Arlene - You stated, "From my database, I still have five daylilies (out of a total of 48 plants in the garden) that I purchased from November 2008-January 2011. " That is better than my odds, but I had more plants, including those I grew from seeds. I have one bed where the daylilies in that bed have done well. The bed is in the ground, but I did put tarp down underneath first before adding the soil. The tarp has deteriorated over the years. Oddly, the front of that bed is very shallow soil and the back is deeper. The daylilies in the shallow end have done better and I must happily confess, I do have clumps this year in that section of the bed. I don't know why there is a difference between swallow and deep soil depths.
I do know I have root knot nematodes. I can see the damage they do to plant roots. But I grow a lot of different plants, and not all are native plants. The daylilies are the only plants that seem to perish. My yard looks a bit like a jungle, plants seem to thrive in my yard. But .... it is a mystery to me why that is not the case for daylilies.
I recently acquired & raised a few pet chickens (hens). I have been using their poop around all my flower beds. The plants are huge and seem to really benefit from this. I dilute the poop in a container of water and just pour it around my garden beds. All the nutrients seem to be feeding all the plants pretty well. I wonder if poop repels bad nematodes?
Maurice - I had grown some daylilies in pots and they did pretty well, but the pots were harder to keep watered in the heat of summer in zone 10a. Quick evaporation of the water was an issue. Thank you for that information though. I may have to build some raised beds that are off the ground.
