https://garden.org/thread/view...
this was my post I do not think I can copy and paste it to a new post here if so tell me how and I will..

Once again I have written today professors at Auburn university plant pathology to ask whether to keep the daylily or to dig them up and dispose which will break my heart...

So many years of love, photographing mine, working them and the cost also, the joy each morning of each new bloom before the damage occurred.

Does anyone think nematodes could cause that type of stunting of daylily that bloomed 34 inches tall for many years, they are in the same soil as when they were planted and were just drop dead gorgeous

and I only bought plants that bloomed 34 inches tall to 37 inches tall and they did ..for years

before I used copper sulfate fungicide one summer once a month to prevent rust..
Whether it was copper sulfate fungicide

or what does anyone think happened to every one of them in two different beds..same soil..same place when they were once beautiful and tall.

here is a picture of before an after..you can see the one that has a bloom down in the center near the soil level all of them bloomed that way since the damage about four years ago or so

Its two years or longer more like 4 years actually and they are not coming out of the stunted plants and the blooms blooming at the dirt level or base of each daylily

Copper sulfate is also used to kill roots of trees. Perhaps you inadvertently damaged the roots of your daylilies? But how that relates to shorter scapes I cannot think.

Have you tried to purchase a new daylily as a control, to grow with the others, to determine whether it is actually the soil or your prior treatment of the daylilies?

Similarly, you can dig up one of your stunted daylilies, wash off that soil and replant in a planter to see if it recovers with different soil from elsewhere. Did you try that?

The only other thing I can think of is perhaps a shrub somewhere grew too big and is now shading the daylilies. Or that the clumps may need divided.

OK first I am no expert.
So this is just my opinion. Your clumps are thick. The first thing I would do is separate the clumps at least divide them in half.
Now this is only my opinion and what I have tried. Move one half of them to another location and leave part where it is .
Next year you should see a difference.
For the fungicide I have no experience with that. We use no chemicals.
I split several clumps up last year that were thick and were performing poorly this year they took off. I don't know if it was better soil or being uncrowded. Hope this help.

I have just been reading on how to fix copper-contaminated soils.
There are lots of research studies on bioremediation using bacteria.
However, I could find zero products for sale for the everyday gardener.

This study implies growing sunflowers and adding citric acid to the soil will help the sunflowers suck out the copper to help clean up your soil. Not so sure.
https://www.researchgate.net/p...

You can easily dig them all up and grow them in pots with fresh soil. In zone 8b, I imagine they will all do fine in pots. Or cover your beds over and put raised beds on top with fresh soil.

May also be worth having your soil pH tested, and tested for metal content.
These guys seem to test for some contaminants, not sure about copper:
https://rxsoil.com/

There is also this interesting thread that presents some ideas:
The thread "Short scapes?" in Daylilies forum

However I was told one time Sulphur wasn't good either. Something about Alabama having enough of it in the ground already. When I do fertilize we try our best Not to use a slow release that is Sulphur coated.

I'm not very comfortable giving this kind of advice, but I have an opinion, for what it's worth. Have your soil tested before abandoning it or adding things to it without knowing it's condition. It may be fine, but it would be easy enough to have it tested to see if it might be the problem, I would think.

And then, to kind of contradict the advice of finding out what it is before acting, if you were inclined to try a spray, you might try a 3 in 1 rose spray. It seems to cover the more than one possibility. I hate spraying, but I had an issue this spring and I tried it, and it cleared up my problem, whatever it was.

I'm having a similar problem with plants doing well for years and then going rapidly downhill. The only difference is that the surrounding plants are fine. I'm pretty sure the surrounding plants are outcompeting the wimpy ones. I'm going to dig them up & pot them. It's worked for me in the past.

Now why an entire plot of daylilies would all go bad at once baffles me.

are they planted too deep?

I have two suggestions:
(1) Call your local county extension agent. He should be able to come out and see your daylilies and take a soil sample for you. He may also relay your problem on to other experts in horticulture for their advice.
If you are unsuccessful…
(2) Since you are in AL, you have an excellent Agricultural School at Auburn University. After you get the results of your soil sample, call the Ag Department there or the Department of Agronomy and ask to speak to someone who could help you. Good luck !

My suggestion would be that you submit one or more (tissue) samples of your affected daylilies to the laboratory in Alabama that does plant tissue analyses.
You can find more information at this web page
https://offices.aces.edu/plant...
and this one
https://www.aces.edu/blog/topi...

You should phone the laboratory to get details about how to take the tissue sample, what tissues to sample and how to send the sample(s) to the lab. There is a charge for each tissue sample to be analyzed and that seems to be $10 for each sample of plant tissue to be tested for all of these - Ca, Mg, K, P, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn, B, Al, Cd, Cr, Pb, Na, and Ni. The information the lab provides you about your daylily tissue(s) should give you an idea whether there is too much of any of the tested compounds (or too little).
You can download the form that needs to be sent with the tissue sample(s) from the second web page listed above.

