Voles attack Big Smile

12 years ago

I responded to a post one day this last week about Big Smile daylily telling how much I love this one. Welllll, I went out the next day and decided to check my BS clump out to see just how bad of shape it was in. It's been about 8 years since I planted it into the ground, so it is time for some serious dividing. Low and behold, it had been attacked by a vole!! Looked like it had happened the night before. Talk about the Lord looking out for me!!! The stinking vole had only ate some of the bigger roots, leaving most of the feeder roots attached and enough of the bigger roots that all should live. If I hadn't seen the post about Big Smile, I wouldn't have thought to dig them up probably until very late this year. By then, I'm sure the vole would have killed them all. I was so very thankful that I found them still in pretty good shape.

I dug all of them up. They had grown in the same spot for so long, that they litterally were setting on top of the soil. They were surrounded by dead leaves and compost and very little soil. This made them very easy to dig up, for a change and easier on me than most of my in ground ones that I've dug up. Red and yellow clay makes for terrible digging and dividing of daylilies. You will just have to imagine how many "hairs"(dead leaf residue) surrounded each fan. I've got to completely rework the bed that Big Smile was in, so I decided to pot them up. The fans were all medium size to small. I finished potting and had 18 3gal pots and 2 5gal pots. I have 84 fans in these pots. I normally only put at the most 2 fans in a 3 gallon pot, but these were so small that 4 fit with plenty of growing room. These fans just don't get very big even when they have plenty of room for growing.

I will have several pots that I'm going to try to sale next year. I just didn't think I'd have 20 pots!!! Of course, I'll keep atleast 5 pots of them, maybe more. It's just like trying to decide which child to sale!!! I'm a born hoarder with a daylily addiction. I've sold a few seed a couple of years ago, but not plants. So, next year will be a new venture for me. I get weak and kinda sick feeling all over when I'm setting there potting up all my babies and think about some of them leaving home!!! I read on here where some of you "shovel prune" some of your plants and others actually compost seedlings that they decide not to keep!!!!! I'd probably have to be sedated if someone told me I had to "Compost" some of my babies. A few years ago I had several pots of really really sad looking babies. They were dips that had been bee pollenated and they were bad even to me. I just could not compost them. I needed the pots and the room in my rows, so I took all of them to the woods and took them out of the pots. I couldn't dig in the root infested ground in the woods, so I did manage to loosen the soil some and then put leaves all around the poor, rootbound, potless groups of plants. They had atleast a small chance of surviving. I looked out there in the summer of this year, but didn't see any of them. I think the combination of terrible weather and tree roots probably did compost them, but I didn't! Well, now that I've put all to sleep, I'll say thank you for saving my Big Smile daylily. I hope that everyone's voles retreat to the woods to eat to their little hearts content and leave our daylilies alone!

Blessings to all, Mona

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Comments (6)

jean_ar
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
my car MS BLACKIE killed one last week and brought it to my front door and laid it doen blose to the door, so I would see it when I
go out.i am glad that you saved tyout oretty daylily and big smile is a very pretty one.

jean
Nancy
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
So glad you found Big Smile in time. I haven't lost any to voles, but lost a few to crown rot & feel so bad when it happens.
I hate it when I have to divide such large daylilies. I had 2 that I divided a week or more ago, they had been there for years. I had such a horrible time trying to divide them. Some daylilies just seem to fall apart, others entwine together & refuse to separate. One I gave away all of it because I have another clump. The other I divided into 5 smaller-but still pretty large clumps. Not as many fans as yours, I bet there were close to 50 fans, but I lost a few trying to separate it. I don't have the heart to compost either, just fortunate to have lots of space, or been able to give away the ones I don't want. So far, I haven't had any downright ugly daylily seedlings, at least not to me :)
Congratulations on your save!
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crackingtheconcrete
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Mona, this was a fun read :) I'm totally there with you in having issues shovel pruning. I feel attached to plants and also feel like I'm "wasting" when I let plants that I spent so much time on, go.
That's amazing to me that you got 18 pots of fans out of that plant! WOW!!! LOL
User
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I'm really sorry to hear about the vole but at the same time I'm really glad I posted the list of the Daylilies I purchased at the Tulsa sale since it seems to have helped your situation. My Big Smile is in the ground in a place where I can easily see it from the house. It was your love of Big Smile that made me snatch up the last fan available at the sale. Wish you success in dealing with the critters. Ann
mlwgardener
Original Author
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I just came in from mowing the yard. Our riding mower of 15+ years finally died an honorable death this spring, so we have to use push mowers to mow about an acre. Now of course, when you take out about half of that for daylilies and other beds, it's really not bad. My DH rescued a 20" push mower from the trash that is wonderful!!!He cleaned and rebuilt the carborator(sp?) and it runs like brand new. In fact, it looks like new too. This ethanol gas is killing mowers faster than they can build them!!! So my little mower on cost $8 and it's the easiest push mower I've used. We really don't mind, we get some much needed exercise!!! It's so light and small that I can easily mow around everything. DH also got a 22" mowers that's a bigger, heavier mower the same way. So with two mowers we can nock it out in about an hour. It's amazing that some people just throw away really good stuff rather than trying to get it fixed. I don't know if you've priced push mowers lately, but most are around $200 or higher. I'm so blessed to have a hubbie that can fix most anything. He sure has saved us loads of money through our 40 years.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I really was so thankful how everything came together for saving Big Smile. It truly is a beautiful daylily and it grows like crazy.

If any of ya'll would like a fan or two, next Spring give me a hoot and I'll gladly share for postage. It'll be my way to repay the kindness of everyone for so long. I'd do it now, but they really must grow before going through any more trauma right now. I figure by late Spring they should be in good shape.

I love talking with ya'll and I've learned so much through the years. I sometimes disappear for a while, but I always come back. Kinda like the old saying about a bad penny, only I'm really not bad!!!! How could I be when I'm addicted to daylilies!!!!

Blessing to everyone, Mona
newyorkrita
12 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Glad you were able to save your daylily before the voles got the entire thing. Sounds like you need to get rid of those nasty creatures.

Voles attack Big Smile

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jean_ar

Nancy

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Voles attack Big Smile

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jean_ar

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