Author: Elena N. https://floristics.info/ru/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=19 Category: Garden plants Published: October 01, 2016Last edits: October 18, 2021
- Soil for lilies
- Caring for a lily in autumn
To the question of when is the best time to plant lily bulbs in the ground, there are many reasoned answers. One site tries to convince readers that the best time to plant lilies is early spring, another source suggests not to rush and wait until May. The third claims that autumn planting of lilies is more reliable than spring planting. And from our point of view, this is an absolutely fair statement. During the fall, the bulbs have time to take root, overwinter under cover, and in the spring they quickly grow and bloom earlier than lilies planted in the ground in the spring. All that remains is to decide when to plant lilies before winter and how to do it correctly. In this article we will tell you about when to replant lilies in the fall to a new place.
When to plant lilies in the ground in the fall
Landing dates
Planting lilies in the fall is done with such a reserve of time that before the onset of frost, their root system has time to develop and strengthen, then the sprouts that appear in the spring will withstand spring frosts without any problems. White lily bulbs are planted first - they have the shortest dormant period. After the white ones, you can start planting Caucasian and North American species of lilies, and lastly, trumpet, oriental and Asian hybrids, as well as tiger and Tibetan lilies, which, in fact, are best planted in early spring.
When exactly to plant lilies in open ground in the fall, what month is it best to plant lilies? The timing of planting lilies in the ground primarily depends on the climatic and weather conditions of the region. The main requirement of agricultural technology is to plant bulbs when the air temperature drops to 10 ºC and no longer rises, but in different regions this happens at different times.
How to plant tulips in autumn and care after planting
When to plant in the Moscow region
For example, to the question of when to plant lilies in the fall in the Moscow region, we can answer that in the middle zone it is better to plant bulbs in the ground from the beginning of October to the beginning of November, so amateur gardeners in the central regions of Russia and the Leningrad region can begin preparing the site already in mid-September. When to plant lilies before winter in Ukraine, Moldova and southern regions of Russia? In warm climates, bulbs are planted until mid-November.
- Planting flowers in autumn
When to plant lilies in the Urals
When to plant lilies in the fall in the Urals? In the Ural climate, planting lilies is possible from early September to early October. But if suddenly cold weather begins immediately after planting, you need to cover the area with the bulbs for the winter.
In the photo: Sprouted lily bulb
When to plant in Siberia
You should know that in the fall only domestic varieties adapted to the climate of the area are planted in the ground, and Dutch planting material should be planted in the spring. Especially when it comes to planting flowers in the harsh Siberian climate. When to plant lilies in autumn in Siberia? Planting lilies in August or September in the Siberian climate will be absolutely justified.
Advantages and disadvantages
Planting lilies in open ground in the fall has the following advantages:
- the plant better develops a strong and stable root system;
- in the spring, rapid growth of the plant begins, and the rapid growth of the green part;
- the bulbs are hardened during the winter period, due to which the plant tolerates transplants better;
- early flowering.
The disadvantage of planting in the fall is that there is a risk of damage to the bulbs by rodents.
To prevent rodents from damaging the seed, before planting it is recommended to soak it in products with a strong, repulsive odor - Vishnevsky ointment, grease.
Planting lilies in the ground before winter
Soil for lilies
You need to be careful when choosing the site where you will grow lilies, because in this place they will grow from 3 to 5 years. The area should be protected from the wind, well heated, sunny, but light shading is also acceptable.
Under natural conditions, lilies usually grow in neutral, loose soil covered with a layer of organic matter, so in the garden it is necessary to provide them with conditions close to natural. Flowers need well-drained soil, sandy loam or loamy soil - lilies do not develop well in heavy soils, and stagnation of water can lead to rotting of the bulbs. Some types of lilies tolerate small amounts of lime in the soil, but for other types it is harmful.
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Before planting lilies, the area should be dug to a depth of 40 cm. Add a bucket of sand and peat per 1 m² to heavy soil, and only peat to light soil. It is also necessary to add 5-10 kg of humus or compost, 100 g of superphosphate and 50 g of potassium sulfate to each m² of flower bed. If you are going to grow snow-white lily, martagon or tubular hybrids in acidic soil, add wood ash, limestone or chalk to the soil at the rate of 200-500 g per m².
