When and how to properly plant lily bulbs in open ground and for germination

The lily is not inferior in beauty to the queen of flowers - the rose: it is also elegant, stunningly beautiful, and can decorate any flower bed. Among them there are various varieties, interesting shapes, and colors. Spring is a great time to pay attention to the vegetable garden and flower garden, and plant wonderful flowers in your garden plot.

When to plant lilies in spring: optimal timing

Choosing the right timing is very important in any gardening business. When to plant lily bulbs in open ground in the spring, in what month? First of all, you need to focus on weather conditions. The optimal time to do this is when the threat of return night frosts has passed, the soil has warmed up, but the dry period has not yet arrived. In the middle zone (Moscow region) you can plant in mid-May, in the South (Krasnodar Territory (Kuban), Northern Caucasus) - in mid-April, in Siberia, the Urals, Leningrad region - best at the end of May.

You can choose the most suitable dates using the Lunar calendar 2022:

• Favorable days: in March: 1, 3, 4, 20, 21, 29, 30;
• in April: 9, 10, 15, 16, 17;
• in May: 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14;
• in June: 4, 5, 8, 9, 11.

Difficulties in choosing a comfortable place for lilies in the garden

It is difficult to name an equally popular garden plant, the cultivation of which would be subject to so much controversy. For some gardeners, the lily is the easiest bulb to grow, which almost grows on its own and does not cause any trouble. For others, each flower becomes a reward for a long and irreconcilable struggle and vigilant care. Lilies can either grow and delight for years, or fall out every year. And their owners and their mistakes are not always to blame.

Lily is called a capricious plant, primarily because of its individuality. And this concerns not only the need to take into account the preferences of a particular plant species, but also the fact that differences in the quality of flowering and capriciousness of lilies often depend on non-obvious factors.

To make it easy to grow lilies, you need to take care to create the most comfortable conditions. For a lily, not only the quality of lighting or soil characteristics plays a role, but also the location - windy conditions, protection, relief. At the same time, finding the ideal option is not always possible, and for many modern hybrid lilies, compromises often have to be made.

The most difficult aspect of growing lilies is the large difference in preferences for growing conditions among different types of lilies. Representatives of each group of these amazing bulbous plants not only have noticeable decorative differences, but are also accustomed to a certain type of soil and lighting.

The most difficult thing is with hybrid plants, the requirements of which do not always correspond to the preferences of the plants from which they were obtained. Before looking for an ideal place for lilies on your site, you should carefully study the characteristics of the plants. Even in cases where gardeners have sufficient experience in growing a collection of lilies, testing individual preferences is the best guarantee of success.

For lilies, it is fair to say that it is better to select a lily for a particular flower garden and mixborder that will be most comfortable there than to choose a lily and try to recreate ideal conditions for it. But in any option, no matter what criterion is the priority, careful study of all available information is a necessary step in preventing problems with this plant.

Choosing the right place for lilies in the garden is the key to their beauty and health for many years. © Susan Rushton

How to choose quality lily bulbs

If you want to see lush and beautiful flowering, then you need to take a responsible approach to the choice of planting material. To select high-quality garden lily bulbs for spring planting, it is recommended to pay attention to the following rules:

• It must be clean, without stains, mold, or signs of rot.
• The bottom must be intact, without damage.
• The roots should not be dry or rotten.
• The ideal size is 3-4 centimeters in diameter . If the bulb has already bloomed before, the diameter can vary from 3 to 20 cm.

Important! If you come across very small planting material (less than 2 cm), which is suspiciously cheap compared to other products, then most likely these are lily bulbs after forcing. It is not recommended to buy them, because flowering will begin in about three years (and only with regular care).

• The bulb itself should be dense, its scales should fit tightly and not fall apart . It is highly not recommended to buy loose, dry, soft or limp specimens.
• Color does not matter - planting material can be white, red, brown, yellow, pink. The color is affected by the variety and type of plant.
• on the planting material , because it should begin to grow in the soil after planting.

Important! In spring, it is allowed to plant a lily bulb with a slightly hatched sprout. But under no circumstances should such a specimen be planted in the fall.

