Susan, James is @JWWC

No wonder no one ever responds. LOL. I was thinking it might be my breath. LOL. The bad news is that the system has been notifying people I do not know, and now they think I am crazy! LOL.

I get annoyed when people don't answer. But often after doing the draft message I get side-tracked and forget to click "Finished". Me done no message at all.

Join the club, I have done that soooooo many times. Very aggravating, especially when you spend a long time typing something. LOL.

I'm back!

To answer the question, yes, RED BULL, is in the ground and has been since September 4th or so. I should know how it's doing in the next week to 10 days. I plan to do a lot of cleanup this weekend (open the tops of plants so prevent rot and clear out the dead foliage) and we should have several days of weather well above freezing with a little rain.

Ok, let me know how yours does. I will get mine in the spring but I am hoping it will do very well here. It should be my best daylily with 11 branches, 80 buds, fragrant, bright red color that hold up in the sun, and diamond dusted. Wow, does it get any better than this?
James, you have such bad winters, would your plants do better if you plant them in the spring? I have the opposite problem here because if I plant in the spring they sometimes do not get roots down in time for the hot weather. I could water everyday and things still die.

Susan I am usually OK if I plant early enough in the fall. My self-imposed deadline is the first week in September because I never know when the ground will freeze. That happened in late November this year.

I went poking around at lunch and there was some green beneath all the dead brown foliage on RED BULL so hopefully it's alright. Not it is more about preventing rot than anything else.

That is my biggest problem also.

And I believe rot is more likely to kill day lilies in the spring than the harshest winter in most cases. Everything is still frozen up nor' right now, so at least I have some time before I need to start 'worrying'. Even though I cut everything back last fall I will have some clean up work to do.

James, glad to hear there is hope for Red Bull. That one is on my wish list.....

Some of mine were rotted before winter got here but all of them were in pots with poor drainage. (my fault) I am amazed at how much cold they can put up with. I guess that is why they went dormant, it is their way of coping.
I am only getting a SF of RB but when it gets big I will check with you both before I put it on my trade list.

Susan, in regards to your earlier question. I usually top dress my pellets into the soil. I also use the meal which I believe is just the ground up version of the pellets. I mix them all together along with the Milorganite and extended release fertilizer when top dressing. I also add some compost at the same time. I also have "Red Bull" coming from your source. I am going to pick a good spot for it which means that something will be evicted.
I don't expect 80 buds here, but, I would take 60 and some pollen. Ha Ha!!!

Mike do you make your own meal (grind the pellets) or did you find a source for it? I would love to put that down rather than the pellets for the exact reason you use it - to mix it with other things and save time.

I moved all the pots that were in the porch out into the yard yesterday. I think they will appreciate the rain for one but also it's supposed to be cloudy so they can harden off a bit and start growing before the sun comes out.

I had planted bulbs so I brought all my pots back under the porch so they would not rot. LOL. (musical pots)
I noticed that the pellets break down the first time you water them, they swell up and look like meal. I had no luck mixing the milorganite with the pellets. The milorganite sunk to the bottom. LOL. I already top dressed the hosta garden with the pellets so I will do the milorganite separately. It will definitely soak in after only a couple of rains.

@Hazelcrestmikeb, Congratulations on your Red Bull, I would expect 50-60 buds in your zone but maybe not the first year. lol.

James I bought the meal from a feed store. They had to order the meal. They stock the pellets. The pellets to me is like a slow release as it breaks down. I mix them all together along with the compost in the wheel barrow to make it easier. I then put a handful ( after the mix) around the root zone. That's minus the compost.

I got my pellets from Tractor Supply, only about 11.99 for 50lbs.

Susan that's what I've been doing. I wonder if I can get them or order meal for me.

You could call and ask or maybe go inline, they have a website. I was thinking about mixing the pellets with some cow compost. Compost will correct the ph, correct?

Susan, I want to remind you that I live about 2 hours east of James. I had the winter he had.
Jan, I too, noticed that winter is not as much a killer as spring. Growing hostas in pots has given a lot of data on the causes of grown rot.

Last summer I asked about light needed in a cold greenhouse because I planed on storing potted daylilies there for the winter. Some members, instead of answering my question, questioned why I decided to pot them in the first place, instead of planting in the ground, and further questioned why I would place them in a greenhouse.

Because of my experiences in my miniscule part of this country, I knew that newly planted daylilies might not survive. Since I bought plants into October, I was sure they would not have enough time to acclimate, and therefore, would not survive.

I have over 250 potted daylilies in the greenhouse that will be planted in their permanent locations as soon as the ground is warm enough. The dormants went dormant for less than three months, and the others grew beautifully and increased. All plants are growing well and now, more than ever, I am glad I followed my plans.

I still have some ice and snow over parts of the beds, and I can see a little greenery under the mulch. I do not move the mulch until I see at least three inches above the mulch. The mulch will be moved about six to eight inches away from the root base.

Gerry glad to know your idea worked! When I tried keeping potted daylilys in my insulated garage several years ago, they not only developed Rust but also got mites. I have overwintered other things in that garage previously and never had a problem. So I put all those pots outside, and protected them well. They survived the winter, and rotted in the spring. At the time I didn't know about turning the pots sideways and lost every single one. I know others that use coldframes without much problem I just know that for me, that experiment failed

I have been away from home for a week, and know it is still cold at home, it will be interesting to see what changes have occurred while I have been away

profesora said:Susan, I want to remind you that I live about 2 hours east of James. I had the winter he had.
Jan, I too, noticed that winter is not as much a killer as spring. Growing hostas in pots has given a lot of data on the causes of grown rot.

Last summer I asked about light needed in a cold greenhouse because I planed on storing potted daylilies there for the winter. Some members, instead of answering my question, questioned why I decided to pot them in the first place, instead of planting in the ground, and further questioned why I would place them in a greenhouse.

Because of my experiences in my miniscule part of this country, I knew that newly planted daylilies might not survive. Since I bought plants into October, I was sure they would not have enough time to acclimate, and therefore, would not survive.

I have over 250 potted daylilies in the greenhouse that will be planted in their permanent locations as soon as the ground is warm enough. The dormants went dormant for less than three months, and the others grew beautifully and increased. All plants are growing well and now, more than ever, I am glad I followed my plans.

I still have some ice and snow over parts of the beds, and I can see a little greenery under the mulch. I do not move the mulch until I see at least three inches above the mulch. The mulch will be moved about six to eight inches away from the root base.

Gerry,
I did not forget where you live. LOL. I just did not know! I think everyone had a bad winter even those in Florida. It was a lot colder than what we are use to.

I think that was a good idea putting the daylilies in the greenhouse for winter, so far as I know a lot of growers do that even the ones in Florida.

Most of my hostas are in the ground. Only one or two waiting for a permanent home after I figure out how much sun they like. That is the good thing about putting the new ones in a pot, you can shuffle them around till you find just the right place for them.

Hostas seem to all be different about how much sun they tolerate, but I bought a lot of small ones and they got use to the heat, they acclimated. I have some that are not listed as sun tolerant and they are doing fine.

I am adding more Perlite to the potted daylilies for better drainage and it works good and is not as heavy as the sand.