I'd love to know which daylilies clumped up the fastest for you. Which ones went from a single or double fan to a clump in a very short time?

These are some of mine:

Regal Sunrise was a new one I got last year that went from a single fan to seven fans in six months.


Spacecoast Francis Busby has always multiplied like crazy.


Pretty Desirable


Integrated Logistics


Trance


Born to Reign


Soul Catcher


The Tribble With Blue


Heavenly Snow White


Black Panther


Rainbow Maker


I see I have four Gossards on this list, and I could have put White Eyes Pink Dragon on too.

These last three are my own introductions:

Dearest Valentine


Gypsy Cats


Cowgirl Spurs is the fastest multiplying daylily that has ever grown in my garden.


This seedling child of Cowgirl Spurs is just about as fast a multiplier as the parent but doesn't have the high bud count or the rebloom power.

'Cowgirl Spurs' really looks impressive. Wow, what a display of blooms! My want list may grow larger after I read these threads.

All the below daylilies are in their first year, zone 8A in Dallas, and we have had an above normal temperature (except today since we had the first snow in five years but it didn't stick).

Since July:
Indian Giver
Frankly Scarlett
Caribbean frank League

All have gone from 2 fans to 6-7

Christmas Day went from 3 to 6 since September

Couple different clumps of Autumn Minaret doubled in size.

Light of the World has doubled as well since September.

Little heavenly angel doubled since July

JasonT - With your long growing season, you get fantastic increases! Thanks for sharing the names of your fast multipliers.

I have to say that 'Spider Man' is the fastest multiplier I own. It's been naturalized for a couple years now and is still very vigorous in blooms and foliage.

I naturalize my perennials now that I am on city water. The only thing I do is pull weeds out of their beds.

Ian - Thanks for letting us know about Spiderman! And thanks for explaining what you meant by naturalizing perennials.

Welcome. It's my first year growing DLs so we will see what happens this year in terms of buds and flower quality!

shive1 said:JasonT - With your long growing season, you get fantastic increases! Thanks for sharing the names of your fast multipliers.

The two that really stand out as giant clumps are Buttered Popcorn and Wineberry Candy for me. Unfortunately, I don't know how fast they got there but I seem to recall them both being pretty vigorous right from get go.


Buttered Popcorn



Wineberry Candy

I would like to comment that from years and years of observing plants, a lot depends on what type of division was sent to you. For instance, a whole crown that was intact when you planted the daylily will increase faster than a crown that has been cracked, split, or cut in dividing or sliced by a shovel.

I once received a SF where the crown was triangular, meaning the hybridizer had sliced off the basal nodes to root and propagate the daylily from slicing off these nodes along with a bit of foliage. It took three years for that expensive new introduction to recover and bloom and it did not increase at all. Had I been sent a whole intact crown, that plant would have bloomed and increased faster.

And you would obviously get faster multiplication if you started out with a double fan that shares a crown as that indicates the crown came from a mature plant. When you receive a plant, your concern should not be how big the foliage is because that can be pushed with fertilizer. I've seen many plants photoed on this forum as people receive their plants that have big tops, but the crown was obviously a rooted proliferation that was not mature enough to bloom for another year.

When you receive a plant, you should look at the crown that you received. Are there any new injuries to the crown? It is not always possible to keep crowns intact when you sell plants as modern daylilies will often have multiple fans that share the same crown. So when you examine the crowns, you may see old injuries to the crown from lining out long ago. That will not affect how the plant establishes.

@DaviJK,
Another example of the great information we can all learn form experienced hybridizers. I printed out that post, just so when I am dividing plants I will have this information handy to remind me that there is a difference in performance based on how the crown is divided.

DaviJK said:
I once received a SF where the crown was triangular, meaning the hybridizer had sliced off the basal nodes to root and propagate the daylily from slicing off these nodes along with a bit of foliage. It took three years for that expensive new introduction to recover and bloom and it did not increase at all. Had I been sent a whole intact crown, that plant would have bloomed and increased faster.

I tried to find some examples or photos of daylily basal nodes, but could not find anything. Could you provide us with further detail on how the triangular shape of the crown indicates the basal nodes had ben sliced off and exactly what basal nodes are?

I'm not a scientist so I don't know how to word things properly. But where the foliage meets the crown on the outside perimeter, you will find small bumps....these are the basal nodes. They a capable of producing proliferations and roots to quickly propagate a plant with some chemical help like BAP in a sterile environment. It is similar to longitudinal sectioning.

Imagine taking a daylily fan and using a knife to split it in half with each half having half the foliage, half the crown and half the roots. Now you have two plants instead of one....each with a wounded crown. You could plant each half and the plants will recover. Or you could slice each of those halves one more time and have 4 plants....they would all be smaller and it would take longer for them to recover....might even rot if you aren't using very sterile conditions.

