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Lilies are luxurious flowering perennials. With their beauty during the flowering period, they are able to outshine even roses. It is this beauty that often scares off beginners in floriculture – it seems to them that caring for such a miracle is associated with incredible difficulties, and in most cases they are very mistaken. It is lilies, especially some of its varieties, that practically do not require any care after planting. The main thing is to choose the right place and time. But the variety of lilies is huge – therefore, there are a lot of nuances in its cultivation – it all depends on the specific variety that you choose. Planting and transplanting lilies in the fall to another place is the topic of this article, which provides answers to the most common questions novice gardeners ask, being afraid to do something wrong in caring for the royal beauty – the lily.
Planting lilies in autumn, when and how to plant
Before talking about how to transplant lilies in the fall to another place, you need to discuss the very process of settling these exotic beauties in your area. Planting lily bulbs in the fall in the ground is the most traditional and favorable for most regions of Our Country. Only in areas with a harsh climate and early winter (North, Siberia), lilies are planted in flower beds not in autumn, but rather in August.
In fact, spring planting of lilies is also possible and has been popular in recent years. After all, the planting material of these luxurious bulbs is now offered almost all year round, and many impatient gardeners purchase bulbs even in winter. But most lilies bloom already in the first half of summer, while they do not tolerate frost well, so when planted in the spring in the ground in most areas, the bulbs will experience stress and developmental delay, and may not bloom at all this season.
If you have already become the proud owner of a lily bulb in the winter or early spring, and want to plant it, as expected, in the fall, then the following is the best course of action. Keep it in a cool place until a sprout appears, and then plant it in a peat pot (with a volume of at least 0,5-0,7 l) with a light soil mixture and grow it in the most lit and moderately warm place, preventing the temperature from dropping below zero. You can use the balcony, loggia, veranda.
In the summer, it can be dug in the garden in a semi-shady place, and closer to autumn it can be planted in a permanent place.
In general, when buying lily bulbs for autumn planting in stores or markets, do not take those that have at least small sprouts.
The fact is that these sprouts will quickly grow after planting, and in winter they will most likely die, and the bulb is at risk of rotting. It is best to take lily planting material in autumn from familiar gardeners who dig up their bushes for transplanting to another place.
When to plant lilies in autumn
Many are interested in when to plant lilies in the fall. The fact is, in bulbs planted in open ground, the root system should have time to grow and get stronger before the onset of stable frosty weather. (And the perennial roots of lilies are able to develop even at low positive temperatures.) Only in this case, the sprouts that appear in the spring will be able to calmly withstand the return spring frosts.
According to the requirements of agricultural technology, the average air temperature during the autumn planting or transplanting of lilies should drop to + 10 ° C and not rise much higher. Since this happens differently in different areas, the timing of planting lilies in the fall can vary greatly.
- In the Moscow region and in general in the middle zone, you can start planting (transplanting) flowers as early as mid-September and carry it out until the beginning – mid-October, depending on weather conditions.
- In the southern regions, the timing of planting lilies in the fall is shifted by a month – mid-October – mid-November.
- In the Urals and in the Leningrad region, it is better to plant bulbs already, starting from the end of August and in September.
- And for most regions of Siberia, this procedure is best done in August.
How to plant lilies in autumn
When answering the question: “How to plant lilies in the fall?” should first pay attention to the choice of location. Indeed, on average, lilies grow well in one place without a transplant for up to 4-5 years, and some (curly) even up to 10 years. Absolutely all lilies love well-drained, light soil, so the preparation of drainage and also the land mixture must be given attention. If you have heavy clay soils, then you need to dilute them with sand. In addition, most lilies develop well in slightly acidic soil, but some varieties (Snow White, Caucasian, Tubular) absolutely need slightly alkaline soil. To do this, chalk or wood ash is added to the soil mixture for planting. If the soil, on the contrary, needs acidification, peat is used.
If the soils on the site are not very fertile, you can use the addition of 100 g of superphosphate per square meter of planting.
It is desirable to place flowers in a sunny and sheltered place, but many varieties can grow in partial shade, and some even prefer it (Sargent, Hanson, Canadian, Caucasian, Curly, Callous).
People often ask how exactly to plant lilies in the fall. If you are using purchased bulbs, or obtained from an unreliable source, then it would be wiser to soak them before planting in a 0,2% solution of foundationazole or Maxim.
For planting, holes of the required depth are dug in the prepared place, 2-3 cm of coarse sand are poured onto the bottom, a lily bulb is placed and covered with the prepared soil mixture, not tamping it down hard.
The next important question is about the depth of planting lily bulbs. It is determined by the size of the bulb itself, and the mechanical composition of the soil in which it will grow, and even by the type of lily itself. For example, the snow-white lily already mentioned many times must be planted to a depth of no more than 2-4 cm. Similar recommendations should be followed when planting Catsby and terracotta species. For most lilies, especially Asian hybrids, which are able to form roots not only on the bottom, but also on the lower part of the stem, you need to choose a planting depth that is two to four times the diameter of the bulbs. Quite deep (from 12 to 20 cm or even more), lily bulbs are also planted, which have powerful and tall stems or large peduncles (Hanson, Willmott, Henry, curly).
- Firstly, more moisture is stored at a depth and in hot summer the flowers are much more comfortable.
- Secondly, the soil at a depth does not freeze longer, which allows the roots to develop for a longer time.
- Thirdly, plants form much more children.
- Fourthly, the growth of the peduncle in spring is slower, but spring frosts are practically not afraid of it.
