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question about digging up daylilies

15 years ago

I will be digging up many of my daylilies sometime in September and giving them all to a friend of mine. She will be giving them to her two daughters. So they won't be replanted on the same day, maybe as much as three or four days later. Should the bulbs be kept moist or will they be ok for a few days?

Angie

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Comments (5)

fairysoapgirl
15 years ago
Angie,
If there is any way you could dig them with the soil and pot them, they probably wouldn't even know you moved them... but that is a lot of work, so I get not wanting to do all that... Daylilies are hardy little guys, so as long as you keep them in the shade, and it is under 90 degrees outside, you should be good. You just don't want to get the roots/crown all wet AND have it be really hot (think rot). If it is hot, I would suggest digging, washing roots, drying roots, bring inside and wrap lightly in newspaper.
angie1010
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the suggestion. They won't be out in the hot sun. Once they are dug up and cleaned of any soil they will be put in the shade until the next day when I bring them to my friend. I am hoping that they will be fine even if I don't keep the moist. I know when I bought them they were sent dry. The ones I dug up for her last year are all doing very well. I hate letting them go but need to seriously downsize my garden since I am no longer able to care for it as I would like. I want to keep the flowers that attract butterflies, bees etc, which the daylilies do not do.

Angie
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kitcatclub
15 years ago
If you're going to bare-root them, you should probably trim the foliage back. When I've had to do that, I trim them back to 8 to 10 inches. The foliage really makes a remarkable recovery once they are replanted and I think it reduces the stress on the plant.
angie1010
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks, will trim them. Angie
Nancy
15 years ago
Last year I dug some daylilies & something came up that I couldn't replant soon. I stuck them, bareroot, in the drawer in my fridge. They stayed there 2 weeks before I could plant them, & still looked pretty good. I don't think I lost a single fan & they bloomed like crazy this year. Just keep them in the shade. You are probably digging far more than you can keep in the fridge, but they will be fine a few days in the shade.

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