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LILY BULBS
lindapalmara
Posts: 40
in Plants
I have had problems with the dreaded Lily beetle this year so I want to lift them and plant them under cover for next year. As I would like to plant something else I would like to do this ASAP. Do I treat than like spring bulbs and feed them then lift?
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It's really best to leave lilies until the green stems have died down (turned brown and brittle). It isn't absolutely necessary to lift. They are hardy and will stand very low temperatures. Although they don't like spending the Winter in wet soil.
How you mean plant them under cover?
As Gary says it's best to leave them, they do die back fairly quickly, some of my earlier flowering one's in pots are begining to die back.
If you do want to lift them in the green, I'd advise putting them in plastic pots full of compost before moving them to a sheltered spot to allow the foilage to die back naturally. If it's fresh compost there should be feed in there for the next 6 weeks allowing the roots to draw in enough nutrients to the bulb for a good show next year.
Presumably you mean keeping the lilies in a pot, in a greenhouse or conservatory? That might well serve to protect against lily beetle, provided there are no lavae in the compost (or just deal with any that emerge).
Lily beetles can be a pest and affect most people who grow lilies, to some extent. But they are not hard to deal with. The best method is to look at the plants regularly, and remove,and destroy, any bright red beetles, or slimey black lavae, that you see on the plant.
Can you make clear again what you mean by under cover?-as has been said they are best left to die back- then lift-lifting them now might mean no flowers next year
Lilies would make attactive specimen plants in a conservatory, and many have a strong perfume, which will be more evident in a confined space. I like the idea.
Keeping lilies in a conservatory will definitely help to protect against lily beetle. The normal way in which lily beetles find your plants is by flying in from other people's garden. (Unless someone has lilies already infested with beetles, in which case they'll be flying out to infest other people's gardens).
Lily pollen can easily stain clothes, so you need to be careful you don't brush against them.
When you get around to repotting, they will look just like Spring bulbs. But they do need to be planted deep in the pots, nearer to the bottom, than to the top.