Disembarkation scheme

After the bulbs have been prepared, they can be safely planted in the ground. To do this, it is better to prepare individual dimples or long holes. If the soil is too dry, they can be slightly moistened. A drainage layer, at least made of sand, should be poured onto the bottom of each. Fertilizer is added directly to the holes. Then the onions are placed in them strictly vertically, bottom down, and covered with earth on top.

The density and density of planting may vary. Lilies are almost never planted alone; in groups they look more organic. A flower bed with frequently planted flowers looks better, but in this case the perennials will have to be replanted more often as they grow larger and the children grow. It is better to make the distance between the bulbs the same (from 5 to 25 cm), especially when planting linearly.

Another aspect that raises many questions is the planting depth. You can find completely different opinions on this matter. It depends on the following factors:

• variety – low-growing ones are buried by 10–12 cm, medium-height lilies – by 15 cm, tall ones – by 20–25 cm; There are certain varieties with low-lying leaves - they just need to be lightly sprinkled with soil;
• the size of the bulb - if it is small, then the depth can be reduced;
• selected area - in loose, soft soil, the holes should be deeper, this method is more reliable and retains moisture better, especially if we are talking about arid regions, but this may slightly delay the timing of germination and flowering.

Naturally, the landing should not be spontaneous. There are many ideas for designing flower beds, but they are all subject to the following principles:

for lilies, it is important to choose a good background - it can be fern, juniper or any other shrub of this kind, while tall varieties do not look at all against the background of low and sparse plantings - they will stand out excessively; on a rounded flower garden they are usually located in the central part; low-growing lilies will fit perfectly into any flowerbed, and are also suitable for decorating paths and highlighting areas in a personal plot; To make the flower area always look elegant, you can plant flowers next to them that bloom at different times, for example, phlox, peonies and gladioli; in addition to the size of the plant and the shape of the flower, you should carefully select the color scheme - flowers can contrast with others or emphasize similar shades; when allocating space for different types of flowers, it is necessary to ensure that the faded ones are at least partially covered by other plants; Different varieties of lilies are planted together with great care, since they may have different conditions of maintenance, and this will also prevent the spread of diseases from the most vulnerable varieties.

How to Preserve Lily Bulbs Before Planting

If you buy planting material ahead of time, a pressing question will arise - how to properly preserve lily bulbs before planting in open ground in the spring? You can send for storage according to the following scheme:

• First you need to dry the planting material a little - place them on paper in a well-ventilated room. But not in the sun, but in partial shade.
• Then fill the bag (it should have holes for ventilation) with sawdust, peat or sphagnum.
• Place the onions in a bag in an upright position, bottom down.
• Place the bag in a room where the temperature is consistently maintained at 2-6 degrees Celsius, for example, in a refrigerator, cellar, basement.
• During storage, regularly check the material for rot and sprouts.

Advice! If you want to send lily bulbs that you dug up in the fall for storage, you must first clean them of soil and dirt, and then be sure to disinfect them, for example, in a pink solution of potassium permanganate (for half an hour), in a solution of Fitosporin-M (according to the instructions).

How to preserve sprouted lilies before planting

To preserve sprouted lily bulbs until spring planting in open ground, you must first estimate the length of the sprout and timing:

• If the sprout is already long (10 or more centimeters), and it is still far from planting in the ground (for example, it is still February, March or early April), then such a specimen should be planted in a pot or other container in order to plant it in open ground together at the optimal time with an earthen lump.
• Also, if the optimal time for planting is not yet soon, but you find a small sprout, you need to very slightly reduce the temperature (to +1-2 degrees). Or plant it in a pot and place it in a cool, bright place.
• But if you find sprouted lily bulbs at the moment when you can already plant flowers in open ground, or this moment is very close, then you don’t have to worry and plant such specimens immediately on the site.

Methods for propagating lilies

There are two ways to propagate a lily on a site: generative and vegetative. Each of them has its own advantages.

