I have not posted here much recently, I have been really busy trying to relocate my pot area, adding sprinklers and timers, lining out daylilies for the auction, along with the daily honeydos. I even got Kathleen on the lawnmower for a couple of days, she had not been on one since I retired almost eight years ago. Its a new mower and much different and larger than what we had so it was a long learning curve the first day, but she did good once she got over the fear of the new machine.
Here on the Gulf Coast you never put your daylilies to bed for the winter, theres always something that needs to be done. Fall and winter is when I really push the seedlings for growth so we will see them bloom in less than one year. These were planted around the end of August and most are 12" to 14" tall now. They will start blooming at seven months old, around March if we have a normal winter. The ones in the far bed were planted September of 2010 and most bloomed this year.

Great job! It is amazing to me how you get blooms so soon, but it also makes a lot of sense. Don't you cut off about a year in the process, allowing you to possibly market a seedling a year sooner?

I hadn't thought about not truly having a "quiet" season with the gardens down south. I love to visit down there, and am sometimes jealous of the year 'round flowers & gardening. But if I lived south I would NEVER get anything done inside of my house! I need the winter to reorganize, paint, CLEAN...... ~Jan

How rewarding it must be to get seedlings to bloom in less than a year! Hope you get lots of keepers.

Hi Fred,
I seem to trouble getting seedling to start that growth spurt they need. Will you tell me how you feed your babies to get them to grow like that.

Thanks Mona

I know Fred will reply in the wee hours of the morning, but here is the thread were he talks about building seedling beds for faster growth.
The thread "Building Seedling Beds For Faster Growth" in Daylilies forum

And this one is an earlier thread of his seedling progress last year
The thread "Baby seedling progress" in Daylilies forum

I'll have to take a photo of mine tomorrow. Mine are so far behind Fred's with the move and all. I got the seeds started late, then I ended up putting the seedlings in 1 gallon pots instead of the ground; since I knew I would be moving them I didn't want to have to dig them up. They are now being put into the beds I made for them. I try not to disturb the roots too much when taking them out of the pots so maybe it won't set them back too much. I pretty much copy what Fred does (since he does it so well ) so even with the set back I should get some blooms in the spring.

Well said Michele. Hope this helps Mona, if you need more information just ask. I do not know where your located and that makes a bid difference with seedling growth.

Hi ya'll,
I followed the threads and did get a lot of info. Fred, on one of them you stated that you would post seedling pictures in 2011 to the "Backyard Hybridizers Forum". I can't find this forum. Would you post a link. Thanks Mona,
I'm addicted to viewing all the great photos. Thanks bunches, Mona

After I see how organized you are with your seedlings Fred, I feel very disorganized, lol.

When we were on cubits there was a hybridizer forum on the daylily cubits. That's what he was referring to. When we came over here they became individual topics. Here are the links to them.

Don't forget your drool bib

The thread "Back Yard Hybridizers Seedlings Thread #2" in Daylilies forum
The thread "Back Yard Hybridizers Seedlings Thread #3" in Daylilies forum
The thread "Back Yard Hybridizers Seedlings Thread #4 (Seedling Selection)" in Daylilies forum

Just thought I'd post some photos of my babies. Not as far along as Fred's since the seeds got planted late, then the seedlings potted and then planted. They are planted closer together than I wanted, but I had limited space. Next year I will have more room. I ended up with 530 seedlings; some are still in pots (384 in the bed and 146 in pots). If I really liked the cross and had some planted in the bed I just left the rest in pots. I did away with a lot of crosses because of lack of space. They were some that I really wasn't crazy about or they were just bonus seeds (I would have never actually bought) I got with seeds I purchased last year on the auction. Yea yea, I know, these probably were the best out of them all, but you got to get rid of them sometimes even if you don't really want to.




I will be putting in the pvc pipe to put the cross tags into like Fred has after we get some other things finished.

We are adding sprinklers to this area so here is the tool I am having to use, a pick axe. The ground back here is dark, mucky yet hard clay and has some type of rocks all in it and tree roots. James said there used to be nothing but oak trees in this area. A shovel just didn't cut it and we couldn't get the tractor in here with a trench digger so good ole elbow grease had to surfice.


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Once we put all the pipes together and get it all covered back up we are going to lay down more of the black ground cover to help keep the grass and weeds in check. It's all worth it though to actually get to be doing something I really love. And no one can ever say I don't love daylilies because I sure have put in enough work to prove them otherwise But I never could have done any of this without the help of great people like Kim, James, and Fred and the women behind the scenes, Kathleen and Laura.

Wow Michele that looks like quite the job you have done, looks great. By the time you are finished all that digging and planting you will be in great shape!!

Me and Kim did 5 rows this way, I pick axed (is that a word?) and then Kim dug it out with the spade. At the end of the rows we did one long line from one end to the other. This I could do with my walk behind tiller to soften the ground since there was no beds or ground cover to get tangled in the blades and Kim dug it out.

Yepper, I got some bicep muscles going on and I do see my triceps forming. Now if it would just do something for the middle

Oh boy do I feel your pain. We have nothing but hard clay, tree roots and more clay. That's why after 4 years of trying to grow my babies in beds, I said no more! Now I use pots for all my new ones and babies. Repotting over 500 pots this summer was hard, but not as hard as what you have done. I've just got to the age that my body will not let me work like that. When I forget and do, wow, I'm out of action for a week. So, I try to remember that I'm not 30 anymore. Yeah 58 is a long way from 30 but I still want to do what I could do then.


