Caring for garden lilies can be quite successful if you follow certain conditions.
Lily Care: Planting
Bulbs, which it is advisable to buy in early spring, are stored in a plastic bag with dry peat in a refrigerator until planting in open soil. It is in such conditions that the bulbs never form huge shoots. If the purchased bulb has an excessively large sprout (more than 6 cm), then it is planted into the ground obliquely.
Typically, large ones are planted to a depth of 10-12 cm, and shallow ones to 8 cm. Approximately so that the planting depth itself is at least 3 times greater than the diameter of the bulb.
The distance between the bulbs is also important. For large lilies, it is 20-25 cm, and for small - 10-15 cm.
Bulbs are placed in small holes on river mounds, then straightened and then covered with fertile soil from humus and peat.
Caring for lilies in the garden involves their frequent planting. The main planting of lilies is early autumn (in late August-September), but sometimes spring is also allowed. It is better to choose a sunny place for growing. In the morning, good lighting is especially necessary. Too strong and constant sunshine without sparse (albeit plentiful) watering is unacceptable - under such conditions, lilies will grow too low, will be very susceptible to various diseases and will bloom much faster.
Lily Care: Transplant
Due to soil depletion after 4-5 years, the flowers need replanting.
The lily transplant period is the 1st half of August, but there may be a shift in this process to the end of August. It depends only on the condition of the bulb - at least 1-1.5 months must pass from the moment of flowering to transplantation, so that it grows stronger.
Then the bulbs of lilies are carefully dug out with a pitchfork, being careful not to damage their root system, and the stems are pre-cut, leaving a small stump. Most lilies after a long period of cultivation without transplantation form some "nests" of bulbs. After excavation, they often disintegrate themselves, but there are times when they have to be divided. But this must be done with extreme caution, being careful not to harm.
After digging, it is important to rinse the bulbs and pickle in a 0.1% cold solution of potassium permanganate for 20-30 minutes. After they are dried, the roots are cut a little and planted again in moist, pre-prepared soil.
Lily Care: The Basics
For good growth, nutritious, loose earth is most suitable. On heavy, damp, depleted soils, healthy lily bulbs can often rot. Before planting, it is necessary to make the soil more loose and lighter - apply sand or some other baking powder. Important: when growing lilies, do not even use high-quality fresh manure. It affects flowers negatively: it enhances the growth of the bulbous vegetative system, which only causes damage to the formation of a good bulb; therefore, winter hardiness of plants decreases and flowering is weakened.
Surprisingly, the roots of some varieties of these colors reach two meters in depth. It is necessary to water the plants under the root, being careful not to soak the leaves. The greatest need for plentiful watering occurs in June and after flowering.
In the spring, before sprouts appeared, it is advisable to introduce mineral and organic fertilizers into the soil. Thanks to the introduction of high-quality wood ash, the lily flowers themselves grow larger, even have a brighter color.
After the appearance of buds in these delicate flowers , top dressing is repeated and the entire ground part is treated from pests and diseases, because healthy shoots and leaves determine the full future flowering.
After rainy autumn days (for the winter), lily bulbs are specially covered with lapnik, peat and polyethylene. In spring it will be possible to leave cover peat, but the spruce branches must be removed early so as not to damage the shoots.
Follow these recommendations, caring for lilies will be easy and fruitful for you.