Altheabyanothername said:Donald-- do you have screens over the bottom holes? I have found pill bugs and earwigs to cause problems. I find a daylily with rot has an overabundance of them. When a daylily starts with rot pull it out of the pot and look for insects. Then I use hydrogen peroxide rinses. I learned that from Becky who had to do that to her clematis that had rot. The other solution I have used is baking soda. The other items I have wondered about is cinnamon, aspirin, Listerine and comet cleanser. Those come from other plant remedies. Comet and bleach would be at the bottom of my list to try. But I would use either comet or bleach to clean the pot before using it again. I have found in my area here that pots want to be bottomed watered. It seems to me that daylilies like water on the leaves or roots, but not on the crown. Too much water from above when they want to be heat dormant causes me the most problems. Terra cotta can be a problem, too. Terra cotta actually holds in water when the pot is evenly moist. When it dries out completely, it becomes a baker. Once it has dried out, without bottom watering or watering it heavily every couple of hours it's hard to evenly redistribute the water in the Terra itself and then the soil in the pot is unevenly watered. Many blessings for successful answers. May joy be found at your home!
I haven't tried the hydrogen peroxide. If I have another plant get rot, I'll have to try that. I'd used the bleach water/drying method on other plants with some success, but their underground structures probably lent themselves to. I have found letting them dry can do it sometimes without anything else, but I think the drying time for it to be effective would be too long for a daylily. I think a daylily might allow the bacteria to spread rapidly, making it hard to salvage any piece of it that isn't already infected.
I haven't noticed an excess of insects in the soil except fire ants. I think I need screens or something to keep them out. I can't always tell they are in the containers until I'm working with them. They really seem to love getting into them and I manage to end up having my hands worked over before I know they are there. Very aggravating
I have a very sad history with plastic containers, so I very much tend to prefer terra cotta. Daylilies, though, are proving to be an exception in that so far they have done quite well in plastic containers. Well enough that I've started to not shy away from a large plastic container if it's going to be used for a daylily. Heavier containers help with the windy conditions and aren't as inclined to tip over. So far the plant profile for a daylily hasn't been a problem except in a few of the 3 gal nursery pots. Even those haven't blown over too badly. If they are large enough, the soil will keep them heavy enough to not blow over with a daylily. I've had to anchor or half bury really heavy and large terra cotta containers to keep them stable when the plant has a tall profile. It's amazing, really, considering how heavy the containers are.