Seeds

Low-value varieties are recommended to be propagated by seeds, since hybrids with this method of cultivation in open ground do not retain their unique characteristics, regardless of care. The algorithm looks like this:

1. Seeds purchased in a store or collected by yourself are placed in the refrigerator for several days.
2. The seedling box is filled with a substrate made from leaf soil, turf, sand and a small amount of charcoal.
3. The seeds are laid out on the surface of the soil at a distance of about 1.5 cm and sprinkled with a layer of soil.
4. The soil in the container is generously sprayed with water and the box is placed in a warm, dark place, covered with film or glass.

When seedlings appear above the soil surface, the seedling container can be opened and moved closer to the light. Care boils down to watering the seedlings regularly and pruning them when two true leaves appear. It is recommended to transfer plants to open ground in the second half of April or early May.

Attention! When using the seed propagation method, the lily first begins to bloom only in the 4th-5th year.

At a temperature of about 25 ° C, lilies germinate in about 20 days

By division

The crop can be propagated for planting in open ground by dividing the bulbs - this method is used for valuable and rare varieties. A short diagram looks like this:

1. In early September, the plant is dug out of the ground.
2. Several smaller ones located at the bottom are separated from the main bulb.
3. The children are immediately planted in a temporary bed, watered abundantly, and with the onset of autumn they are covered for the winter.

Flowering of young plants in open ground when using this method occurs in the third year.

Nests on the bottom of lily bulbs in open ground are formed on an annual basis

The main stages of spring planting lilies in open ground

Proper planting of lily bulbs in open ground in the spring includes several important steps that must be followed. Let's look at them in more detail.

Preparing bulbs for planting

Preparing garden lily bulbs is a very important step before spring planting. Thanks to simple manipulations, they will be completely ready for germination in the ground.

To treat the bulbs, you can disinfect them and soak them in a fungicide solution, for example, Fitosporin-M (according to the instructions) or a dark solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) for 30 minutes. Such preparation will eliminate pathogens and unfavorable microorganisms from the surface of the planting material.

Or before spring planting, you can treat it in a solution of a growth stimulant drug , for example, Zircon, Epin-Extra. The rules for soaking are very simple - you need to follow the instructions on the package.

Important! To properly prepare the bulb, it is recommended to prepare a solution and simply dip the material into it. If she already has a sprout, then there is no need to lower it into the liquid!

Selecting a location

Where is the best place to plant these flowers? The most suitable place for planting lily bulbs in open ground is a warm area that is protected from the wind, but does not allow air to stagnate (otherwise the bulbs may rot) and has normal air circulation.

When choosing a place to plant lilies, do not forget about suitable lighting. But suitable lighting depends on the variety: different varieties and species have different requirements for sunlight. For example, trumpet lilies, Asiatic lilies, and LA hybrids require good sunlight and light partial shade is allowed. But martagons and oriental hybrids need shading so that the scorching rays of the sun do not burn them.

Advice! Information about where it is best to plant a particular variety - in shade, partial shade or sun - should be indicated on the packaging of the bulbs, so you need to follow these recommendations.

Also, when choosing a location, you can take into account the proximity and combination with other flower crops in the flowerbed. If you want to beautifully plant lilies in your garden plot, you can do it in a flowerbed next to the following flowers - alyssum, peonies, delphinium, astilbe. The combination is also successful when planting with juniper and fern. Not everyone likes the composition of lilies with phlox because it is too bright, but this option also has many fans.

Selection and preparation of soil for planting

The ideal soil for growing lilies in the garden is fertile, loose, neutral, well-drained . If you plant the bulbs in dense, heavy, clayey soil, they will not be able to develop normally and can easily rot. But in excessively light and sandy soil they are likely to experience a lack of moisture and nutrients.

But not every garden plot meets these requirements, so if you don’t have the right soil at your dacha, it is recommended to prepare it ideally a month in advance, or at least 2-3 weeks in advance. To prepare the soil on the site, it is worth carrying out the following activities (depending on the problem):

• This flower crop loves fertile soils, so when digging in spring it is recommended to add compost or humus (1 bucket per square meter); You can also use a mixture of mineral fertilizers as a fertilizer - 100 grams of superphosphate and 50 grams of potassium sulfate per 1 sq.m.
• Or use a mineral complex fertilizer containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, for example, Nitroammofoska.