Amazing, my mind still acts 30 so why can't my body do the same??? Darn fibromyalgia is a pain in the @@@@.

Michele, are the board you use treated? You not only have worked very hard, you have spent some money too. I used to have sticker shock when I say daylilies priced at $100 or more. But, now that I've raised a few, I understand totally. I'm afraid the problem we're all going to have is that most folks are having problems just surviving, much less paying for expensive plants and all the other stuff they need to keep up a garden. I feel that in the next few years we will see a trend of cheaper plants so more people will buy them.

Have you noticed that seeds aren't selling as high as they did just 2 years ago? I sure hope that times get better. I'm counting on it too. I've got to sell alot of plants next year just to help offset all the soil I've bought. I'm sure you are in the same boat!!!
You're doing a fantastic job with your new location. I bet your babies will grow like little weeds in the coming months.

What's your temp today. we're at 35 with a low of 23 expected tonight. I'm sure it will kill most of my foliage. So far, it hasn't been cold enough to kill any but just about 20 out of 1500. I guess those are true dormants???

Blessings to all, Mona

Mona,

The temps here are 50 but really windy so it feels like 40 and it will get 30 tonight. Not as cold as you but still cold. Last year we got down to 14 on some nights so I feel for you. I just love mother nature. Sometimes our 50s are cold and then other times our 50s are warm, go figure

Yes, those boards are treated. Some are the double treated ones that James let us use and the ones I brought with me are just regular treated. I get mine for about $9.50 (the ex bought them when we were still together thank goodness) but the double treated are about $22.

Yes, there are less people buying the expensive ones and the seeds are selling for less. It really just depends on the crosses people want each year I suppose. The ones that sold for a lot last year are not selling this year. I have also noticed that there are a lot of new people on the auction and haven't seen a lot of the ones buying last year on there. I remember when I wouldn't buy a daylily for $5, I had to wait until it was on sale for $2.25 That surely did change quickly

Gee, I remember that not long ago (like about a year ago!) I was whining about having to spend $50-$60 on a new iris introduction -- and then I stepped up to daylilies and quickly shut my mouth!

Yes, Betty, that's so true. Me too. I started with iris and I still love iris the best. But, I'm addicted to daylilies. It's kinda a love hate relationship. I love the plants but hate that it takes so darn long and so much hard work to get a new one to intro that they must cost $100 and up++++. The truth is, I'm considering how I can come up with enough to buy a few newbies this year. I'll get there and just to think this(much less actually spend over $100 for one plant) is enough to cause me to lose sleep. Add to this, the price of everything I need to grow a good plant has gone up maybe 4 times as much as it was just 4 years ago, is unbelievable. The rise in soil and fertilizer prices is so bad. So, with all of this, the price of new intro's are still the same as they were even 4 to 6 years ago. Some folks have some even cheaper than they were when the world was rolling on an easy slope. I know that we are all in this for nothing other than LOVE of a beautiful plant and the thrill of waiting for that seedling to bloom, finally, and pray that it doesn't hail on the scapes before I can see that bloom. Much less all the torandoes that everyone had last year!!! Ain't it so much fun!!!!! I truly love it and I'm sure we all do.

Michele, you sure have done a bunch of work. I would like to see your smile when spring comes with the first bloom in the place that you put it. When the first seedling blooms, you'll be all giggles and all the sore bones will just disappear. I want to see many pictures and I'd love to visit but it won't be this next year. Maybe by the next I will be able to come done that way. I'd love to visit all the southern Ms gardens and then over into souther Ala and Fla. That would be sooooo much fun!!!!!

Stay warm. We finally lit the heater in the den tonight. We'd had the one on by the kids rooms for about 3 weeks. I guess 23 degrees was more than we could stand. Atleast I'm not setting here wrapped up with my hoddie up around my chin and under 2 layers of quilts. I am WARM and blessed inside and outside. Mona

Looking great ! ~Jan

The initial cost is quite expensive, but the thing is to price shop which can be overwhelming in itself sometimes. And buying bigger quantities will save $$$ in the long run if you can do that. The alfalfa pellets I use are pretty cheap anyway, but I get the slow release fertilizer in 40 or 50lb bags. Some places charge an arm and a leg for it, but others charge a whole lot less like at locally owned feed and seed stores or nurseries. The chicken litter comes in 40 lb bags and James and Fred both buy it by the ton so it comes out cheaper and I get mine from them. The water soluable fertilizer I use I got in a 25lb bag which will last along time. We all use pine bark with sand mixed in as our soil in the beds and pots then add the fertilizer and such to it. We get it by the semi-truck full so it comes out really cheap, but most people can't buy 60 yds at a time. If I couldn't get that much I would go to the feed and seed and buy a truck load (about 1 yd). It still comes out cheaper than buying the bags at Lowes.

You really don't need a lot of the new daylilies to use. If you look at the parentage of some of the new ones, they use older ones still.

Stay warm yourself. I hope it doesn't get any colder for you.

Michelle,

I'm new here, but couldn't help asking how you insert the cross tags into the PVC pipe you use for marking your seedlings. I've used several things and they all fade before I'm finished with them. What do you write with and what do you write on? All tips are greatly appreciated.

Jill