Finally, remember that on light sandy soils, the depth of planting the bulbs should be greater than on heavy loams.
When calculating the distance between the bulbs when planting, you should be guided by ordinary common sense. The closer you plant them, the earlier you will have to seat them. This primarily applies to Asian hybrids. If you know that the flowers of your variety reach a diameter of 40-50 cm (which is not surprising for lilies), then closely planted, they will look ugly. On average, the distance between the bulbs is left at 20-30 cm.
Novice gardeners are also often interested in when lilies planted in autumn sprout and bloom. The timing of seedling emergence is highly dependent on the region where you planted lilies. Usually, sprouts appear when there are stable positive temperatures in the daytime, and only at night there are frosts. In the south, the first sprouts may appear as early as March-April. In the middle lane (Moscow region), shoots of lilies usually appear in late April – early May. As a rule, shoots of tubular hybrids and Candidum appear first.
And flowering begins in June in the southern regions. In temperate latitudes, Asian hybrids are the first to bloom in late June – early July.
Do I need to dig up lilies for the winter
Lilies retain a reputation for being such capricious flowers that many gardeners, especially beginners, often wonder if lilies should be dug up for the winter. In fact, the vast majority of lily varieties, primarily Asian hybrids, most of the natural species, LA- and OT-hybrids, not only do not need to be dug up for the winter, but they do not even need to be covered with anything, at least in the middle zone. . In Siberia, in regions with severe winters, it is advisable to insulate them with a layer of organic mulch (humus, compost), about 15 cm thick, and then cover them with fallen leaves.
Tubular hybrids are less resistant to frost, but still in many regions of Siberia they winter well under cover. Eastern hybrids – the most exotic representatives of lilies, are also the most capricious, in the middle lane they can survive under cover, but already in the regions of the Urals and Siberia it is better not to risk it and dig up the bulbs for the winter.
Thus, whether you need to dig up lilies in the fall or not is up to you – it all depends on the weather conditions in your particular area. In addition, some lilies, for example, oriental hybrids, are no longer afraid of frost, but of dampness, so their shelter must be covered with waterproof material on top to protect the bulbs from excessive dampness in late autumn and early spring.
Lily care in autumn, preparation for winter
In autumn, immediately after planting, no care for lilies will be required. If there may be frosts without snow in your region, then it is better to immediately cover the planting site of the lilies with spruce branches, and even better with needles, which will prevent slugs from getting to the flowers in spring, and on top with fallen leaves and waterproof material. It is especially important to cover young bulbs in the first year after planting (transplanting).
In the future, if you still decide to dig up lilies for winter storage, then, most importantly, do not let them dry out. They must be sprinkled with wet sawdust and put in bags with holes. Store the bags either in a cool, frost-free cellar or in the lower compartment of the refrigerator.
Transplanting lilies in autumn
Although lilies can grow in one place for about 4-5 years, over time, many varieties form babies, the number of which increases every year. They require free space for life and unwittingly take it away from mother plants, in which the number and size of flowers decrease, and they themselves become shorter. There is only one way out – to plant bushes.
Most Asian hybrids produce such a significant number of children that some sources advise replanting them even every year. Other species and varieties, on the contrary, practically do not form children or form very few (tubular and oriental hybrids), at least in the middle zone for a very banal reason – they simply do not have enough summer heat. In any case, watch your lily, if, despite feeding and care, its flowering has worsened, it means that it needs a transplant.
If you have not decided when to transplant lilies in autumn or spring, then think about the fact that during a spring transplant you will in any case damage the roots of plants (and they are perennial in lilies), flowers will appear much later, and the plants will not have time to prepare for winter due to for late flowering.
In the summer, after flowering, the bulb gradually begins to prepare for a dormant period, and after a month or two, at the beginning of autumn, the most favorable time comes for transplanting lilies to another place. It is no coincidence that it is during this period that the planting of lily bulbs in a permanent place is also recommended.
But it is better to remove the ovaries or seed pods formed after flowering, unless, of course, you are going to propagate lilies with seeds, which is very troublesome and time consuming.
So, you have decided to start transplanting lilies to another place. If their stems have already turned yellow, then before transplanting them, for convenience, you can already cut them off, leaving stumps 10 cm long. If the stems are green, then you don’t need to cut them, but you should try to handle the root system as carefully as possible.
You dig a bush, stepping back about 30 cm from it. The root system of different types of lilies can be very different: in some it is powerful and knocked into a dense earthen ball, in others, after digging, the bulbs crumble like potatoes. In any case, carefully separate a large bulb from numerous children and plant them in a new, pre-prepared place. All the rules and recommendations for landing distance and depth discussed at the beginning of the article also apply in the case of a transplant.
If your plants have not been sick during the season, then there is no need to subject the roots to additional treatment in fungicides. It is also not worth trimming them – they are perennial and will continue to grow in a new place. But to free from rotten or damaged scales or roots, if any, is very desirable.
If for various reasons you cannot immediately plant the bulbs in a new place or want to share planting material with your neighbors, then do not leave the bulbs in the open air even for a short time. They are able to dry out very quickly, because they do not have a protective shell, like other bulbs. Immediately after digging, place them in wet sawdust or moss, in extreme cases wrap them in a damp cloth or newspaper and wrap them in plastic.
Conclusion
Thus, planting and transplanting lilies in the fall to another place is not a particularly difficult process, but it allows you not only to renew the planting and appearance of your garden, but also to propagate your favorite flowers.
