Planted the last of the babies Sept 1st (two beds), about 1600.

you have planted 1600 seedlings??
wow, that must have been backbreaking...

your beds look fabulous again
wish I had that much space


Mayo

Mayo62 said:
wish I had that much space


Mayo

Me too!

!

Fred - Looks like the real fun will begin next Spring/Summer when all those babies start blooming!

I agree with others .... would love to have that kind of land to build raised beds on!

I can't even imagine 1600 seedlings at one time! I am sweating just thinking about planting them all in those beds! Looks awesome though.

The planting is not that bad, I planted for four weeks, about 400 per week. The daylilies on the right in the top photo were the same size as the babies this time last year.

hi Fred,

Those are last years seedlings?? I looked at their photo's not so long ago, but now I can really see the difference!

You said that you fertilize once a week in the winter.
What kind of system do you have fo that?
I can water my garden automatically, but if I want to fertilize I have to do it by hand...


Mayo

I have a 15 gallon, battery powered sprayer that I mix a water soluble fertilizer in and spray over the seedlings and all other daylilies here once a week when the weather is above freezing. I also use a 12 month slow release fertilizer which is applied as soon as they are planted and watered automatically every other day. Again, I must get the seedlings in the ground before Sept 15 to see most of them bloom the first year.

Now that all the babies are planted I have time to do other things that need to be done before winter. I have started reworking the boxes and moved the selected seedlings from the field to the hybridizing area. These are all one year olds and most are clumps now.

All are labeled with there HB# and cross which will remain with each seedling so I can record stats each year(branching, bud count, height, bloom size, ect)

HB02-16

Impressive!!

I see that you have cut the leafs short. Is that because you moved them, or because of the coming winter?



Mayo

Fred - You have a green thumb for sure! Only a few of my seedlings ever look so nice as yours after 1 year. Some of mine still look like baby seedlings. I am obviously not doing something right. I don't fertilize as often as you do, so that is probably what a big part of my problem is.

Looks awesome!

I always cut the foliage to about 8" when I move them, its just going to lay down and be in my way when applying fertilizer and the other things added after planting. In a couple of weeks it will be back to normal length, anything I can do to make it easier for me.

Becky, to me the way I prepare the beds before planting is more important than anything else I do the other nine months, and the most important is the ph. If it isn't 5.5 to 6.5 the plants can't take up enough nutrients for rapid growth. I have to add lots of lime every year to keep the ph within that range.

Fred - I have one of those cheap ph meters somewhere. I need to find it and see what my beds are registering at. Thanks for mentioning that. I do believe my yard is very alkaline .... but maybe I am adding too much acid to my daylily beds because I use a lot of pine fines when I amend the beds. (I have sandy soil.) I need to find that ph meter!!!

@spunky1



Those are mighty fine looking beds...



I noticed in your photo, posted on the 15th you have used what looks to be alfalfa pellets at substantial rate. I also noticed what looks to be some of the alfalfa pellets in the seedling beds but not as heavy. Did you add it as you did for the established cv's but work it into the soil?

Becky I use a lot of pine fines myself because of the sandy soil, I add a couple inch's of pine fines every time I rework the beds.

Stan, the seedling beds only get alfalfa once and its tilled in, the hybridizing beds get it twice, tilled in when I rework the bed and again when I add the plants to the bed. I have found that those small seedlings don't need as much of anything as the older plants.

Fred....

I only have 16 seedlings and I have yet to fertilize them. I was thinking compost tea thru winter and then to start fertilizing with a slow release in the spring. They are potted right now, but I will definitely be working alfalfa pellets in to my new beds when they are transferred. I've used alfalfa now for the last couple years in my beds after reading the article Michelle had written found here http://garden.org/ideas/view/t...

I am in the process of potting-up all CVs I have, in preparations for a move to a new home with a larger piece of property. There are literally dozens of earth worms in every shoveled clump. They are everywhere and so beneficial in the beds. So, I will always use alfalfa for that reason alone if nothing else.

Wow...... makes me glad I live where daylilies do not grow that fast!

Thanks, Fred!

I know I am late to the forms at times. If only I could retire and do fun stuff like gardening and talking about gardening more of the time.
Anyhow, your seedling beds look so good and I want to know if you can give an estimate of how many plants go from the original seedlings to the evaluation bed after blooming? I am asking if there is an approximate number or percentage that seem to make that cut.?
Terry