Is this normal?

I haven't grown lilies before, enablers, made me do it is all I can say. : )

So now I don't knwo what they supposed to look like. I notic e the yellow and orange one s in the box stores, the blooms, btu never relly took a look at the plants up close before.

I gonna post some pics, and would appreciate it if somebody could tell me if they supposed to look that way.

Some are really tall and funky looky to me at the bottom and the third pic they short and squaty and not sure if i plante d em too deep or not deep enough.

another

last pic. any advice woudl be appreciated and what do I feed thes e guys and how often.

I want mien to look like all the pics ya keep showing. : )

I think they look great! Are they all getting the same amount of light and not having to "reach"? The height difference might be that some were quicker to get started or may be dictated by their ultimate height.

Is there anything in particular that you think looks wrong?

Ella, those look perfectly normal, looking good!

Look like they're growing fine to me!

This message was edited Apr 15, 2009 7:54 PM

Moby. Well, never havign seen them before up close. It looke d funny to me that the bottoms was so tall and then a tuft at the top and then like pic 3 not sure fi they gonan grow up soem mroe or they stay right their at that height sicne they seem to be gettign that tufty, not sure of proper name, part.

The short ones, actually may get a little bit more light than the tall ones, but not much at all.

Gemini.. I tryign here. I need to wear blind folds and quit lookign at peoples pics. I starte d growign three new type sof plants this year just cuz of picture s and Dg enablers LOL

I gonna ask a really dumb question here too. Doe s the flower come out somethgin from the center of that tuft . Or doe s that tuft keep growing up ? Told ya it was dumb LOL

Hi Nanny!

Guess I was still typign when ya posted. : )

Just a person who I have a question for? Now that they growing, wil the squirrels stil try to eat them?????

No, it's the rabbits you need to watch out for ~ lilies are their candy. Even when they're pretty well grown up they can chomp the stem.

The buds will form and come out of the center of the 'tuft' on top. Don't worry, there are no stupid questions.

Ella, spring planted lilies will sometimes be stunted in height the first year, but that's normal and they'll achieve their full height next year. In pots, that can actually be helpful though (not so likely to become top heavy).

Ohhhh gla d ya said that, I got wild rabbit s out here and thanks to next door bean crop the deer have foudn there way back here.

gemini said they don't liek to get their roots hot so was gonan put them out under the shade cloth area on pallets. So hopefully the rabbit s can't jump up.

The reason I haven't grown bulbs her ebefore is becaus e of the squirrells. I have em bad here. They up root and run off with my Iris and destroyed oodle s and oodle s of tulip bulbs and narcisses and othe r sprign bulbs. I would have a major ... major cryign fit if they ate and destroyed these babies.

I can't grow them in the ground because of all the flooding here, and the squirrells think nothign of jumping on the pallets and hepign themselves still to plants. grrrrrrrrrr

I excited, can't wait to see what they will look like. How long does it take them to make blooms? How wil I knwo when they are going to start or wil I just walk otu there one day and poof they wil be there?

Any particular pests I need to watch out for?

One of the pots has like a real skinny little leaf comign up next to it. Liek it another stalk, but it real skinny and pathetic looking, should i leave it or do i pinch it off?

That little sprout is probably just the beginning of an offset, so I'd just leave it. A lot of Lilies multiply quickly that way, and sometimes a loose scale starts producing a new bulb.

In your zone, Lilies can be grown in pots left outdoors year round.

The worst pests for Lilies are typically rodents (rabbits and voles especially) and deer. Aphids like Lilies too, and although not terribly damaging, they spread diseases so its a good idea to keep them under control. And boytritus can attack Lilies, causing the foliage to brown. When I lived in a moist, woodland environment I had a lot of problems with it, but now I'm in an open area on a hill with lots of wind and haven't had any more issues with boytritus.

I think your Asiatics will probably start blooming in May (here they're in full bloom through June). You'll see the buds elongate and gradually start coloring up.

Thanks Gemini! Oh cool. I sittign here wigglign like a puppy I so happy! : ) I so want to be able to grow soem pretty bulbs here so bad.

Hey, Starlight, glad someone answered your question. I am trying not to stay on the computer as late. I have yet to have any critter problems with any of my bulbs and have all of the pest mentioned above! I think you are just gonna love your lilies.