Advice! Even if you have the most suitable soil for planting, it is still recommended to dig up the area with the bayonet of a shovel.

Preparing the land at your dacha or private home site will improve the quality of the soil and make the soil more suitable for flowers. This way you will make the soil more suitable for lilies.

Direct planting of lilies

The scheme for spring planting lily bulbs in a flowerbed in open ground is very simple:

Note! If you plan to grow tall varieties, then before planting you need to make a support for the future plant (if you make a support for adult flowers, you can accidentally damage the bulb and destroy the plant). It is recommended to simply install a peg (wooden or metal) next to the planting hole, and when the flower grows, carefully tie it up. Thus, the support will prevent damage to the stem during rain and wind.

• First of all, you need to make planting holes. The optimal distance between the holes is 30-40 centimeters. But the depth of the holes for planting will depend on the height of the lily bulb - you need to multiply the height by 3 (for example, if the bulb is 3 centimeters high, you need to plant it to a depth of 9 centimeters).

Important! It is recommended to put drainage (about 10 cm) at the bottom, for example, crushed stone, expanded clay, broken brick. Therefore, you need to make holes taking into account this recommendation.

A drainage layer is especially needed in an area with clayey, heavy soil; in a garden where water stagnates, groundwater is located nearby. After the drainage layer, it is necessary to put fertile soil from the top layer a handful of sand on the ground in order to place planting material on it.

• Carefully place the lily bulb on the sand, bottom down, it should be positioned evenly.
• After this, you also need to carefully fill the hole with earth.
• Water thoroughly for normal rooting.
• If after watering the soil settles a little, then it is necessary to fill it up to the previous level.

Important! Specifically, the candidum lily should not be deeply buried in the ground. The fact is that in this variety the rosette of leaves is laid under the surface of the ground. For this reason, you can only cover candidum to 2-3 cm, no more.

By the way, the timing of planting in open ground has its own peculiarities - you can plant an onion of this variety only in spring and summer.

Transplanting lilies in autumn

Lilies also need to be transplanted to a new location in the fall. Try to use fresh planting material dug up this year from friends, rather than purchased in a store.

If you are planning to leave, move and want to keep the lilies for yourself, then keep in mind that you can dig up lilies a maximum of two months before planting in a new place, but not earlier than a month after flowering. The fact is that you won’t be able to store the bulbs in the refrigerator for more than a couple of months; even in the cold they will begin to germinate. In nurseries and garden centers, lily bulbs are stored in special refrigerators at a temperature of minus 2 °C, but at home it is difficult to reproduce the exact temperature.

These lilies were dug up immediately after flowering, the bulbs are not ripe, small and weak, they need another 1-1.5 months after flowering to gain mass.

Transplantation technique

First you need to cut the stems at a height of about 10-15 cm above the ground. Carefully dig up the bulbs and shake off the soil. Rinse the bulbs in water and inspect them. If there are damaged scales, they need to be removed and the bulbs treated in a solution of foundationazole, maxim or phytosporin.

Next, you need to decide whether division is necessary: ​​if you want to propagate lilies, it is better to separate those that are easily separated, otherwise you will have to wait. If you do not plan to propagate, you simply need to remove the excess bulbs.

If the nest of bulbs is dense, none of the bulbs themselves are easily separated, they can be cut off with a clean knife, but each part must retain a part of the bottom with a bunch of roots.

Important: OT-hybrids of lilies and LO-hybrids form children much smaller than Asian hybrids; it is better to separate them when they are ready to break off without touching the mother’s bulb. For bulbs prepared for transplantation, all cuts and breaks must be disinfected (fungicide) or charcoal, cinnamon

Trim the roots, leaving a root beard no more than 10 cm

For bulbs prepared for transplantation, all cuts and breaks must be disinfected (fungicide) or with charcoal or cinnamon. Trim the roots, leaving a root beard of no more than 10 cm.

