Hello everyone,
I'd like an opinion on what I see on some leaves. Usually, it happens on the external leaves, so maybe they are the oldest leaves; but I'm not sure if it's normal or not. This summer is very hot (95 F) and dry, I water with a watering can (6 liters, about 1 gallon and a half), one watering can goes for three plants, then repeat (no other way to have water for garden). I see different things on leaves, some are yellowing, some are drying, but I always have in mind what the man that sold me the daylilies said "they need little water; no DL ever died for lack of water but some dies for too much water". So, am I using too much water or shoul I water more? If you see some white spot that is limescale in our house water. Many thanks for looking!

How often are you watering? I doubt that is too much water. I live in what is normally a very hot, very dry area. This year is exceptionally wet and cooler up to now. Usually I'm in triple digit temps and dry to very dry conditions and I give the daylilies more water than you are doing and I also try never to go past two days before they get water again. They seem to grow better if they don't dry out. Even with the wet year, I'm experimenting by keeping a couple sitting in pans with water. They are growing very well. I do grow all my daylilies in containers and can't currently compare to a plant growing in the ground.

I have the same thing and I think it's probably caused by more than one thing. A lot of mine is early frost damage and we had a lot of that this year. Once those leaves are gone, I don't have any more that look like that.

Sabrina - Here are 2 links to the AHS about daylily disease and pests that you can refer to if needed. Click on the underlined words to read more about each disease/pest:

Daylily diseases:
http://www.daylilies.org/ahs_d...

Daylily pests:
http://www.daylilies.org/ahs_d...

I also get that on mine and I think it is more aging leaves than anything, but I could be wrong. It could be leaf streak. I just pull them off or cut them off. I've never lost a plant because of it. Being outer leaves, I assume those leaves are weakened or older and don't worry about it. I have most of the other diseases listed on that page because I live in the south (warmer climate) and am an organic gardener. I don't think that daylilies can be watered too much. As long as the roots are getting the water and not the crown of the plant, water should not be a problem.

It could also be a nutrient (fertilizer) deficiency or too much of something. But I personally wouldn't worry about unless more leaves start doing that.

Thanks for your replies.
I had a bad case of rust the past summer, but it was humid and not so cold. I had to cut leaves from every plant.
This year no signs of rust.
I see some earwigs; some hide in the flower at evening and some crawl on the leaves. I would like to know how to get rid of them, I don't see many but sometimes I found one or two in the house, especially near the cats water fountain. I have an insecticidal powder for ants, could I use it?
I see some cutworm or or white grabs I can't distinguish, and I saw a couple of leaf hopper. Nothing so serious I think, but earwigs ugh I can't stand them.
I use only tap water, no fertilizer. I' watering every evening, the soil is very strange because it's most clay; the top part gets dry very quick, it's hard like a rock, but underneath (I will go out and check better for sure) it's humid and full of earthworms (I know they help having a good soil). I had a black calla lily bulb and it's rotten, who knows.
It affects outer leaves the most, for now, I take them off. Do you think I sould water more? Or use some kind of fertilizer?

Sabrina - If you have lots of earthworms, in the soil around your daylilies, those worms provide the BEST fertilizer ever! Worm castings (poop) are excellent fertilizer! If your daylilies look otherwise healthy, then I wouldn't think you need to add anything else. But I am not an expert here.

As far as making homemade insecticides, here are a few different websites with recipe ideas. If you use a liquid dish soap in any of your recipes, make sure it does NOT have antibacterial agents in it (which will kill the good bacteria in the soil):

http://www.globalhealingcenter...
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-...
http://www.apartmenttherapy.co...

The one I have heard about the most is this one (from http://homeguides.sfgate.com/a... ):

Homemade Bug Spray

You can make your own insect spray from harmless kitchen ingredients. Mix 1 tablespoon of dishwashing detergent with 1 cup of fresh cooking oil to make an effective, all-natural bug-killing concentrate that can be mixed as needed. A solution of 4 teaspoons of concentrate diluted with 1 pint of water in a spray bottle is effective against many soft-bodied insects, such as aphids, whiteflies and spider mites. Spray the mixture generously on the tops and bottoms of leaves, as well as the stems, for effective control.

I, personally, rarely do anything because eventually there will be a natural balance of good and bad in my garden. I do get ladybugs and praying mantis bugs that feed on many other insects.

