I did a lot of work in the garden today and only managed to knock off two seed pods and no blooms! One seed pod was small so I tossed it, but this seed pod is pretty good sized...



I have no way of knowing when this pod was set since my kids crashed the computer where I was keeping that data. If I had to guess I would say it's about a month old. Is there anything I can do to keep it viable?

On to seedlings...I decided to plant my remaining 10 seedlings in the bed with my big plants, close to the newly planted cultivars so the seedlings won't be too crowded. They look so small and fragile though and now I'm worried I made the wrong choice. But they weren't getting anywhere in the pots I had them in. What do you guys think?



The rest of my day has been a bit crazy. In between morning and afternoon thunderstorms, I had to pot up or transplant 8 plants to make room for the new ones, plant the 8 remaining new plants (I managed to get 4 planted a couple nights ago), re-set the drip lines I had to move to put in the new plants, then mulch everything. I am trying to get to where I only have one clump of each cultivar, so everything I took out or moved were doubles. I'm pretty happy with the results though...






In the middle of all that craziness, two great things showed up in the mail. One is my diploma for my Masters degree, and the other was my new laptop which I am going to go set up now so that I no longer have to make posts from my tiny phone

I would put the base of the scape with the seed pod in a glass of water. They can to some extent continue to develop when not in water but since you don't know how old it is I'd try keeping it in water.

For the young seedlings they'll probably be fine. I would watch them to make sure they don't start looking pale. In most cases being in woody product mulch doesn't cause nitrogen deficiency but young seedlings in theory could be because there may be a small N depletion zone at the mulch/soil interface. Bigger plants can reach their roots down beyond that. Chances are it won't happen, just something to watch out for in case.

amberjewel said:I have no way of knowing when this pod was set since my kids crashed the computer where I was keeping that data. If I had to guess I would say it's about a month old. Is there anything I can do to keep it viable?

Yes, put the scape into a glass with some water. Freshly cut the bottom end of the scape. Add a bit of sugar (and perhaps some very dilute soluble fertilizer) to the water. (Or look up home-made cut flower food on the internet.) Change the water frequently. Place the glass where the scape can get daylight. If the pod can last five weeks or longer then the seeds may be considered mature enough to plant (the longer the better).

I have had good results putting the scape in water and have gotten nice ripe black seeds.

Amber - Oh! I had a major case of this issue when I had a starving rat or two EATING my pods and seeds. I went out and cut ALL my pod scapes and brought them inside to place into vases of water until most of them ripened. That was something else, let me tell you ..... that happened a year ago in June 2015 and I started a thread about my dilemma. I had bouquets of scapes with pods in several vases. Most of the pods matured and produced seeds, but some were just too small and didn't survive to maturity. Here is my old thread:

The thread "Help! Advice needed ..." in Daylilies forum

Thank you everyone. I put it in a little cup of water with some extra cut flower "food" I had lying around (whatever those little packets are that come with the cheap bouquets at Walmart). I only put a little of it in and a tiny bit of sugar. I have it sitting in a fairly sunny window. So

Amber I lost a few seedlings due to mulching with wood chips bugs ate them and the chips make a great hiding spot for bugs. I've found pine needles about 1-2 inches thick keep the soil moist enough for them to take off but don't expect it to block any weeds. young seedlings are very vulnerable to bug damage in my experience. you may want to rake the much back just a hair from the base of your seedlings.

Thanks for the advice Daniel. I wonder if some really old, slightly decomposing grass clippings would work okay as a mulch alternative...no pine needles around me. Can you purchase those at a store?

Not to easily in your area I forgot you lived in Missouri I'd be wary of grass clippings you could introduce grass seed in your bed or bring in bugs that eat dead plant matter, sometimes these bugs will eat live things too. you may be better off just raking back the mulch a tad from the base of the seedlings.

The best thing to do is mix compost into the soil which will act as an in-ground mulch. But most daylilies are pretty hardy and once they get established in your garden with deeper roots, just putting them on a watering schedule during the hottest months should do the trick.

beckygardener said:The best thing to do is mix compost into the soil which will act as an in-ground mulch. But most daylilies are pretty hardy and once they get established in your garden with deeper roots, just putting them on a watering schedule during the hottest months should do the trick.

I did put compost in with the babies when I planted them. In fact, I do that with all my daylilies. My soil is VERY heavy clay. So when I plant a new plant, I dig a huge hole; fill it with a mixture of garden soil, compost, and some old dead grass (to help break the clay up even more - haven't had a problem with grass growing yet); and then put the plant in. Since the babies were so small I didn't make as big of a hole and only put in compost and soil. We will see how it goes I guess.

beckygardener said:Amber - Oh! I had a major case of this issue when I had a starving rat or two EATING my pods and seeds. I went out and cut ALL my pod scapes and brought them inside to place into vases of water until most of them ripened. That was something else, let me tell you ..... that happened a year ago in June 2015 and I started a thread about my dilemma. I had bouquets of scapes with pods in several vases. Most of the pods matured and produced seeds, but some were just too small and didn't survive to maturity. Here is my old thread:

The thread "Help! Advice needed ..." in Daylilies forum

That would be disturbing! I'm sorry you had to go through that!

I just put the stem in sugar and water and change it daily. Viola, good seeds.