My cousin lives near San Antonio & she sent me these photos of 2 of her dl's. She says:
Can you tell me what is wrong? Both of these lillies are turning very yellow. We just had four days of heavy rain. It's been about 5 days since the rain and they are doing this. It looks like the need iron. What do you think?

I would check the crown to make sure it isn't mushy.

Thanks Cindy, I will tell her. I already told her to pull the mulch back from the leaves/crown a bit. I was wondering about location on both of these & here's what she said:
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Could be a soil issue because we are heavy in clay but these are very far apart, one in the side yard. The other one of the same kind is about 3feet away and fine. They have both been in the same places since I planted them.
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I know they have been planted about 5 years, 4 years minimum.

I'm also going to tell her to use some alfalfa pellets which will also help improve the clay as well as gypsum also to improve the clay.

What Cynthia said especially if the soil is clay and doesn't drain well. It also looks like the mulch is right up to the fans of the daylilies so it's good to suggest she move it back. Just because there may not be any standing water above the ground it could be staying really moist (too moist) below around the crown. If they have been there about 5 years maybe they need to be lifted some as they may have settle lower into the soil. Some rot can set in really fast (some really slow) so after 4 days of heavy rain and then 5 more days of maybe the soil being super saturated at the crown could have set in rot.

One observation I have is that they may need to be fed. If they have been there about 5 years and they are the size they are then they may not be getting fed enough. If I had a daylily planted in the same spot for 5 years (or even 4) they would be ridiculously huge since we can go from a DF to a 25 fan clump in one year on a lot of them.

Thanks Michelle! I will tell her.

She last said this:

Crown is not mushy but the soil is still quite wet. It's so seldom that we get several days of torrential rain that I think they are in shock.

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I think lifting them is a great idea!

BTW, I gave her the link to the alfalfa pellets @ Tractor Supply that Michele linked to in one of the other threads. She said they have a Tractor Supply there so will get some.

Ann, instinct tells me that I wouldn't use alfalfa pellets until the plant was elevated a bit and maybe some sand added around and under to provide drainage.
Maybe just use some liquid fertilizer for now.

When it rained 10 or more inches one weekend here in Florida, many rose growers lost their plants due to the crowns getting under water.
Heavy rain can be a problem as well as a blessing.

Id just throw some milorganite on those babies, and they should green right up.

Thank you all. She's going to lift them & add some organic matter to the clay when she lifts them to help improve the clay situation. She'll (with the help of hubby) rework that whole area. Then top dress with alfalfa pellets.

That doesn't look like rot to me - if things were that yellow I would expect, at least based on what I've seen here, to see some brown/dead foliage.

She doesn't say if they turned brown very recently or if this is how they have been this season. I'd feed them, provide some iron and micronutrients and , if they are low, lift them.

They were fine before they got 4 days of solid rain. This is how they have turned 5 days after that 4 days of rain. She said the crowns are not mushy.....yet.

Ahh yeah that would make me much more suspicious.

Yep, I think it's a matter of heavy clay soil which normally did not present such a problem considering the droughts Texas has experienced for years but when it rained, it poured & problems that have been "lurking under the surface" made themselves known. I think the overall solution is to improve that clay into something more livable & she's taking strides to do that. Also, I think she was being stingy on the feeding thinking she might overfeed them. The alfalfa pellets will take care of that as well as helping that clay to boot. I told her to find some earthworms somewhere & dump them in the garden too.

The problem with alfalfa pellets is that they create heat as the decompose. I'm not sure that would be a good thing at this time of year.

I've lived in Marietta, GA, and there the clay was bright red. The only way I could keep the soil from clumping into one huge clump was to add a lot of perlite to the planting bed in addition to the organic fertilizers. The perlite was still identifiable 3 yr later and doing it's job just fine. The plants really appreciated this approach.

Now that I live in Central FL, I have to enhance beds, divide and plant in the late fall. I don't know about TX--can they still do that at this time of year? The only thing I do know is that it gets really hot down there, and the roots might not have enough time to get settled before the heat gets intense. But then, I've never lived in TX. Perhaps that not a problem for them.

Thank you Arlene. Her heat runs about the same as mine or yours. She has created a microclimate though & its much cooler in her garden than say in her neighbors yard. Technically we can all enhance, plant & divide year round but I personally find it's easier on me if I stay out of the July - September inferno.

You are right, Ann, it usually is an inferno here in July-September! It'll be interesting to see what happens this year.

About planting all year around. I've tried planting daylilies in March and the plants either died or stunted. Ended throwing them away. I try to get them into the ground by Thanksgiving (starting mid- to late October and working daily), and this has worked really, really well. It is great for me, too, because the weather usually cools off in October and it's so much more pleasant outside. No bugs either.

My tropical plants can be planted at almost anytime, but I start on them after the first of February. That when most of the big plant show/sales happen. The plants appreciate winter being behind them when the get in the ground.

I don't even try to zone jump anymore & so tropicals are not in the picture for me since we moved here to north Fl. (We used to live in Zone 10 Fl.)
Last year, I planted dl's in May & June & they did fine but it was rough on me. AND I will say they do better overall when planted in the fall b/c I did plant some in fall last year. The ones I planted in May & June last year did need a bit of babying through summer. The ones planted in fall just stuck their feet in & were happy from day one.

But I'm happy to be here in zone 8 where it's not an inferno year round like it was in zone 10 all my life.

That's funny, because I've lived down there too! Here on the beach in Central FL, the temps are positively balmy. The high today was 83° with a brisk wind for most of the day. Lovely! We even get chilly weather in the winter--especially this winter!!

My backyard has a lot of queen palms that partially shade the daylily boxes. Have to admit through, even with that environment, planting in hot weather just isn't good for plants or people. Daylilies that are planted in the late fall actually produce earlier and better than those plants that go into the ground the rest of the year. Huge advantages for plants that have time to get established before the hot weather hits. The only reason I purchased at this time of year this year, is that there were some really tempting elegant daylilies that James Hall put on the Lily Auction. I asked before I bid, and he agreed to send them late in the fall. Date to be determined based on weather.