If the rabbits start to nibble on your lilies, you might need to get some chicken wire and make little cages around them. I did that one year when the rabbit population was out of control and it really helped. I made the cages about 16" tall and the lilies just grow out of the center of them. Your potted ones look great.

susan

If I can get these to grow and not kil em off, or somethign munch the heck out of them, then I want to try and get some of them triple and double lookign ones that look so pretty too.

I have my miracle grow on a fert waterign system. I been givign them fert watre thre tiems in a row and then just a regular water. Is that ok or ya think too much.

Is that a weak fertilizer solution you're using?

Lilies don't need a lot of fertilizer ~ sounds like you've given them a great start. Here's a pic of some buds

Wiggling like a puppy....
Thanks for the chuckle this morning. That's an excellent description of how I feel too. No matter how many years the lilies come up, I still get so excited every year. It never fails to amaze me--I'm so happy that I wiggle around like a little puppy!

Your lilies look great!

My Dh checks them out every day to see how many new noses are thru...and then he is just like how many do you have???? And I ordered 3 more new ones this week. Never enough........ :0)

Gemini. It is 3/4cup of dry miracle grow to a five gallon bucket of water. Don't remember what the little thing set at, forget how many ppm's. What ever it is it is the standard normal flow for gh

Ok, maybe I shoudl cut back soem of the fertilizer. I us e Jungle Soil Profesisonal Growers mix and it has some fert in it too. It equivelent to what ever is in liek Miracle grow pottign soil.

Moby. Thanks for the pic. That really helps alot and not how I even imagined it would look. You outta see abotu puttign that pic up in plant files for other folsk liek me that have never grown or seen em growing up before. Sure helps alot. : )

Velnita. Glad ya got a smile this morning. I do when I get excite d sittign in this chair from somethign I read, the whoel body doe s wggle and not necessarily in the same direction. : )

Nanny... Hahahahah that is so funny. Us gardeners never have enough of anything, be it seeds, pots mulch, dirt or especially PLANTS!!!!!! LOL

Not that it would hurt them, but I don't think Lilies need that much fertilizer, and no need to spend extra $ on fertilizer if you don't need to. I never fertilize mine in the ground, except with compost (and the soil here is good, most things grow well without additional fertilizer). Well, I take that back, I do occasionally find a Lily that is pale and yellowish, and will add Epsom salts and some fertilizer (which fixes the problem right up). Of course its a different story when they're growing in a pot, but I'd think just some slow release fertilizer would suffice, or just using MG solution every 2 weeks or so.

starlight~
Isn't it the most exciting thing for a gardener to have "discovered" a whole new type of plant that is new to them and then get the chance to watch them grow, then the buds form and finally see the flowers for the first time?!? I will never get tired of that feeling and am happy for you that you have found lilies, and that yours are doing so well this first try!! They look great!

I had the same fertilizer question earlier in the year and started a thread about it you might like to read. It has a lot of terrific info on feeding lilies that was very helpful to me! Everyone here on this forum is so nice, and so ready to answer questions. There are some very knowledgable folks here that know a lot about how to grow great lilies! I think the thread is called "Lily fertilizing question" or something close to that. I tried to put a link in and couldn't get it to work tonight, but it is near the top.

Good luck with your lilies and I can't wait to see them blooming!

Jamie

Thanks Jamie! You are so right. That the one thign thta is great abotu gardeners. They don't think ya a fool or anut case when ya get so excited over the tinest thing in the garden. They knwo that feeling and it the ebstest thign when ya cna share it with other folks who udnerstand and know for sure.

I feel liek a mother hen. Checkign them everyday to make sure they still growing and lookign at the chanegs in them.

Gonan try and fidn that thread ya mentioned. : )

Yeah I know what you mean. One fall a couple falls ago my friend and her new husband were over for lunch. He's a gardener, she's not. She's also very controling but having had a major controler for a mother I can deal with that. So I gleefully told him my new Trycirtis was up and blooming its first year. We both jumped up from the table and ran outside to see it. It was tiny I admit ( one stalk)and its flowers were tiny (maybe 3) but they were there. So I'm standing there cackling talking about divisions, he's oooing and ahhhing and yes I'd love to have one and here she comes. "Which one is it?" "See, with the purple flowers!!!" Silence. Deafening silence. "Is that all it does." Her husband looks at me, I look at him. "Well it does sing G-d Save the Queen" when the sun's out."

