Just noticed the little white specks on the leaves of several of my Day Lilly plants, the kind that look like tiny grains of rice, so I have that problem & as I was looking at the rest of my Day Lillies I noticed what appears to be a dull grey/bluish color on parts of some of the leaves! (not on the entire leave, just in patches of an inch to two inches long)
I tried Googling and found nothing on this bluish stuff. I'm going to try the dish soap/alcohol on the white scale. Any idea what this blueish haze could be or what to do about it?
Also, as if right now I live in East Tennessee & truly love my Day Lillies. We're planning on moving to mid-Ohio in a year & I want to take the Day Lillies with me. I don't want to be digging them up at the last minute to take them with me. How far in advance of moving would it be safe to dig them up & temporarily plant them in 5 gallon buckets? Also can I do the same with Calla Lillies?
I will really appreciateiate any & all the help I can get and Thank You All in advance!
P. S. I've had my Day Lilly garden going on 18 years now & about 5 years ago I noticed my Lillies are getting a very lovely fragrance, that they never had before. They smell the strongest at night. I never knew Day Lillies had fragrances. Does it always take years before the fragrance starts?

Moved to the Daylily (one word ) forum

JAVann!
Good place to ask daylily questions! I've asked similar questions about holding daylilies in pots. What I know is that in Zone 5, my best bet is to make sure they're in the ground six or more weeks before frost. So, you could hold them in buckets, but if you're too far north, you're better off planting them in the ground or you'll want to do some serious mulching and prepping and such to keep them in pots over the winter. I've never chanced a daylily in a pot overwinter.

For calla lilies, you're going to have to lift them every fall.

ShakespearesGarden said: JAVann!
Good place to ask daylily questions! I've asked similar questions about holding daylilies in pots. What I know is that in Zone 5, my best bet is to make sure they're in the ground six or more weeks before frost. So, you could hold them in buckets, but if you're too far north, you're better off planting them in the ground or you'll want to do some serious mulching and prepping and such to keep them in pots over the winter. I've never chanced a daylily in a pot overwinter.

For calla lilies, you're going to have to lift them every fall.

Thank you for getting back to me, I appreciate your reply! Right now I'm mainly concerned as to how long the Daylillies can stay potted in the 5 gallon buckets. Since we're going to have our home up for sale, I want to get them out of the ground before the house is sold so the new owners don't expect to keep them! I don't want to leave them here! I've spent quite a bit for them & have babied them for so many years! It's kinda weird here in Knoxville, Tn...they have been in the frost every year and the very first year they were planted we had a hard freeze! They came through it fantastically! I have a friend who owns a farm that grows Daylillies & sells them, but the I can't get a hold of her! She's also a doctor & is never around the Daylilly business very much! I've also contacted a very well known Daylillie enthusiast in Nashville, Tn and he and my Dr friend both say....you can't kill them!! But I can't get an answer from either oneon just how long they can stay planted in the buckets!
Please tell me how your Daylillies do in mulch? I have never. Mulched mine. I just feed them twice a Summer with Miracle Grow & I get more blooms every year! I have so many this year that they have chocked out my 4 Pineapple Lillies! They are planted in between Lily plants that usually come up late in the season. I also have Blackberry Lillies that spread like crazy!
Thank you for your nice reply!

@JAVann, Welcome to the forum.
The white specs might just be from aphids. I have never had scale on my daylilies, not saying it is not, but I have not seen scale on anything here but some shrubs.
Can you provide photos of the white specks and the gray/blue spots?
I am in Alabama, and the daylilies could live in well drained 5 gal. buckets permanently here, but I can't say for mid Ohio ( of course they would eventually need to be divided ). I am thinking that a 5 gal. bucket is way too deep and will be far to heavy to use to temporarily hold daylilies. I would use something not nearly so deep. I think in a pot or a bucket drainage would be very important. I would also try and use a very light weight soil.
I live in a warm climate but I still mulch my daylilies for the weed suppression it provides. They do very well with mulch, and the mulch I use is mostly leaves, grass clippings and pine straw, it decomposes and improves the soil. I add more every year.I use the mulch to build up wet areas and often the plants are pretty much growing in the mulch that has decomposed.