This particular seller was slicing very tiny portions of the foliage off the side of the fan taking that part of the crown that included a basal node and growing proliferations from them in a laboratory under sterile conditions with a little chemical razzle dazzle. I first noticed that the crown was tiny and triangular in shape and then I noticed all the nodes were missing, too, and I knew what the seller had done. It's always wise to exam the crowns of daylilies when you get them. That was a lesson learned when it took 3 years for that plant to recover and bloom.

Also, a complete mature crown should have roots all the way around. If your plant only has roots on one side or very few roots at all, you should probably investigate the crown to see why. If the crown looks like a green onion bulb with a lot of fine hair roots and no big roots, it is likely a proliferation.

Now I see that the triangle was created by the cutting off of the nodes, but that the shape would be different if the nodes were taken from only two sides, or maybe four sides. It was not necessarily the "triangular shape" of the crown, but the fact that the outer nodes had been removed that was the problem. I think of proliferations as being clones that grow from the scape, but I did notice when I looked up the term "node"in the AHS dictionary :
"The point on a scape where floral branching or a proliferation may emerge, or the point on a rhizome that can develop roots and send up a new fan." So I guess the buds being removed are where new fans would develop from normally if not cut away from the crown.
I wish I never had to damage a crown when dividing plants, but when the fans all seem to originate from the same crown, I just don't know what else to do other than break or cut them apart. I do love the few plants in my garden that seem to grown the fans mostly from separate crowns, so much easier to work with.
So I assume that those plants that do grow naturally from separate crowns would multiply faster!

Davi - Thanks so much for your insight on the connection between the condition of the crowns when received and multiplying! I will be more careful now when dividing my intros and selected seedlings, and expecially on those sale plants I send out. Thank you for educating us!

Not necessarily, Larry. I've had plants where 6 or 7 fans share a common crown that multiply like gangbusters. They are just harder, as you say, to line out and ship. There is no way to avoid dividing the crown when they grow like that and the customer bought a double fan. My routine is to divide clumps in the fall and maybe sell the best double fan out of the clump to recoup my money. But the rest are lined out for spring sales after they have recovered at my place. I hate sending out wounded crowns but it is sometimes unavoidable. I try to send extra fans to compensate so the customer knows it came from a mature crown.

I prefer the ones that separate by themselves, too. Seedlings out of WEBSTERS PINK WONDER and WHITE EYES PINK DRAGON form single fans with complete crowns that come apart easily....love that when it is shipping or line out time!

If you buy a lot of daylilies, you eventually learn what to look for when you receive a plant. I've received perfectly square crowns, too, where basal nodes had been taken. I no longer buy from sellers who do that. A plant that takes 3 years to bloom is worthless to a hybridizer. And you can't sell it to recoup any of your investment because it won't increase... and you aren't even sure it is the right plant.

On a different topic....really fast increase isn't necessarily a desirable thing. I think it was Celeste who had a new seedling increase like gangbusters before it was even planted out into her garden. I've had that happen, too. Seems some plants put so much energy into rapidly dividing, it later lacks bloom power. And these super increasers have to be dug up and divided more often or they may quit blooming entirely. Not everyone likes digging up their daylilies every year or two to optimize bloom. Food for thought.

I do love for a plant to multiply, but after digging and dividing and potting up plants into December this year, I do realize that some plants can multiply a little too rapidly. Great for club plant sales, and donations and giveaways though, and so that works out pretty good lately that I started potting up so many plants. And that brings to mind 'Lady Neva', 'Crimson Pirate', 'Mini Pearl', 'Ming Porcelain" plants that multiply rapidly.
'Lady Neva':

'Crimson Pirate':

'Mini Pearl':

'Ming Porcelain':

Debra

I consider how a plant divides and recovers after division as being part of the evaluation process. Breaks my heart to find out something I've picked to introduce can't be divided without mutilating the crown or can't recover for a long time. I've thrown some real beauties in the compost heap that didn't like being divided because they had brittle crowns. Had one this fall like that. But if I'm not happy with how it divides, I know the customer that buys it won't be happy with it, either! I have learned that over time. Every hybridizer has intros they wished they hadn't introduced.

Judy

Leebea Orange Crush

These are some of my newer fast multipliers:

Crazy Ivan



Indian Ripple



Laura Harwood



Heavenly Angel Ice



Warrior's Spear


Good old standbys to move wherever I need to fill in:

Indy Aristocrat


Plus, of course, Condilla and Spider Miracle.

Also, Barbary Corsair

DaviJK said:Debra

I consider how a plant divides and recovers after division as being part of the evaluation process. Breaks my heart to find out something I've picked to introduce can't be divided without mutilating the crown or can't recover for a long time. I've thrown some real beauties in the compost heap that didn't like being divided because they had brittle crowns. Had one this fall like that. But if I'm not happy with how it divides, I know the customer that buys it won't be happy with it, either! I have learned that over time. Every hybridizer has intros they wished they hadn't introduced.

Judy

I've always been thrilled with the fast multiplying seedlings. But I understand your points. It is so much nicer when those fans just pull apart and you don't have to mutilate the crown.