I'm new at growing daylilies and have a care question. My bare-root plants are showing new growth. However weeds are growing faster then the daylilies. My question is what type of weed killer can I use that will not harm the daylilies.

Thanks

Hi, Doug, : )

Are you using a mulch around the daylilies? This helps conserve moisture and suppress weeds. I tend to buy either a cedar or redwood mulch from Sloat's, and after weeding in April, I spread (or, actually add to existing) mulch and have it at a height of 3-4", but make sure that it's not closer than 2-3" to the daylilies' crowns . There will, of course, be some weeds that sprout in the next 6 months. But they are pretty easy to pull out in a well-mulched area when you walk through the garden and admire your blooms. : )

Since you live in the city, I would imagine that you don't have a huge problem with weed seeds that are wind borne from Open Space. There are products (e.g., Preen) that prevent weed seeds from sprouting. But, these pre-emergents don't deal with existing weeds. They simply have to be pulled out - preferably when the soil is moist.

Please, ask questions when needed! Happy gardening! : ) - Elizabete

Once you get control of the weeds, it is pretty easy to stay on top of most of them - especially as has already been mentioned - with mulch. Also i have seen that over several years as my daylily clumps have gotten larger that they mostly crowd out many of the weeds. I will admit that with all of the rain this year, I have more baby weeds than ever in my gardens, even with Preen.~Jan

I certainly do to Jan unfortunately. Weeds have been bad this year for sure.

I'm not sure that there is any safe weed killer to use around daylilies. You can spray the weeds, as long as you make sure that the weed killer doesn't get on the plants. I do this by putting cardboard between the plant and the weeds, but I've never done this around my daylilies. I don't want to take any chances with overspray. Preen is a great thing to use after you get the weeds out, but it won't kill the weeds.

Hopefully someone knows something that is safe to use! I'm an obsessive mulcher myself, and have been very happy with the lack of weeds, but it won't kill them to begin with.

Thanks for the info. I'm using redwood mulch, but this I applied it too thinly; only about 1.5 inches. I'll have to put some more out this weekend.