Important: all Lilies Candidum hybrids have sub-bulbous roots that are perennial; they cannot be cut off, but must be protected when replanting. Do not leave the bulbs to dry in the open air for a long time; if replanting did not work out on the same day, or you want to save them for someone, you need to wrap the bulbs in damp sphagnum moss or damp burlap

Do not leave the bulbs to dry in the open air for a long time; if replanting did not work out on the same day, or you want to save them for someone, you need to wrap the bulbs in damp sphagnum moss or damp burlap.

If mice are rampant in your area, there is a way to save lilies from destruction - plant them in metal or plastic nets or wire baskets

It is important that the basket or net protects the bulbs on all sides. In this case, a plastic vegetable box is not suitable - mice will get to the top

We do not recommend planting lilies in plastic bottles with holes on the sides - if there are few holes, the lilies will suffocate.

You need to look for a mesh with a cell no larger than 1 cm in hardware or construction stores, cut out the bottom and high walls from it, and fasten them with a plastic tie. The width of the mesh or box should be generous in order to protect growing young onions, at least 30 cm in diameter if there is one onion.

If the plantings are large and it is impossible to plant in a net, use an ultrasonic mouse repeller.

Planting bulbs at home for germination (for seedlings)

Of course, it’s easier and faster to simply plant plants directly in open ground, but some gardeners prefer to germinate bulbs at home. To do this, you need to plant it on so-called seedlings, in a pot or other large container.

This method has advantages - you can immediately identify viable bulbs and plant seedlings in the garden without fear that some bulbs will not germinate. In addition, in this way you can save sprouted specimens.

By the way! You need to select and prepare lily bulbs for planting “for seedlings” in exactly the same way as described above (in the paragraph about planting in open ground).

Selection of soil and containers for “seedlings”

It is better to plant lily bulbs for germination at home in individual containers, for example, cups or pots with a volume of about 500 ml. There must be drainage holes, not only at the bottom of the container, but also on the sides.

By the way, trimmed 1.5-liter plastic bottles are perfect - they have enough volume, and the seedlings will definitely not be crowded.

The soil for germinating planting material must be fertile and loose.

Scheme of planting for germination

The scheme for planting lily bulbs for germination at home is slightly different. You can’t deepen it too much; it’s enough to plant it so that the soil only slightly covers the bulb. To do this, make a small hole in the ground in the center of the container, immerse the onion in it, cover it with soil and water it.

A little trick! To make the planting material feel more comfortable and grow and develop better, it is recommended to put a layer of calcined sand at the bottom of the hole.

After planting, you can water it not just with water, but with a solution of the biofungicide “Fitosporin-M”, it will prevent the development of fungal diseases.

If your purchased lily bulb has sprouted and you decide to plant it in a pot, then it is important to do it correctly. You need to plant in the same way as described above: the soil should lightly cover the sprout. But if the sprout already has leaves, then they cannot be buried; the entire sprout must remain on the surface.

Also, if the bulb has dried scales, they can be carefully separated. But dry roots should definitely be cut off.

Seedling care

Caring for conditional lily seedlings at home is very simple. Immediately after planting, you need to move it to a sunny windowsill. Watering is required regularly, as the top layer of soil dries out (watering should be done approximately once a week).

Planting lily seedlings in open ground

Important! The time for planting seedlings in a permanent place should be later (approximately at the end of May, early June) than the time for planting the bulb in the ground. The fact is that if you plant such plants too early, then due to temperature fluctuations night and day, they will experience severe stress and slowly take root. If cold snaps occur again, they may die.

Planting domestic lily seedlings in open ground is very simple:

• It is necessary to prepare the site in the same way (clean, dig, fertilize in advance).
• Then make holes at a distance of 30-40 cm, the depth of the holes should be slightly larger than the earthen coma of the plant.
• A couple of hours before planting, you need to water the plant.
• After this, carefully remove the lily seedlings without destroying the lump of earth and replant them using the transshipment method. There is no need to bury it, the plant should grow at the same level.
• Fill the hole with soil and water.

When to buy bulbs

The bulb (an important part of the plant) is not only a source of food, but also a way to reproduce lilies.
To grow beautiful flowers, you need to purchase large, healthy bulbs. They are prepared throughout the year.