Good luck!

Thanks Becky,
I know earthworms are good!
My DLs look good, I was worried about those leaves, since I'm not an expert and I tought I'd ask just to avoid to overlook something.
So, should I water more? Which is the best time time to water? Early in the morning or in the evening?
If those bug sprays work for earwigs I'll give them a try, I really can't stand them. When I see one on a leaf it stops from moving it seems it knows I' there whatching it and it wants to fool me

cybersix,
I think most of what I see on your plants is the result of aging of the outer leaves. It also looks like some leaf streak to me. I end up with a lot of leaves like that and I just go around pulling brown dead leaves and yellow dying leaves to keep the plants looking good. Really, I don't know what the long term results of that will be because my daylilies have only been in my garden a few years.
I think the main thing about determining if you need to water more or not is to be determined by the soil. You, mention having clay soil, the important thing then becomes drainage! Does the water drain well, or does it stay puddled up around your plants. I think daylilies can stand lots and lots and lots of water, but they should not have their crowns under water and should have good drainage around the crowns, the longer roots seems to love lots of water.
You sound like the perfect candidate for mulch, put about two inches of mulch over the top of the soil to keep the soil and the roots cooler and earthworms feed. When you see the mulch wearing thin, replace it with more. You will build up your soil, feed the worms, and the daylilies will flourish.

I wouldn't worry too much about the yellow streaks on the leaves, I imagine it would be a very rare daylily garden that doesn't have some of that on the older leaves. If you started getting a lot of leaves like that then it might suggest a problem. The last picture, though, looks somewhat like leaf scorch, see:

http://hyg.ipm.illinois.edu/pa...

Early morning is the best time to water. You can water in the evening instead if there's no risk of fungal diseases. The amount to water, and the frequency, depends on the weather and the soil type. The best way to tell if you need to water is to dig down near the plants with a trowel and check to see if the soil looks damp. If it does you don't really need to water. If you can water less frequently but give more water each time it is better for the plants as it is less likely to encourage shallow rooting. With clay, though, you may have problems with pooling on the surface if you do that and the infiltration rate is slow An organic mulch would help keep the moisture in and will gradually improve the soil (make sure the soil is watered or rained on before applying the mulch). The concrete structure beside the plants in the picture will also be exaggerating the hot dry weather.

Re earwigs, I use Safers insecticidal soap, organic and made especially for plants, as it is less likely to burn the leaves than the home-made solutions with dish soap. You may not be able to get that there though. I just carry a hand-sprayer and zap the earwigs individually as I see them. The small amount of soap that hits the leaves that way is less likely to do damage. You'll get more of the earwigs if you go out at night.

Just to clarify something, a lot of articles on home-made insecticides call them "natural", I'm not sure why because regular dishwashing liquid certainly isn't natural and nor are some of the other ingredients often included.

Thanks everyone, as for soil, I checked it and under the surface is more cold and somewhat humid but not wet; in some spot when planting DLs I added common garden soil, so it's a mix, and it seems clay tends to go tu surface. When I water the water goes under the surface; in some spots it takes few seconds but it never really stays on topo of soil.

Leaves: I checked leaves and took some pic again for help. I think I have rust or leaf streak. I found somehing that looks like rust butit's only on the back of the leaves, anyway if you could help me understand what this could be I'd be happy because I'm really a newbie.
Many thanks!

It does not look like rust and anyway it couldn't be unless you had rust last year or it is in your area, the fungus must be present to get rust. I haven't heard that it is established in Italy? What it looks most like from the pictures, particularly the first one, is spider mite damage so lets rule that out first. Can you check under the leaves with a magnifying lens for tiny mites, eggs and webbing?

The past year I had an epidemy of something it resembled both rust or what we here call "yellow spiders". The man who sold me the DLs talks about this yellow spider, its brother is spider mite which is called here "red spider".
So probably that is, even if when I checked with a magnifing lens (not so magnifing) I couldn't see any mites or eggs. No signs of webbing apart for some big web from other plants to DLs.

Well, went out with magnifying lens and I saw some webbing and some little mites.
I will use some insectidal but not now there's sun and hot in the garden, later I'll go out and give the plants some cure.
Many thanks for your appreciated help!

I have never suspected mites on my plants, now I think I will take a magnifying glass out and look also.

Good luck! I hate pests!