I like to pull the dead canes from my daylilies, iris, etc. For appearance and creative purposes. Then one day I noticed a whole new ?plant emerging about 1/2 way up the stalk. Do I leave it be? Do I cut it off and plant it elsewhere in the garden? Will it ever grow it's own lilies? @Dogsndaylilies??

Well, that depends on whether your scape is up against the wall, or thrown down on the driveway! I can't tell from the photo! Let me go filtch Ginny's reading glasses

That is a proliferation, and if you scroll down on the list of threads page, you'll see a couple of conversations about how to handle them.

IJsbrandtGA,
Yes, as josieskid stated that is a proliferation. I think the scape is just laying on the pavement after being pulled, but still I think you have a good chance of getting a living plant form it, and yes it should eventually bloom and it should be a "duplicate" of the plant it was growing on. I think most people prefer to leave them on the scapes and leave the scapes growing as long as possible hoping for roots to establish on the proliferation. Then you can cut the scape about an inch above the proliferation and according to how large the proliferation is cut the scape low enough below the proliferation to allow it to act as a support when pushed into the soil. Some people prefer to just grow them in water, so if you do that just cut the scape just above and just below the proliferation then just keep the base of the prolif just touching the water. Once the roots have established themselves, you can plant it into soil. Sometimes I have good luck growing proliferations, sometimes they just wither and die. I do prefer putting them directly into the soil (often near the mother plant just so I can remember what it is) without having to make a label.

I was actually wondering the same thing since I have one on a seedling I just acquired. Thanks for the info Larry

This year is the first time I ever got any prolifs in my garden. They are so neat! The one in front is Papa Goose, in back is Cosmic Kaleidoscope.

@seed fork @josieskid Thank you so much for all the information. I can always count on the kind folks here. What may be interesting to you (or not) Is that almost every one of my lilies has a proliferation. I wonder what might be causing this? Anyway I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend well I tend to my day lilies! Terri

I have cut the scapes with proliferations on them and planted in pots indoors for the winter, and magically one of them bloomed, in the pot, several times in March! I couldn't believe it. It was from a cross with a species which is probably why. This year I just decided what the heck - the prolif isn't going to make it if I leave it on the scape as it's getting cold, so for the past three weeks, every time I see one, I just break it off (none of them have roots at this point) and stick it in the ground a few inches from the parent plant. Amazingly, all of them appear to be growing. I guess it's been the right combo of coolish temps and some rain (after a very hot, dry summer). Apart from the magic indoor-blooming one, most prolifs I have planted take 2-3 years to reach blooming size. I don't normally bother with them unless they are on a plant that doesn't increase quickly, so it's worth it to get more fans through planting prolifs. Some daylilies are covered with them! I've seen scapes with four or five prolifs, all depends on the plant. Another fun aspect of daylilies.

Thanks @RobLaffin!
@seedfork
@Josieskid
@DogsnDaylilies

I have noticed several oddities on my property and the ppl at NGA were so helpful with ID. Now that I have three separate happenings identified, I'm thinking there might be an underlying cause.

I have: 1) an abundance of lily proliferations; 2) fasciation of my hostas, gerbera daisies and several other plants , flowers and trees; and 3) my nut trees (hickory mostly) providing YEARLY crops of big healthy nuts. Shagbarks are usually ever 2-3 years.

I do not use much at all in the way of chemicals and I use mostly homemade and store bought compost, manure and fish fertilizer. Any ideas????

I also use very little in chemical fertilizer, I also get lots of proliferations, and often fasciation with the daylilies, along with lots of rebloom. I attribute it to lots of water and organic matter in the soil.

Seedfork said:I also use very little in chemical fertilizer, I also get lots of proliferations, and often fasciation with the daylilies, along with lots of rebloom. I attribute it to lots of water and organic matter in the soil.

We must have healthy, happy plants. The first year I saw the fasciation was on one of my hosts. I have also been digging irises at an alarming rate every spring and fall. They multiply like crazy with big fat rhizomes.

IJsbrandtGA said:

2) fasciation of my hostas, gerbera daisies and several other plants , flowers and trees

I misread that as " 2) FASCINATION of my hostas, gerbera daisies and several other plants , flowers and trees"

I get that here all of the time!

Charley

Charley