it seems to have left our asiatics alone. although all our Orientals got hit hard. its too late now to worry about stopping it, im more worried about slowing it down at this stage of the game before it completely strips all the stems of their leaves before summer even gets here. we don't usually have this many problems with blight. perhaps the super warm winter/spring had something to do with it. ideas?

Search 'botrytis' or 'botrytis control' in the search box at the top right of the home page of this forum. Here's one of many threads that come up containing something on botrytis. The thread "Am I doing the right thing?" in Lilies forum

Whenever you have a early, mild spring, It's a good idea to spray the ground with a good copper base fungicide just before the 'noses' pop up. After the plants are up a few inches, apply a layer of summer mulch to prevent the soil and botrytis spores from splashing onto the leaves. Thereafter, individual plants that get botrytis from airborne spores can be treated individually by spraying with fungicide, including the underside of the leaves.

ah! for the link. and thanks for such good info. our infected lilies only seem to be the Oriental ones. surprisingly, its not bothering the asiatics yet, ONLY affecting the orientals so far. we have both varieties occupying the same pots- about 20 plants all together. the asiatics appear to be unharmed. or perhaps it just hasn't started showing up yet...? its probably a hold over from last season. we do pretty good clean ups in fall and we usually dig up and replant our bulbs at that time as well. with fresh soil and a good cleaning of the pots. but low and behold, we fell behind last fall and didn't stick to our regimen. we're paying for it this spring.

Jason, Overall, Orientals are more susceptible to botrytis than Asiatics. Trumpets are thought to be the least susceptible. Some individual cultivars within these groups are more resistant to botrytis than others, too. Botrytis just doesn't affect lilies as you called it 'lily botrytis' above but can attack virtually any living green leaf plant on the planet. It plays an important role in the decomposition process and as such is ever-present everywhere. So, we live with it and control it and by being proactive in selecting what we plant, we can still have a beautiful mixed garden.

To be frank with you, I don't see the need to dig up your potted bulbs every year as a proactive means of controlling botrytis or anything else, for that matter. Each time you do that, the bulbs go through what is called 'transplant shock'. As far as 'risks vs. rewards', it can do more damage than good by lowering the bulbs overall resistance to, not only botrytis, but other soil borne pathogens that can cause bulb rot, etc.

I assume the reason you're digging and replanting every year is so you can change up the color scheme from year to year. You can still do that but I wanted you to understand what the risks vs. rewards were. Try adding a little powdered fungicide to your soil mix the next time you pot up. Give the Oriental types as much space in the pot as possible to allow for as much air circulation as you can get. Spray mature plants in early morning with a fungicide every two weeks during humid weather above 55'F or after every rain. Try and search out botrytis resistant cultivars (plant name) to use by asking questions. It can be done!!!

we typically dig up our lilies every other year in the fall, "rotating our stock" so to speak; to reposition them, divide them, and to pluck off any bulblettes. a general clean up if you will. we replant the bulblettes in a separate area to allow them to mature without getting in the way of already mature plants. then yes, we mix up the colors and the varieties to have different species blooming at different times. most we give away to family and neighbors however. this year though we had several giant pots that we didn't get to. several of the said bulbs have been in there for several years and have reached the size of oranges! as a result, a few of these pots, as big as they are (24 inch diameter), are completely overgrown with as many as 20 stems in several of them! I have no doubt this was a contributing factor in this whole botrytis ordeal. not to mention the poor "clean up". we've never really had a problem with transplant shock. we always wait until fall when the stems die back to do our transplants. it appears to not have any negative results...? but then again we don't do it every year, usually its every two years. this is the first year we've really gotten hit hard with it. im assuming the record setting warm winter/spring Seattle had this season is also a leading factor.

Yes, the mild winter and early warm spring allowed the botrytis to get a head start. The two products on the left (view) in the picture below are what I use to control botrytis. The powdered one I mix and spray proactively on the soil before the noses pop up. The liquid version I dilute and spray directly on the plants every couple weeks. There is also a hand spray bottle of the pre-mixed version available. All of these are made by Bonide and can be found at your better (upscale) garden centers. For soil borne pathogens that cause bulb rot, etc. I mix a little Captan into the soil at planting time (shown on the right in the picture below.

I like your way of how you grow lilies for yours and others enjoyment. It sounds like you have a well thought plan that (other than this recent botrytis event) has worked out well for you for some time. I really look forward to seeing some pictures when they start blooming.

thanks! we try. ha! me and my girl are very active in the yard. so we really take it hard when a plant isn't thriving. thanks again for the tips.

Hmm my friend has this same issue but it is on his Asiatic Lilies and not the orienpets or orientals....... Can you get rid of it once it starts??
or do you just dig up the infected bulbs........
or cut them right now and let the bulb sit until next year........??
not sure he wants this spreading through the rest of the lilies in his bed there..

we also had a warm spring followed by tons of frost after that...