You can soak for an hour in 1 part bleach to 9 parts water as a rust preventative. Soak the whole plant,not just roots.

Betsy

So I'm taking it that if they don't have rust then it is not necessary to soak them in bleach?

I just looked at our forecast and it's showing rain 30% chance so I'm going to move them into the garage till the rain is over so they don't stay wet.
With them being in the garage do I need to be concerned about they drying out?
BTW, as you can tell this is my first time ordering daylilies bare root, before I've only purchased them locally or gotten them in a trade locally so your help is really appreciated.

Here are the new babies in their new home, till fall at least

Thank you very much for the help. Barb

Barb, I'm in FL where it is as hot and steamy as your location. Last year I got 30 plants in early August--death was expected. I planted, watered, and put them in the shade. I didn't soak because we dug and brought them home. David Kirchhoff was moving and told me to take what I wanted. Everything survived even though I didn't expect it. They were watered twice a week (as dictated by water restrictions). Its tricky in the summer--too hot, too dry, too wet. Shade is a must! With the southern heat, they need to keep slightly damp, never dry, and in the shade.

Good luck!

Arlene

Sometimes rust takes weeks to show. I would do the bleach soak,as you may not have the winter kill ability that we have up north for rust.

Betsy

Thank you Arlene for the great info. Right now we have not been getting near as hot as normal the high's have been 92-93 and they say we're in for a cool front so the temps will stay in the low 90's. Our weather has been strange this year but is sure has been a nice change. To cool for swimming at least for me. Lot of clouds keeping the water from warming up.
Another thing I thought of tonight is we never know just when our first frost could be so I'm hoping to get them all in the ground by Sept sometime.
Texas weather is what sent my great grandpa back home to AR. he said he couldn't garden with crazy weather like ours.

OIC, Betsy thank you for telling me about this. Is there anything else that can be used for rust should I have this problem in the future? So far my daylilies have done great only big problem I've had was aphids.

Hi Mike and Barb

I know nothing about growing DLs in the South. but this is concerning your pots.

I believe you mentioned that you are going to try and get them planted in the ground by September. If you cannot I think it would be best to plant them in larger pots - not smaller than the 3 gal. size. I planted some in smaller pots last summer because I ran out of room in the new garden and they have outgrown them this season. I got the 3 gal. size this season and they seem great. Your fans look like a good size. Good luck.

Just a thought. Jane

The Bleach soak is ok for spores on the outside of the plant, but plants can be infected and not show it. I have recieved plants that showed no signs of rust, were trimmed and soaked, and later developed it because they were spores had already entered the plant. If I was in an area where there was no hope of winter killing rust, I would pot new arrivals, isolate them from my garden, and water them using a systemic fuguscide before they were put in or near my garden.

Ok, would the bleach solution also kill the bacterial soft rot if it were present? I would think it would aid in that also. I noticed some nastyness on my plants before planting them and cut it off and planted. Well it only got worse, and now they are fighting for their lives. I used Nancy's recipe for the rot, but I would think bleach would kill the bacteria too! From now on I will definitly do the bleach soak, as double protection. Unfortunatly one of the plants that was infected was a $75 one. So far so good though they are still alive today, so im keeping my fingers crossed! Good luck with your plants! -Jessica

Bambi too, what brand of systemic fuguscide do you use and how do you use it? I've never used this stuff so I'm clueless as how to do it.

Thanks, Barb

Boy!!!! Seems like a lot to go through for the 'greatest carefree perennial'? Why don't you just plant them in the ground where they are to grow? You can mulch them if it is really hot and make sure they don't dry out. Pots????? I can't imagine they would do better in pots than in the soil where they can stretch out and find the moisture and nutrients they need.

Just my thoughts, but I wonder why everyone makes growing daylilies so difficult. I plant, hybridize, never ever water or fertilize (except what the chickens contribute as they wander through) and have lovely healthy gardens not overly bothered by pests of any nature. Sometimes I think people really want to make life a problem or perhaps some people just don't realize that it is supposed to be simple.

Nature cares for its own as long as you don't spray or use synthetic fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides ETC. ETC. ETC.

The good bugs will come if there is something to eat.

The difference is you live in a cold zone and the people in TX live in a hot, humid zone. Different conditions, different zones, different answers for success. If there is a good bug to cure crown rot, you need to share the information.

Brooke

Thank you Brooke! My sentiments exactly. I am all for a carefree plant but if you live in the deep south there is no such thing as a carefree daylily being planted during 90+ temps. The humidity and the mixture of heat, humidity, moisture and then NO moisture is deadly to a newly planted daylily in the south. That is why when I receive a plant in the mail during these temps, I pot them up and place them in the shade. They do much better there and then I can plant them in the fall.

Where I'm at may not be as hot as some other areas but hot it is and humid for sure. I know it maybe a little foolish for me to have ordered daylilies in the middle of summer but they are very hard to come by here and ones we do have are very limited to color, shape, height not to mention the fact that they've gone to not labeling plants here on so many and people do remove tags if they have one. This way ordering by mail I hope to have a better choice, a better looking front and back yard.
So far all the daylilies I have, have done great only real problem I have are aphids in the spring, this year was the worst I've seen it but I used Bayer advance on them and it wipped the aphids right out.

Thank you for your support and all the great advise.
Barb

Hi Barb,

You said you used Bayer Advanced for your aphid problem. Did you just mix it with water and rub it on the leaves? I have never heard of that before?

Thanks,

Dianne

Dianne, I just put it into the soil, never heard of doing what your asking.