How to scale lilies (long post!)
- To: perennials@mallorn.com
- Subject: How to scale lilies (long post!)
- From: l*@teamzeon.com
- Date: Tue, 18 May 1999 10:47:36 -0400
Valerie Lowery@ZEON
05/18/99 10:47 AM
Hi to everyone!
First, let me tell Pat Mitchell that those little black things in the base
of the leaves of the common tiger lily are bulbils -- you are right.
Asiatics have their babies there in addition to multiplying underground. I
forgot about them since we were talking orientals.
Second, the method for scaling is simple. I've tried this once and it was
successful so far. I learned from postings to the lily forum in the fall
of 1988 and also from a gentleman who sent me a whole box full of scales of
various lilies he had started; these are now in pots in my garden and are
coming along nicely. Since all of us have probably planted our lilies by
now, below I am quoting the instructions (in part) on how to scale a lily
in-ground in the fall (it's too late in the spring for most of us) as they
were sent to me from the lily forum from Dr. Gallop:
Dig down carefully where the desired bulb is supposed to be, using the
fingers, not hard tools, to find it. Gently clear away around the bulb to
just below the basal plate region (where roots start), using a handbrush if
necessary.
Gently twist a few of the outer scales (these look like garlic cloves)
sideways to break them off as close to the basal plate as possible, as
completely straight across as possible. Do not remove more scales than
necessary; certainly no more than one set of 6-10 around the whole bulb.
The plant needs the food reserves in its bulb to produce the stem for next
season.
Place the specific sets of scales in a labelled styrofoam cup in a holding
tray and put aside briefly until the scale-collecting job in the garden is
done. Dust the injured regions of the mother bulb base with a fungicide
and allow them to dry and callouse over for a few hours open to the air. A
sunny day in early Spring or late fall while the plant is not in active
growth is best for this work. Be careful not to damage the bulb while
doing this or you may not have a lily next season. When the injured bulb
has settled down, backfill with peat/vermiculite/pre-mixed slow and fast
release high phosphate fertilizers (like Osmocote 14-14-14 and a lawn
fertilizer 7-7-7) to more than cover the whole bulb.
Rinse the scales in tap water and allow them to dry and callouse over,
cup-side down, on paper towels at least for a few hours, preferably
overnight. Drop them into zipper sandwich bags, dust them with a smidgeon
of fungicidal dust and shake gently. Add a handful of peat/vermiculite to
which a very small amount of warm water had been added by spraying the
night before. Then almost close the zipper bags to ensure the necessary
ventilation by either using bags pre-punched with a couple of holes from a
file punch, or leave about 10% of the seal length open by jamming a sliver
of styrofoam across the seam (otherwise the bags will seal themselves to
possibly smother the scales and their bulblets).
Place the labelled bags upright into shoe boxes and incubated at about 68F
(like on top of a water heater). Darkness helps to suppress green growth
in the earliest of the bulblets to wake up after vernalization in the cold
for about 8-12 weeks or more. Moisture must condense on the colder,
upsides of the bags during incubations, so they should be either taken out
and shaken to redistribute it. Liquid moisture touching the
scales/bulblets will soon rot them.
After three months of warm temperatures (needed for the scales to produce
bulbils), place your lilies into a cold area (such as an unheated garage,
basement, or your refrigerator) for three months. The bulblets will send
up leaves when they are brought back into warm surroundings.
It is a general consensus that your young lilies should then be hardened
off and placed in a nursery bed for the following year so that they won't
have to compete for food/sun/water from other plants.
Good luck this fall!
Val in KY
zone 6a
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