I love older daylilies, especially those that were ahead of their time (many of them looking quite close to the most sought-after new intros). But, I seem to find that most of my older ones increase at a dramatic rate, and I don't want to propagate seedlings that will also require constant digging and reducing to keep tidy at the mature stage. Anyone have older cultivar experience with amazing colors or patterns that increase more slowly, replacing older fans and expanding perhaps a bit, but not at crop-stock rates?

I grow lots if older daylily varieties although most of them wouldn't qualify as striking. I wish I had your problem! Mine increase very slowly. Probably because up until last year I never watered or fertilized them on a regular basis! I've had some for almost a decade and they still don't need dividing. What do you do to get them to increase quickly?

It's not really that old but Sabine Bauer never increases much for me.

bxncbx said:I grow lots if older daylily varieties although most of them wouldn't qualify as striking. I wish I had your problem! Mine increase very slowly. Probably because up until last year I never watered or fertilized them on a regular basis! I've had some for almost a decade and they still don't need dividing. What do you do to get them to increase quickly?

Sounds like here. My daylilies got very little attention until this year and when they got fertilized got so big that I now have to relocate them all. That could be the secret: don't fertilize.

I do think that fertilizing is part of seeing more increase, but I began fertilizing last year with uniform amounts and attention to all my daylilies. Most have just added a fan in the last year, or at most 2-3 fans, but some are nearly 20-times more fans than I started with in just six months! Way too fast for me to keep up with them. I wish there were a cultivar identifier that rated expected increase (sometimes called vigor when growers note it). I hate tossing otherwise lovely plants and flowers

Cindy, I've long admired Sabine Baur for many reasons, so thank you bunches, I will have to go ahead and bump it up to the top of my "to-buy" list!

I have to agree with the increase in fans due to regular fertilizing. I wonder if regular fertilizing also produces more blooms? Or does the fertilizer mainly promote foliage?

Oh, you mention something I've wanted to ask. Is there a best source or combination of fertilizer for promoting more daylily blooms? Is it nitrogen?

Nitrogen promotes green foliage. Phosphorous and potassium promote blooms. You want the middle number of N-P-K to be the highest number. Like 10-20-10...

Awesome, thanks so much Becky!

I would have to add almost anything from Reckamp, so slow to increase for me.

But if your not into sales or anything like that, slow increase means a carefree plant that doesn't have to be divided for a long time, so it doesn't always mean it's a bad thing.

Indeed, that is exactly what I need, Ed! Having a hybridizer's name who produced slow increasers is so very appreciated, many thanks!

chalyse said:Oh, you mention something I've wanted to ask. Is there a best source or combination of fertilizer for promoting more daylily blooms? Is it nitrogen?

No it isn't nitrogen.
Nitrogen produces leaves. Phosphorous and potassium do, or just throw a little Epsom salts on them for better colors.
But daylilies being in the ornamental grass family need nitrogen. See Trimmers article on daylily fertilizing:
http://www.ctdaylily.com/trimm...

Spiney Sea Urchin won't increase much here either. I tried to give most of it away a couple of years ago but I still see that I have a couple of fans. I do fertilize every year and doesn't seem to matter much. I use milorganite and a slow release fertilizer similar to osmocote. I don't hardly ever get rebloom in my zone either. I'm tr;ying to think of some others that are slow increasers and I'll let you know. OH, Angel's Smile has been the same 2 fans for over 5 years here.

I just thought of another one that never increased for me. It is an oldy and a ufo type called Persian Pattern. I sold it last year stating that it should go south and maybe it would increase better there, and I had a lady here in Michigan buy it from me. She evidently wanted to give it a try anyway. I had it for about 4 years and it stayed at 2 fans all that time.

Same story with Persian Pattern here in zone 7, Cindy. It's so pretty but doesn't multiply. I even tried moving it with no better results. This is after about 10 years.

Charming Charlie is also very slow. I did get two more fans but it took 8 years.

chalyse,
Not quite sure I would want to grow them, but I would love to have the names of those that have multiplied so much in a short period of time, so I could look at some of them and see if I might want them in my garden.

Thanks Pat, Cindy and Arlene! Epsom salts sounds easy and natural, and sounds like I could just use it in addition to my osmocote. And, your slow-to-increase cultivars sound right up my alley - I'll gladly try some dormants here, though they usually want a much colder winter, in order to bring some of those genes into my hobby pollen dabbing pool (and very pretty ones, at that!).

Seed, some of my more vigorous growers are or have included:

Baby Betsy (!)
Bobbie Gerold
Cosmopolitan
Dixie Land Band (!)
Double Overtime
Frankly Scarlet (!!)
Highland Lord
Hush Little Baby
Janice Brown
Jungle Princess (!)
Ladybug's Two Moons
Lullabye Baby
MacMillan Memorial
Mardi Gras Parade
Nagasaki
Pink Flirt
Prairie Blue Eyes (!!!)
Purple de Oro (!!!!!)
Rose Emily
Seductor
Siloam Olin Frasier
Sings the Blues (!!!!)
Super Purple (!)
Trahlyta (!!!)
Tropical Centerpiece
Uninhibited
Vintage Bordeaux
Woodside Ruby

As always, your mileage may vary on how quickly any might increase, but I've added (!) to those that are really quick ones here (I'd be tempted to declare Purple de Oro an invasive weed if it weren't a nice daylily for people who want fast increase). And, not all perform well in other ways (color, size, health, etc.) Most just have steady-but-Too-Quick-for-me increase here, meaning they consistently double or better yearly, and I'm looking for none-to-little increase in mostly evergreen/semis (zone 9b) so that I can enjoy a lot of various cultivars while avoiding the need to dig and divide a lot. And, I'll be trying out a few more dormants if that's where the slower increase genes are clustered!