She still doesn't get it and they've been married six years now. You really do have to love her though. My son would never have made it through his Bar Mitzvah without her. She tutored him all the way through and organized the event because I was so sick that whole month with pneumonia.

Yehudith

ROTFL Oooo, that's wicked!

Hahahhahaha great story. Then tiny little sprout s are precious babies and we as proud as we cna be. : )

LOL!!! That is a GREAT story and we all probably know at least one person we can imagine substituted in the wife's place!! My sister thinks I am truly gone off the deep end for gardening. "They are just flowers, how many do you need??" My answer - "More, always More!!" :-)

Starlight, your lilies look great. Especially if you planted in potting soil, you don't need to fertilize very much and with a very weak solution.

I never fail to be excited whenever a seedling germinates, and we started tomatoes in February.

I have some lilies in containers that we started this spring (outside). The one thing that I think most important is drainage. Lilies don't like wet feet.

You'll have fun once the buds start to form and grow and grow and grow. For asiatics (shown in your pix), buds are at the top. For orientals, which generally have larger leaves more openly spaced, the buds and flowers are on alternating stems and bloom considerably later than asiatics.

If you've got critters, start now to get and spray on a product like Bitter Apple or anything that is bitter that they put on animals to keep them from licking. Bitter yuck (for horses) and anything else like that keeps EVERYTHING away, including deer and insects. Get in it a pet store or pet warehouse. And it has no chemical poisons.

Enjoy. You're doing everything right.

Whooooooooohooooooooooooo! I did it sorta. I made it to the .... I got buds. : ) Yep, Real actual buds. Haven't killed the plants off yet.

Oh ya doign the happy dance. Big smile here, face all aglow.

Now More dumb questions. From the tiem ya have buds, how long before they open up. Also do they open all at once or one at a time and hwo long to the blooms usually last for?

Sometimes you can see the buds for a few weeks before they start to open. You'll see that part of the stem lengthen and the buds will start coloring up just before opening. Probably 2-4 weeks till you start seeing blooms. They open 1 or 2 at a time from the bottom, and the more buds you have the longer the progression of blooms- as they mature the bud count gets higher. How long each bloom lasts depends on the variety and weather conditions. Often dark colors in hot sun won't last as long. A fresh cut bloom will often last a week in a vase. Some years I've had a really long show from a particular variety, while other years it may be over with within a couple of weeks. Some of my mature clumps are colorful for a month or so.

Critters aside, Lilies are pretty easy to grow. I'll probably hear your squeals of joy from here in Kentucky when that first bloom opens :-)

They don't open all at once usually. You'll probably find more than one always open. If memory serves, the asiatics, which have the buds all together at the top will probably bloom much earlier. You can expect orientals, which send the bloom on a sort of horizontal stalk, at the end of July, beginning of August.

These asiatic buds are from the end of June, 2008. As you can see from the photo, the buds mature at a different rate. The largest, on the outer "ring" are biggest and will open first. It will probably take 3 weeks from the time the first buds open to the time the last ones are spent.

The orientals have broader leaves, different habits and fragrance. You can see that the stems are different. They are worth waiting till August (in zone 6 anyway). These blooms face out rather than up.

It is great to take photos and watch the progression and help to jog the memory from prior years.

Gemini.... Oh ya. When ya hear a weir d screetch, it surely will be me. I gettign excited. I can't wait. : )

I amazed at the different height s and the different way the buds are placed. Some all at the top and others kinda zigzagged near top.

Thanks for the pics Cathy. That heps alot. Can see the differenc e for sure. Beautiful lilies ya got ther for sure.

Oh, I know what I wanted to ask and forgot. Do they onyl bloom once at like the top or do they make side shoots and send out more blooms from the side.

The buds you see forming at the top are pretty much it for the blooms for the season, but there are some varieties (mostly Oriental-Trumpet hybrids) that have what they call tertiary buds, little secondary buds that open after the first set.

Starlight, I have to tell you I have gotten great enjoyment out of reading this thread. I'm so happy your lilies are doing well and that you are having so much fun with them.

Now, Can you post a photo of you doing that "Happy Dance"??? LOL

I wondered what that squealing I heard was!! LOL

Do be sure to share pics when you get blooms!