The top leaves of my lilies are turning white. This plant looks very sad because I plucked it yesterday and it sat in the compost all day....
The plants look healthy, are not overwatered, and parts of the leaves are turning yellow/white. I examined for insects, found none. It's happening all around the yard, not in one particular area. Not the whole plants are affected. They have been there for 6 years and have multiplied quite a bit....
any ideas....? anyone.....? I have pulled the affected plants, but can take more pictures if that would be helpful. Thank you so much......
Mary

just looks to me like they got frozen on top and killed the tops off. They might not bloom but they should do okay next year, .... except that you pulled them all out.

My best guess is cold, also. If lilies are rapidly growing, they are a lot more vulnerable, and it seems that if the duration and intensity of the cold is at that sweet spot where damage occurs but cell integrity is not compromised, leaves don't die or turn to mush, but other things might happen. This was of interest to me this year:


It is a Liliium distichum seedling that had overwintered inside an unheated garage. Already sprouting when it came outside, then 5 days later exposed to 30F. That pic taken four days after. The white showed up on the second day, increased in size for a day, then was static, but continued growth as the rest of the leaf did. Now, a month later, there is no change, but the leaves are larger:



So if the same thing happened to you, Mary, you will just have some permanently white leaves this year, and regular growth again next season. Not sure if this will affect further growth of the stem this year, or not.