Oh, I think I need one of Don's daylily dividers! Another thing that works well for big clumps is 2 pitch forks inserted into the clump back-to-back, then gently pry the clump apart.

I have people come to my house and I dig daylilies for them to buy. I have them pick from the gardens, and I dig from the outer part of the clump. Since I don't want to dig up the whole clump and disturb it, I just usually insert a sharp knife and cut away a couple of fans, then ease put a shovel on the outside and ease the roots out of the soil, and out it comes with hardly a problem. The roots recover easily from being cut.

That's what I usually do Karen. I have a garden knife I use which makes it a lot easier.

I have an old kitchen knife that I use. Nice and sharp, and works very well.

Even a girl can do it.
http://youtu.be/VpQYnAfY8oM

Seedfork said:http://www.treegear.com.au/silky-saws-and-sawpods/

Those are professional grade saws. You can get home grade saws for much less. They aren't built as well and won't last as long but for the home gardener they should last many years.

Thanks for that mike. Looking at the video, my problem is getting them out of the ground not dividing them apparently. So do people just get a pick and dig the whole thing out and then divide. Oh, I was trying to get fans off the clump and not digging the majority of fans out!

Hmmm .... this is a very interesting thread.

I must have enough sand mixed in with my soil that dividing mine is pretty painless. I dug up a bunch of them today to transplant to the new raised beds. I used a pitchfork and just loosened around underneath them and lifted them. Shook off as much dirt as I could over the area they were in. Then took the clumps over to a grassy area near the new garden beds and basically just beat them on the ground to remove more dirt. I literally beat them on the ground rotating the root sides until the dirt is pretty much shaken off the roots. I am holding them near the bottom of the leaves (where they are joined to the roots) with both hands and beating them by lifting and lowering the root parts against the ground. I am not gentle. As the dirt falls away from the roots, they start separating. And then I jiggle/wrestle each fan until the roots comes lose from the clump. It only takes me a few moments to do an entire 6-10 fan clump. I always make sure the dirt is dry when I dig them up. If it is wet, the dirt is harder to shake off and to separate each fan from the clump. Works like a charm for me! I've been doing it that way for years.

I have done it that way on several times too Becky. I also tip the clump upside down and taken the garden hose and wash all of the dirt off the roots.

I'm not often over here on the daylily forum, but just did some early clean-up and one of my old tried-and-true Stella daylilies is becoming a rather formidable mass. It's about a foot or more in diameter and probably a 6-8" tall mounded up mess of roots. I've chunked pieces off this mother-plant on a fairly regular basis and it just keep blooming happily. Should I dig the whole thing up and really spend some time dividing it into more manageable pieces, or can it just be left alone? It appears to be growing on top of itself to form the mound (some of my hardy geraniums do this as well). I have not noticed any diminish in blooms. This particular plant is about 20 years old, dug out of a friend's yard who assured me this plant would grow anywhere. She has certainly been right about that! I have shared it often and replanted many offsprings around and about my yard. Thanks for your expert advice. My gut feeling is to just leave well enough alone. I tried moving a Joe Pye last season and had to enlist the aid of my son to even lift the clump out of the ground, let alone break it up. I fear this daylily would be about the same.

I do enjoy all the lovely daylily photos you folks add to the database, so many different colors and forms.

A daylily the size of yours should be easy to lift and divide into whatever number of fans you want in each clump. I would dig it up and keep pieces of what looks good and toss the rest. Joe Pye is a bear to dig I had an established large clump that I wanted to get rid of, I could not get it all dug up no matter how much I dug. Finally my DH took a ax and finished getting it removed for me, still had to put some roundup on the bits that remained. Personally I will never plant another Joe Pye.

Joe Pye definitely needs some advance thought as it is a rather formidable plant. I had placed it badly, and have now given it a much larger space to spread his elbows more freely. He's actually outside my actual herb garden at the edge of a pasture. He should do fine competing with the orchard grass. Re Stella, I'll give it a whirl and if she lifts easily I'll just split her up as best I can. Should I worry about her climbing on top of herself, or is that just a daylily thing? My younger Stellas have not yet started mounding up, should I split them when they first show signs of this? I have them planted in several spots, which makes for a nice display when they all bloom together. Very jolly.

Deb, what is a Joe Pye? I cant seem to find it in the database.

Deb my daylilies have never had the problem you describe not sure what causes Stella to do that in your garden but 20 years is a long time not to divide a clump the center ones underneath may be decline of very old fans.

Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum) here you go Glen.

Betty

I planted a Joe Pye several years ago and it died. Guess I should be glad that it did.

Great thread! I have not divided any daylily clumps so far but at least I got some good advice here for when I do. Thanks for the link!

http://www.lowes.com/pd_248694...

I really like this one. I have been using a large bread knife to divide Hostas so I thought that would be ok, except when I use my spade to take out half at a time. I like dividing things in winter because they are dormant and come right back in spring like nothing happened to them. LOL.

beckygardener said:
I must have enough sand mixed in with my soil that dividing mine is pretty painless. I dug up a bunch of them today to transplant to the new raised beds. I used a pitchfork and just loosened around underneath them and lifted them. Shook off as much dirt as I could over the area they were in. Then took the clumps over to a grassy area near the new garden beds and basically just beat them on the ground to remove more dirt. I literally beat them on the ground rotating the root sides until the dirt is pretty much shaken off the roots. I am holding them near the bottom of the leaves (where they are joined to the roots) with both hands and beating them by lifting and lowering the root parts against the ground. I am not gentle. As the dirt falls away from the roots, they start separating. And then I jiggle/wrestle each fan until the roots comes lose from the clump. It only takes me a few moments to do an entire 6-10 fan clump. I always make sure the dirt is dry when I dig them up. If it is wet, the dirt is harder to shake off and to separate each fan from the clump. Works like a charm for me! I've been doing it that way for years.

Becky, yes, that's a great way to divide a 6-10 fan clump. I don't like to divide mine till they get bigger, though. Yours would get big fast in Florida. Not so, here. It's when the clumps get huge that you want to do the pitch fork method.

Bonehead said:I'm not often over here on the daylily forum, but just did some early clean-up and one of my old tried-and-true Stella daylilies is becoming a rather formidable mass. It's about a foot or more in diameter and probably a 6-8" tall mounded up mess of roots. I've chunked pieces off this mother-plant on a fairly regular basis and it just keep blooming happily. Should I dig the whole thing up and really spend some time dividing it into more manageable pieces, or can it just be left alone? It appears to be growing on top of itself to form the mound (some of my hardy geraniums do this as well). I have not noticed any diminish in blooms. This particular plant is about 20 years old, dug out of a friend's yard who assured me this plant would grow anywhere. She has certainly been right about that! I have shared it often and replanted many offsprings around and about my yard. Thanks for your expert advice. My gut feeling is to just leave well enough alone. I tried moving a Joe Pye last season and had to enlist the aid of my son to even lift the clump out of the ground, let alone break it up. I fear this daylily would be about the same.

Deb, You don't necessarily have to divide that clump if it's still blooming well, but it would do even better for you if you did. Not only that, but you would have several clumps to spread around in your gardens. Having a bunch in one spot makes a great statement. If you do divide, keep about 5 fans per clump, that way you won't have to wait too long for it to bounce back. A clump that big probably has a lot of dead pieces of roots in it, and that's probably what's causing it to mound up, that and the hairy stuff that comes up with the foliage at the crown (the part where the foliage comes out from the roots). Just remove all the dead stuff before replanting, and wash it off real well.

Never.