Hi JAVann,

I can't help with your bug? problem. Mine haven't had many problems.
Just thinking about your moving. What if you divide your daylilies leave part in the ground to help with resale and keep the other half to move to your new home. Won't need as big a pot or bucket or you can tell future buyers your plans of dividing so you could do it closer to your move date & just wrap in damp paper. Now if you have 100's I can see why you might want to start early.
Calla lilies up here need to be lifted each fall for the winter I'm zone 6 not sure what zone your future home will be in so if planning to move in fall through spring I would just lift and store in peat moss until you get where your going and plant in spring. Summer late summer might be the only problem on if you can keep them happy until you can replant.

Seedfork said:@JAVann, Welcome to the forum.
The white specs might just be from aphids. I have never had scale on my daylilies, not saying it is not, but I have not seen scale on anything here but some shrubs.
Can you provide photos of the white specks and the gray/blue spots?
I am in Alabama, and the daylilies could live in well drained 5 gal. buckets permanently here, but I can't say for mid Ohio ( of course they would eventually need to be divided ). I am thinking that a 5 gal. bucket is way too deep and will be far to heavy to use to temporarily hold daylilies. I would use something not nearly so deep. I think in a pot or a bucket drainage would be very important. I would also try and use a very light weight soil.
I live in a warm climate but I still mulch my daylilies for the weesuppression it provides. They do very well with mulch, and the mulch I use is mostly leaves, grass clippings and pine straw, it decomposes and improves the soil. I add more every year.I use the mulch to build up wet areas and often the plants are pretty much growing in the mulch that has decomposed.

Hello!
Thank you for your reply! Since I'm so new here & really don't get on places like this much, I'm having a lot of problems getting use to posting on here as to where to click to post! So if I'm not to fast getting back to you or any one, I'm really sorry! I'll get the hang of it, soon, I hope!😁
I'll try to get a few photos for you but right now it's raining here in Knoxville, Tn & most likely will be until sometime Sunday! I should be getting back to you by Monday!
I guess it sounds kinda crazy that I want to take my Daylillies to Ohio when we move! I had never seen Daylillies like these! I was only use to seeing the little orange or yellow varieties that you see growing wild in spots! We just happened to pass by a gentleman selling Daylillies in a huge lot that was going to be a new business area. He apparently sold some of his Lillies every Spring like this, just to get more business at his Daylillie farm, that just happened to be about 2 miles away from where we live & we had no idea! But I think he's out of business now , he was ill & sold his Daylillies farm & the new owners must not have done very well because they have been gone! These Lillies were so unusual & nothing like the wild types! Some I have are almost as big as dinner plates! What I do find strange is that after having them for so many years is they are developing a fragrance! It's lovely & they smell better after dark especially if it's hot & humid! Do all Day Lillies develope a fragrance or did I just get lucky?
The little white spots are in 2 shapes, teeny tiny grains of rice that seem to be on the leaves & teeny tiny round balls that are mostly on the edges of the leaves & are mostly on just one plant but I'm starting to see them in small parches on a few of the other plants! They need to be thinned but I just figured I would wait & thin them when we move.
Thank you once again for getting back to me & I will work on getting you the pictures! I hope we don't get as much rain or storms as predicted! It seems to rain here so often! I'm over it!

JAVann said:
I guess it sounds kinda crazy that I want to take my Daylillies to Ohio when we move!

No, not here on this forum, it would sound kind of crazy to us if you did not want to take them with you!

When I moved to this house, I moved a lot of my plants, including daylilies. It was in the fall, and I dug them up and was able to plant them at a friend's farm. After we built this house, I then moved them here.

So, I don't think it crazy to want to move your daylilies!

JAVann said:
Also, as if right now I live in East Tennessee & truly love my Day Lillies. We're planning on moving to mid-Ohio in a year & I want to take the Day Lillies with me. I don't want to be digging them up at the last minute to take them with me. How far in advance of moving would it be safe to dig them up & temporarily plant them in 5 gallon buckets? Also can I do the same with Calla Lillies?

I don't know much about the Calla lilies, but daylilies can live in containers for years, if properly cared for. However, here in Ohio, they'll need to be treated differently during the winter. It's best to turn the containers on their sides and cover with some sort of mulch (I use leaf mulch) until warmer weather arrives; this prevents crown rot.
Alternately, you could take up the plants altogether, and store the roots in paper bags with peat moss. They would be much easier to transport that way, and when planted out they'll regrow just fine.