In the photo: Cut lilies after flowering
At what depth to plant
The depth of planting lilies depends not only on the composition of the soil and the size of the bulbs, but also on the type of lily. For example, stem-root lilies need to be planted to a depth of at least 25 cm, lilies with roots - to a depth of 12-15 cm. On average, bulb varieties are divided into:
- Growing garden balsam seedlings
- low-growing: large bulbs of these varieties are planted at a depth of 10-12 cm, small ones - at 7-8 cm, the distance between the bulbs in the row is kept from 15 to 20 cm;
- medium-sized: large bulbs are buried by 12-15 cm, small ones by 10 cm, the distance between the bulbs in a row is 20-25 cm;
- tall: large bulbs are immersed in the soil by 15-20 cm, small ones by 12 cm, the gap between plants is 25-30 cm.
It is important to know that a bulb deeply buried in the ground will take longer to germinate, but subsequently it will produce more children than if planted less deeply.
How to plant bulbs
Coarse sand is poured into the bottom of the dug holes, the bulb is placed at the required depth, its roots are straightened, sand is poured around it on all sides, and soil is added on top. The surface of the area with planted bulbs is compacted and watered abundantly. A flowerbed with Oriental, Asian and LA hybrids is mulched with a 5 cm thick layer of peat or sawdust, thus increasing the acidity of the soil. Plantings of martagon lilies, snow-white lilies and tubular hybrids are mulched with humus and wood ash.
In the photo: Lilia Carbonero
We are often asked how to beautifully plant lilies on a plot. If the area is limited, it is advisable to place lilies in group plantings, growing several lilies of the same variety side by side - if you plant bulbs of different varieties next to each other, they will grow over time, and it will be difficult to separate one variety from another during mandatory replanting. Tall lilies are very effective as a background strip along a fence.
In mixborders, species and varieties of lilies are planted that bloom at different times, so the flowerbed does not lose its attractiveness from early summer to autumn. A flower bed with lilies literally growing from a green carpet that covers the soil with ground cover or low-growing plants - sedum, saxifrage, violets or daisies - looks very impressive. In addition to the decorative effect, such placement of plants on the site protects the lily stems and soil from overheating.
Lily care after planting
Caring for a lily in autumn
Lilies in the fall will not require much attention from you. If you have added all the necessary fertilizers to the soil before planting, there is no need to fertilize. There is nothing to treat against pests and diseases yet - seedlings will appear only in the spring. You will have to water the lilies, but only if the autumn is abnormally dry, and remove weeds from the area. Towards the end of autumn, you need to prepare the area with lilies for wintering.
In the photo: Yellow lilies
Caring for lilies in winter
The condition of lilies in the cold season depends on their variety and the region in which they are grown. Under a layer of snow 10 cm thick, lilies feel great in the ground in winter, but if there is no snow cover yet, and frosts are already cracking, you need to fill the area with dry peat, pine needles or fallen leaves. Needles are preferable to other mulching materials, since they do not allow slugs to get under the cover, which in the spring will begin to destroy the lily seedlings.
But keep in mind that the mulch needs to be removed on time - as the snow melts. If you remove the mulch too early, the quickly emerging lily sprouts can be destroyed by frost, and if you remove the mulch too late, the sprouts, which have not received the necessary light due to the covering, will be thin and weak.
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Gardener mistakes
Planting and seeding daylilies in the fall is not difficult. But there are a number of mistakes that gardeners make, which is why plants cannot develop fully and sometimes die:
- incorrectly selected planting period - if it is too warm, the onions may germinate, if the cold weather sets in, they freeze;
- use of low-quality planting material;
- planting the bulbs in the hole too low or high;
- wetlands that cause plants to rot;
- excessive use of fertilizers;
- frequent watering at high humidity;
- planting specimens with regrown stems in the fall.
A common mistake gardeners make is planting Dutch hybrid lilies in the fall. This time of year is unsuitable for these plants.
Transplanting lilies to another place in the fall
Lilies are transplanted once every 4-5 years. If you do this less often, the bulbs form nests - they become heavily overgrown with children, who are cramped and lack nutrition. Asian and LA hybrids are planted once every three years.
