Maurice - Yes, I do cut back the foliage when I move and transplant daylilies ... like I did today. (sigh) Moved half of the 70+ seedlings in the bed next to the Oak Tree. Into long rectangular containers, no less. I NEED MORE LAND!!!
Ironically, even though those fine feeder roots of the Oak Tree were wrapped around the daylilies and completely covering the top of the soil, some of the seedlings had produced another fan or two. Only one went AWOL so far. No root or anything, so that one must have expired a while back. But the others had good root systems on them ... much to my surprise!
You were right .... I WAS talking about bud scapes (not pods). I received new registered daylilies recently and all the scapes were cut on them along with the foliage too, of course. They are all in transplant shock currently, but seem to be recovering nicely and should be fine. I am so glad that daylilies are tough.
In the seedling raised bed, I was digging empty spots to see if they were indeed dead and they were. Roots were soft and dark. Rotted. There were more dead ones than I originally thought. So I used those empty spots to transplant some of the smaller seedlings from the Oak Tree seedling bed.
I am going to have to build another large raised bed for the named and registered daylilies I recently acquired. I use concrete - either cinder blocks or pavers - to frame it out. It's is going to be quite the job! I can estimate that I am going to be very busy for the next couple of weeks before I go back to work. It has to be done. Then I will sit on my hands and not add any more except the box full of daylilies that I am getting from Susan. That will be it after that. No more. Unless I start culling. I think this is going to be the push I need to start culling some of the seedlings next year. I want to give them another year to see how they perform (bloom). Some probably won't get 3 years after that. If they aren't something I really like, they will be pulled. Maybe planted at the school I work at.
Maurice - Thank you for your very thorough and helpful responses! I am getting an education from you and Sue.
