Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Lily bulbs with huge roots

RBMancRBManc Posts: 59
in Plants
Hello, 

I have had tower lilies growing in some tall pots for the last few years - 1 bulb in each pot. Needless to say, they have outgrown the current pot and I want to re-pot them. I removed them from the pots and the roots are huge!

My question is - can I trim the roots to make repotting easier. Photo of the said roots and bulbs below. 

Thank you :) 


Posts

  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Not familiar with Tower lillies but yes, you can give the roots a prune- have a careful look thru and trim those which are brown and not much life in them but make sure you leave the freshest ones near the bulb base to help them establish in the new pot.
  • RBMancRBManc Posts: 59
    @philippasmith2 Thank you :) none of the roots look bad really, they're all quite healthy! Think I'll just try a small trim and hope for the best! 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Even standard oriental lilies can have quite substantial roots and they can get a tidy up if they're a bit 'wild'.  :)
    You can trim those as @philippasmith2 says, or just ensure they have enough room in the new pots to accommodate them. Either should be fine   :)

    There's little point adding anything much just now @LToby, other than whatever medium is going in the pots. The bulbs should have adequate resources to flower well if they've been well nourished the previous year. It's after they've finished flowering that they can benefit from a feed or two as they die back, to replenish the bulbs.  :)
    If they're staying potted long term, without being split/repotted, a refresh of the top layer of soil is useful.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • RBMancRBManc Posts: 59
    @LToby Thank you - I am going to re-pot them in a mix of ericaceous and normal compost as I have it to use up. When I bought them, I wasn't aware that they preferred ericaceous soil so they were in normal multi-purpose compost - they flowered really well the first year but then went downhill from there despite feeding and top-dressing. The third year they were in they got ravaged by lily beetle which we have never had before. I'm going to put some slow release pellets in too.  

    @Fairygirl The poor things have been potted in the same (not massive) pot for three years  :s I did feed them but didn't really look after them as I should have so I am hoping some fresh soil will do them good!
Sign In or Register to comment.