When to replant lilies - in spring or autumn? Lilies are replanted after the end of the growing season, waiting a month for the bulbs to recover after flowering. In the north of Russia, the best time to divide the bulbs and transplant them to a new place is early autumn - the end of August and the beginning of September. In the middle zone, it is better to do this in mid-autumn - all of September and early October, in the south of Russia, Ukraine and Moldova - in October-November. Actually, the timing of dividing the bulbs and transplanting them to a new place coincides with the timing of the primary autumn planting of lilies.
In the photo: How a lily blooms in a flowerbed
Lily bulbs are dug out of the ground, divided, processed, stored until the right moment, and then planted in the ground in the way we have already described.
What to do if there are still sprouts on the bulb
Sometimes there are still sprouts on the bulbs. It probably has a broken dormant period - for example, it was stored at a low temperature for a long time. This material is suitable for autumn planting. But as soon as the cold weather sets in, the sprout will die. Therefore, there is no need to wait for flowering. It will come only next season. Although sometimes there are exceptions: if you plant a lily closer to August, it can delight you with its flowering in the fall.
If the sprout has been removed, it is better to plant it a little earlier than usual. The bulb will take more time to take root and adapt to the new location. For convenience, by the way, such material can be placed at home in a pot. There the plants will bloom, and in the spring they can be transplanted into the garden bed.
How to store lilies before planting
After flowering, remove the seed pods from the lilies, but do not trim the leaves and stems - they continue to feed the bulb and are still needed by the plant for the process of photosynthesis. When it’s time to dig up and replant the lily, cut off its above-ground part and remove the bulb with children from the ground, clean it of soil, inspect it for mechanical damage, insect gnawing, rotten roots, dry scales and other defects, rinse under running water, carefully separate For those children who are ready to leave, place the planting material for half an hour in a one percent solution of Karbofos or in a strong solution of potassium permanganate, then dry it in the shade and plant it in the ground in a new place or put it in storage.
Where and how best to store lily bulbs? Pour a layer of peat into a plastic bag or box, place a layer of bulbs on it, cover it with a layer of peat, on which again lay a layer of bulbs, the last layer in the container should be peat. Now let's look at room options for storing containers with bulbs.
The basic requirements for storing lilies are:
- the storage should not be too dry so that the bulbs do not dehydrate and wrinkle;
- It is also impossible to store bulbs in a room with high humidity - the bulbs can become moldy and rot;
- the temperature should be such that the bulbs do not freeze and at the same time do not begin to grow;
- the storage must have good ventilation, otherwise there may be a risk of rot or mold damaging the planting material.
Based on these recommendations, you can put the lily bulbs in a plastic bag with peat moss and place them in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator at a stable temperature (from 0 to 5 ºC), which allows the bulbs to remain dormant. But the disadvantage of the refrigerator as a storage facility is that fruits can be stored there at the same time as the bulbs, releasing ethylene into the air, which makes it difficult for the lily bulbs to breathe.
In the photo: Beautiful lily blossom
You can put the bulbs in a cellar or basement until spring if the temperature and humidity there are suitable for them. Or place the planting material in cardboard boxes, heat chambers or other containers with good thermal insulation and keep them on the balcony, loggia or garage. Just don’t forget that in a room with large windows on sunny days the temperature even in winter rises to about 0, which can cause lilies to sprout.
Detailed article on growing lilies in the garden
It is advisable to place the bulbs in storage so that in the middle of winter you can check their condition several times. If you find dry roots or scales on them, spray the bulbs with water, and if mold, rotten roots or areas are found, place the planting material for half an hour in a solution of potassium permanganate, dry and store in another place where the air humidity is not so high .
Preparatory work
The process of planting lilies in the fall begins with preparatory work - you need to select a suitable site in the country and process the seed.
Preparing the bulbs:
- It is necessary to cut off bad roots from children - limp, black, dried or dented.
- A good and long root system is shortened by about 5 cm to simplify the planting process.
- Disinfection of seed material - tubers are soaked for 30 minutes in a fungicidal solution or in potassium permanganate. It is necessary to treat the onions in order to prevent the appearance of fungal diseases.
A suitable garden plot must meet the following criteria:
- absence of strong wind and draft;
- abundant, diffused lighting, light partial shade from other plants and trees is allowed;
- deep groundwater;
- After watering or rainfall, the water does not stagnate.
Lilies are not placed in areas where other bulbous plants previously grew.
