I pinch off all mushies unless I pollinated it then it gets to stay and be ugly.

Andrea

I break off all of the spent ones too. At least all that I have time for and the ones I see. Even though I have over 100 daylilies now, a lot were just purchased in the last two or three years, so they aren't huge clumps, which makes it easier to deadhead.

I also think that by deadheading, it makes room for the others to open completely and unhindered, It also keeps the plant from putting energy into seedpods. If these should happen to drop the seeds back into your clump, you might get some unwanted seedlings that are a different color mixed in.

Vickie

I sometimes think I need my head examined. We're right at peak bloom and with around 875 daylilies ( not counting seedlings) it takes me at least 3 hours per night of intense liveheading to get through the entire garden. And this year my garden's not even on tour! It is an AHS Display garden so I feel the need to keep it looking neat in case people stop by unexpectedly, which does happen. But it is hard work. My neck and back ache each night! I always "livehead" each evening instead of deadhead in the AM, as I like having a fresh palette each morning. Also, I always do my photography early , and don't like having spent blooms in the way.

I too dead head each morning, first thing. Just about daybreak I'm in the garden with my 5 gal. bucket and I'm sure all the neighbors think I'm crazy, but I hate having those mushy blooms hanging all over. I have over 1000 cv's so this is quite time consuming not to mention rough on the back. LOL But, as long as I'm able, I'll continue to do this. I do have quite a few visitors to my garden and I just love having my garden look neat and tidy when guests pop in.
Jan

Yep... every morning - the BF thinks I am nuts, but I can't have those ugly things in my photos or hanging up buds that want to open!! First I cut the spent blooms (because a lot of times I have been hybridizing, and cutting them above the pod swell allows me to keep them groomed), then I photograph, then I hybridize... whew. I only have about 150+, but it usually takes about 1 1/2 hrs. per morning.

I don't have that many DL's so dont take that long to dead head them, but lately,I been cutting the finished scapes off too.No more blooms or buds on them,so I been cutting them off,hope I am not doing some thing wrong by doing it.

Jean

Hi Jean,

Cutting scapes is preferable to yanking them out from the ground (which is doable as they totally dry out). Sometimes damage to the crown can result from yanking out a scape before its ready to let go. You could open a wound that could later result in crown rot or other bacterial/insect problems. I am now a reformed 'yanker' myself. :)

For anyone that keeps records, scapes are a great source of information about your plants performance for the past grow season. Before you cut them off you might want to record the height, branching and bud count that resulted. Bud counts are determined by the bloom scars on the spent scape.

Marianne

The plant recovers much of the water and nutrients from the spent blooms and scapes. If conditions are good, cutting the spent scapes and live heading in the evening makes for a neat garden each morning. As Julie says, much easier to photograph if everything is already clean.

I also have a problem with a black mold that starts on spent blooms but if not controlled by live heading, will start attacking fresh blooms. Especially pollen stamens.

If you're in a drought, let the plant recover as much water as possible from the spent scapes and blooms. A slight tug on dry spent scapes only. If they come out, fine; but don't yank. Down here that is asking for crown rot.
Ed

I used to livehead/deadhead all my daylilies until I acquired more than 500. Now I only take the old blooms off in gardens next the street that passersby would see, and off the large red and purple tet spiders that drizzle juice all over remaining buds. I used to livehead in the evenings, but it's been so hot here for the past week, there many days when I didn't remove any old blooms.

I agree with Ed about leaving the scapes on so the plant can reabsorb moisture and nutrients.

Debra

I usually ignore my diploids, as their blooms tend to be more delicate and close up neatly without melting, and then fall off on their own. I livehead some heavy substance tets because they melt over neighboring buds and get gooey. Mostly I deadhead in the morning, but not religiously, just what I feel like doing, and I toss the flowers behind the plants, under the foilage.

I don't like the mushies, and I too like to deadhead at night so I wake up to clean plants....

I cut my scapes all the way down to the bottom of the plant, did someone recommend NOT doing that..?? A bit confused

Thanks

Carrie

I deadheaded every couple days. I had mostly dips that died gracefully and often fell off on their own after a couple days. I liked to deadhead before I took pictures, and was more diligent about it in the front yard where people could see everything all the time. (I say "had" because we just moved, and I was only able to take a small portion of my daylilies with me. There was almost a month between leaving one house and getting into the other - good thing daylilies are tough. But I've got a few dozen [half a dozen good clumps, and a number of my seedlings] to start over again with.)

Laurel

I only have about 80 daylilies, so it doesn't take me long to livehead in the evenings. (I can't imagine doing 1000!) I like this better than deadheading because it isn't as messy and I like waking up to just the fresh new daylilies.

Juliet

I used a pair of scissors. But sometimes, I let them dry out especially if a pod is forming.

Bj

Every morning unless I've pollinated it.
kay