Well... if I tried growing my seedlings outside they would all be dead =) ..

What were the crosses out of? Ive heared of 8 month stuff flowering before, with transplanting and constant fertilizing. Never heard of anything quicker then that honestly.

Silverkelt

Is this something brand new or has it been out for awhile? Does anyone else do this that you know of? I am wondering because this sounds like daylilies on steroids to me and if there are any "side effects" that are harmful. I'm just wondering if accelerated growth like this is okay or not. Avedon

As I recall, Ibrar did some extensive research on these special chemical applications that are known to enhance growth, etc. before he experimented with gibberellic acid. He lives in Lahore, Pakistan and they have a problem with extreme heat in the summer.

I have some misgivings about doing this, as I'd be wondering the same, like you, Avedon --- what would be the long-term effects on the plants. He posted a photo of the daylily when it had its first scape up before it bloomed. To me, the foliage looked pretty scant, and the plant could not compare with the vigor of my young seedlings that have been grown in my improvised water beds (kiddy pools). But he has posted several nice blooms of these treated-seed plants on the robin. I think he now has quite a few of these young daylily seedlings with scapes up already.

As for me, I am happy with the way my daylily seedlings progress without doing anything exotic. I already have my hands full with all the daylilies I have.

As for me, I am trying to move away from the use of chemicals toward organic applications. We had such a terrible year with crown rot that I am suspecting the use of chemical fertilizers (along with genetic susceptibility) may have been part of the problem. At the moment, my daylilies seem to be thriving amazingly well from seaweed fertilizer. Time will tell. I do have three confused daylilies with scapes up already, but we've had an extremely mild winter. It's been winter temperatures for 2-3 days, followed by spring weather 6-7 days.

Nancy

Nancy, I am very interested to hear how the seaweed fertilizer works for you during this coming season, My husband loves to fertilize with Miracle-Gro, and I am thinking it would be better to switch to something else, at least for awhile, and especially during the heat of summer.

As far as inducing extremely fast growth on DL seedlings, it is something for the scientists and hybridizers to get into. There will have to be a lot more work done on this before it is proven to be a safe and effective way to grow DLs, especially over the long term.

We are having the crazy weather here, too, it was 24 degrees this morning, and by tomorrow, we could be up in the 70's. I hate these weather extremes, the plants have to be totally confused. Avedon

I have used gibberellic acid years ago to get breaks on roses. It has been at least 20 years since I tried that, and it worked on some own root roses that I started myself. South Seas was one and I still have it.

Avedon, so far I'm very pleased with the results of using Neptune Seaweed Fertilizer. I ordered the Seaweed-Fish combination yesterday. I've been studying all the different organic fertilizers and went on an on-line shopping spree. I also ordered some Liquid Bone Meal from AGGRAND - it will be interesting to see the results.

Nancy

Is Neptunes Harvest different/better than the other types of fish emulsion that can be bought in stores? I have a brand called Alaska Fish Emulsion - just wondering if the Neptunes is better?

Also, has anyone tried the Spray N Gro products? I have having great luck with this on my roses - I have just used it twice, along with Bill's Perfect Fertilizer that goes with it, and am seeing growth/buds out of roses that were really puny and have just been sitting there. Cant tell yet how it works on the daylilies, but will be using it regularly.
Judith

Judith, I have Alaska Fish Emulsion, too, but haven't used it in years. Some members here at the forum use the Neptune's Harvest exclusively for fertilizer, so I decided to give it a try. I am especially interested since Dr. Howard Garrett said that the use of high-nitrogen chemical fertilizers contributed to the rust problem. Although we had rust everywhere in the daylily beds last year, so far I haven't seen a single plant that shows any sign of rust yet. I do have one that I bought and kept potted that is very rusty. I've cut it way back and will see if it continues to have the fungus. If so, it's going in the garbage.

I bought some Spray N Gro recently but haven't used it yet. I plan to give it a try. I have two very puny azaleas that may not survive - will start with those.

Ibrar continues to have blooms on his young seedlings and posts pictures of them on Facebook. I just hope forcing them into bloom at such a young age will not be harmful to them.

Nancy

Regarding the seaweed fertilizer: is there any "fishy" smell associated with it? We cannot use any type of fish fertilizer since we live in the country, and there are too many critters that would be digging up our plants. Avedon

Yes, very fishy. My mom tried a small amount a couple of years ago and that's all it took for the animals to come running!

Our daylily beds were sprayed yesterday with Neptune Harvest Seaweed/Fish fertilizer and there is no smell today. I did not perceive any odor yesterday, either. I do remember the fishy smell when I used Alaska Fish stuff in the past.

Nancy

9 week old putting up a scape. I have 3 of these. One of them the scrape dried up and died. The other two look like they have a few buds now forming. 2 different crosses BTW.

Really impressive that your 9 wk old crosses are throwing up scapes! My 8 week old ones only have their first set of leaves still...plus, I'm having a terrible problem with them damping off this year :(

What soil mix and fertilizer are you using?

Tammy

Hi Tammy,

I used fertilome seed starter mix, with additive of minerals. I fert with miracle grow quick start. I also use Super Thrive every watering. I hope that damping off doesn't get to many more! I lost about 10 to it this year.

Thanks! I may try that on my next set of seeds that 'm about to start in a coule of weeks :)

Tammy

Darobi - I'm impressed that your 9-week olds are sending up scapes. They really want to bloom!

Tammy - I'm starting to get the damping off on a few of my seedlings too. I'm starting to water them with weak camomile tea since that fights damp off.

Debra

Thanks Debra,
I think I got post of the damping off under control by spraying the trays with diluted peroxide. I may try the chamomile tea as well and see which works best. I think I was also giving them too much love (haha) by overwatering them. I usually have a pretty green thumb, but I'm off my game this year for some reason.

Tammy