily sprouting here. I decided I will dig it up and put it in a pot. That is the only way to save it this year, if it hasn't frozen yet. The last few nights have gotten down to the low-mid 20'sF. Hoping...

Digging dahlia tubers is definitely a chore but four months of blooms is a nice trade-off.

Chocolatemoose,

I noticed that you start yours in pots. What sort of mix do you use? Most things I plant are in Pro-Mix. Will that do till I can move them into the ground?

Thanks!

MollyD

Pro-Mix is what I use also. And I sprinkle a bit of Bulb Booster in the pot when I plant.

Just rec'd a box of 40 bulbs from The Lily Garden. Guess what I'll be doing this afternoon...LOL...Happy Me!

Gotta get these planted before the dahlias arrive later this week!

Barbara

40! (faints dead away!) I can't begin to imagine planting that many at one time. I've only got about 17 coming in from one of the co-ops plus I need to move several that are in a bed I want to re-work this spring. Going to dig EVERYTHING out of that bed, then dig way down into the soil, pull the soil away from the edges, build a retaining wall and then build the soil level higher than it was before I replant that bed with all new stuff. That should be a week's worth of work :-)

MollyD

OOOO 40 bulbs from TLG.

Where is this mysterious the Lily Garden....i cant exactly look it up, as that title gets ALL the lily sources, LOL
thanks
fernman23
:Darren

Here you go fernman23... http://www.thelilygarden.com/index.html

THANKS Plutodrive!! here 1 of my babies from last spring...
:Darren
fernman23

Barbara,

I am so impressed with you. Anyone who finds a way to garden in what are pretty extreme circumstances deserves a hats off. I hope that your 2008 garden with all the new lilies and dahlies is wonderful.

I just picked up some more casablanca bulbs, and I think I may pot them up since I am also redoing and enlarging my bed. This is last year's casablanca.

yeah, i stayed in the Kenai Valley for 6 months wotha friend, and its the best state we have, AK is.
cheers~
:Darren

Why oh why did I join this site?! I just checked out the Lily Garden (temptations temptations oh my oh my). You all sound like a bunch of great knowledgable guys and you all like my weakness. I garden her in St. Louis after moving from Maryland and their great zone 7 climate. But the Lily Garden.....Oh My!!!!!

LOL Welcome!! I see you found us right away. :)

yehudith - Welcome to DG and to the Lily Forum!

Welcome, welcome, yehudith.

well needless to say these wonderful people will show you the way to every lilie bulb there is its a wonderful world LOL
Gloria

Welcome, Yehudith, welcome to the addiction. :) You're among friends here.

Diann