You should also have a sample of your soil (taken from as close as possible to several of the most affected daylilies and mixed together) tested by the same laboratory. That would be especially important if the plant tissue test indicates that some compounds are too high, or some are too low or there are both.

Depending on what the results are of the daylily tissue test and in particular of the soil test you might want to submit a second soil sample for testing. That soil sample would be from places in your daylily flower beds that are the furthest from the daylily clumps. Hopefully those are places in the daylily beds that have not been treated in any way and that have not grown daylilies before.

I second what Maurice said. Both soil and plant tissue samples are what you should have analyzed and they will give you advice as to what to do about your problem(s) once there is a diagnosis.

I also agree that it can be useful and informative to pot them up in good potting soil and see how they perform. You might then not want to put them back into the same untreated old soil - especially if a test shows problems.

Frillylily said: are they planted too deep?

That was my first thought, they look like they are planted too deep, maybe too much top soil/mulch added.

@frillylily @Calif_Sue

That is an interesting thought - if the crown is too deep does that affect the scape?
I would assume that since the crown is a compressed stem that being planted too deeply would cause the crown to elongate a bit. The scape is a stem so it should simply elongate a bit more than usual if the crown is too deep.
I don't remember if I posted about what happens when daylilies are buried under a mound of soil and left alone. I have a test of what happens when daylilies are buried under soil that I should photograph and post in a new thread in the next day or so.

I am so grateful to all of you answering and thoughts behind my dilemma

I do have two daylilys also sprayed with copper sulfate four years ago I put into new bought soil in big pot by me last fall .

They have the same stunted and sick foliage today so it's not the soil what you think since telling you this?

They do not need dividing there are two foot or so between every hill

To those researching and your info on copper killing tree roots

That seems to be what I think too damage from copper sulfate from my spraying to prevent rust

The person who wrote doing test on a plant sending it off and where and approx cost thank you for that also

It seems the plant pathologist at Auburn univ would have made those suggestions that some of you smart thoughtful members have made to me

I will keep reading your replies and reread the ones I just got from you today!

I did buy a new daylily last year and it bloomed higher up this May

and looks better than those 60 damaged by the spray

It's in same flower bed same soil

so I tend to think it's within the actual plants and not the soil

Unless copper leached into the soil in flower bed as well as in the plant causing double trouble

Any more thoughts?

Thank you and have a blessed day!

Sheri sheridragonfly alabama zone 8b

They do not need dividing there are two foot or so between every hill

Ideally, daylilies do better if divided every 3-5 years so it doesn't matter how far apart they are planted.

I did divide them after the photo you saw of the bed. That was previous before the spraying with copper sulfate

This photo was to show how beautiful they were before the copper sulfate spraying

I always divided every two years and have to friends out of that bed and other bed. Never went longer than three years to dig up and hand seperate and share all of them

May I ask what do growers use as spray to prevent rust because it's prevalent in this zone even the daylily sellers sprayed spring to fall
They told me they did spray

Thanks for the rose spray comment
To that person and any more

I just called the extension office and they are leaning to copper damage and I reminded them Auburn and myself and the extension agents talked about this two years ago

And I am requesting help again

Will see about plant testing and soil chemical testing she said that is not done on local level which some member s mentioned this and links

It's so disheartening even if it's within the plant only and not in the soil the copper etc

I can not financially replace 16 daylilys to enjoy photographing as I did the 60

Thanks sheri

You just-now mentioned sick foliage. I do not recall reading that previously. Do you have any photos of that?
A couple of my daylilies have spring sickness this year. Foliage looked bad in spring.
One has just bloomed on a 6" scape. Should be 37".

Rather than copper, since your problem began with fungus perhaps you still have some rampant fungus attacking your daylilies, causing mass spring sickness?
This seems very unlikely (almost impossible) from what I have read about spring sickness, as it appears not to be contageous, and can even effect specific fans within a clump without touching others, and can pop up randomly year to year, daylily to daylily like Russian roulette. While you, on the other hand, have every clump every year.

Copper damage in daylilies is a new one for me, so thanks for keeping us updated. I am glad I did not use copper!

PS - Thanks for the Acorns! :)

Edited to add: I looked through all your photos. Do your daylily beds have black mulch or is that the actual color of your soil? I am just very surprised you have not a single weed growing anywhere as would be expected in fertile soil. When was the last time you amended the soil with compost or turned it over to aerate it? Do you use fertilizers? Are there many worms in there? Sorry for so many questions, but it is a very fascinating problem you have. I am intrigued.

Check for grubs! My daylily beds were infested with grubs from both Japanese beetles and Junebug beetles. Dig one of the worst hit in September and see if you have grubs feeding on the roots.

@Sheridragonfly

Can you please tell us what the name is of the copper sulfate product that you sprayed on the daylilies?