What happened to my

[desertcat]

daylilies?

Beefy's pics have made me extremely envious and I have a problem. Something destroyed my daylily roots/tubers this summer. They bloomed (sort of) early in the summer and then...nothing. Leaves disappeared, too.

Sooo, while I've had the shovel out, I dug them up. What's left looks like an empty cigar wrapper. Tried to get pics, but they disintegrated when I went to brush the dirt off. There's an outer fibrous layer and a hollow core. Any thoughts on what got 'em?

 

[beefy]

do you think something ate them or could they have rotted?

 

[bid]

Do you see any evidence of voles? tunnels, raised soil, small holes etc?

 

[Greensage45]

There are two possibilities here ...Too much water and no drainage, or not enough water! I highly doubt a bug did all that and so thoroughly too!

Do you, or did you water? Daylilies can tolerate Drought but I am not sure how extensive! Didn't you all get a ton of rain this year?

How is the soil around them?

Ron

 

[desertcat]

Yeah, we got quite a bit of rain, but all at one time and late in the summer. Drainage where they are/were is pretty good. Someone had flowers there at one point because I've been digging in some pretty decent soil, not the usual clay. Between rains, I usually soak everything really well about once every 7-10 days.

I haven't seen any evidence of burrowing varmints and we do have LOTS of feral preditor control mechanisms. Glad they (the cats) keep varmints under control, but we have a bit too much of a good thing around here. (Just as an aside, the neighbor that feeds them wants them gone too, but won't quit feeding "because then they might go somewhere else". Ya think!)

I just finished digging up the grass where the new stuff is to go, and the daylilies were, and found some sort of blobby,tan kelp-looking thing. I know, I know, I should've taken a picture, but instead I just reburied it. I also uncovered a rather, uhm, extensive red ant colony. Could these be the culprits?

 

[Broke Down Ranch]

It sounds to me like root-rot. I had some daylilies once that I didn't get planted soon enough and had stuck in a bucket of water so they wouldn't dry out. I forgot I had them.

When I remembered them they had been soaking for a WHILE. And they were very dead with roots like what you described.

 

[beefy]

yep, sounds like the same thing that happened to my clearance daylilies that i bought for free. i left in pots for a while until they started looking sickly and then watered them thinking they were too dry. when i finally did plant them they had been too wet! root rot! empty mush cigar roots.

other culprits i might suspect are voles, mole crickets or maybe nematodes? (just some crazy guesses here)

 

[desertcat]

That's sounding awfully familar. I got these at a local nursery and did get them planted the same day, but I get the feeling that it doesn't take much to drown these guys.

For round 2, should I try buying plants again, or do you guys have better luck the bare root ones?

 

[beefy]

ive always bought bareroot except for the ones that did so poorly, those were in pots. and i only got like 4 plants to live out of 4 CLUMPS. oh, and also, dont get the ones in bags in the bulb section at lowes b/c i picked up several of those on clearance and they dont look anything like the ones they are supposed to be, they are small yellow and look like regular stella d'oro.