• Autumn is the best time to purchase harvested crops for spring sowing, so a wide selection of varieties is offered. In addition, many stores offer big discounts for pre-orders. The only drawback is saving the flower bulbs until planting.
• You can buy planting material in the spring, but the choice is already poorer, since interesting varieties have already been sorted out by lily lovers.
• It is convenient to buy bulbs immediately before planting. They are purchased at the store and immediately planted in the country. But you have to take only the leftovers.
• When planning planting in autumn, bulbs are purchased at the end of August, but the assortment is also small. But it will save you from winter storage.

Lilies in the garden

How to choose healthy bulbs

Bulbs are planted in early autumn and late summer.

Planting material is sold in specialized stores in the spring

When choosing, pay attention to the appearance:

• no mechanical damage;
• no traces of rotting are visible;
• the presence of at least four roots 4–5 cm long;
• the scales are uniformly colored.

Only large and healthy bulbs produce beautiful lilies.

Processing of planting material

Before planting, the bulbs are disinfected by keeping them in a bright pink solution of potassium manganese for at least half an hour.

Gardeners praise products that accelerate plant growth and disinfect: Epin, Maxim. The soaking time for planting material is indicated on the packaging.

If there are not enough healthy bulbs for planting, gardeners try to treat the diseased seed by first cleaning the damaged areas and soaking them in foundationol and karbafos.

Note! Planting material after treatment is planted separately from healthy bulbs

Growing lily seedlings

Many gardeners believe that it is more convenient to plant flowers in early spring using seedlings. This makes it possible to observe how plants adapt, what problems arise, and it is easier to plan a flower bed.

Seedlings are grown at home in a container or pot.

1. Disinfected (calcined in the oven) soil from the garden plot is poured into it. You can save yourself from these procedures and purchase ready-made soil in the store.
2. The prepared bulbs are buried. It is acceptable to plant a lot of planting material in one pot, since the plants will be planted in a flower bed.
3. During this period, the seedlings are watered once a week. They don't feed. The main thing is that it is light.

After 10 days, the bulbs germinate.

Important! Lily is an outdoor plant; experienced gardeners do not recommend growing it at home, as the flower will die.

Caring for lilies after planting

Caring for garden lilies after planting the bulbs in open ground in the spring is very simple. The gardener is not required to take excessive care and follow complex agricultural techniques for growing flowers: it is enough to water moderately, tie them to a support if necessary, fertilize them, and control pests.

To properly care for lilies, you must follow the following rules:

Watering must be moderate. This flower crop does not like excess moisture, because it can cause rotting of the bulb or roots. You need to water generously, but don't do it too often. However, during flowering and in hot, dry weather, the frequency of watering increases slightly. Once the lilies have finished blooming, there is no need to water them anymore.

Important! You can water flowers only at the root; water should not get on the stem, leaves and flowers!

If you grow tall varieties in your flowerbed, then, as noted above, it is recommended to tie them to a support , which must be made when planting. You should tie it up very carefully so as not to damage the stem and leaves.

Feeding lilies is an important element of care, because it helps to get more luxuriant and brighter blooms. It is not recommended to feed plants with organic fertilizers; mineral fertilizers are more suitable.

When growing lilies in the garden, it is necessary to monitor the plants in order to promptly detect pest . These flowers are loved by the lily beetle, which is not averse to eating the leaves (after its meal, holes appear on them). To combat the pest, flowers should be sprayed with insecticidal preparations, for example, Aktara, Corado.

Where to plant

Everything is simple here. Plants love the sun and do not tolerate dark places. Therefore, choose open flower beds. It is important that they are well ventilated, but protected from drafts and the vagaries of bad weather - tall stems are easily broken by strong winds. Places flooded with rain and lowlands in which melt water accumulates are also not suitable for them. It is advisable to place the flower bed intended for planting higher and protect it with sides from erosion.

Transplanting lilies

Be sure to take into account previous plantings. If gladioli or tulips grew on the site, it would be a bad choice, because the plants have the same diseases as lilies. The ideal solution is to plant them after marigolds. These flowers heal the soil and contribute to the death of pests.

As for the soil, the variety must be taken into account, because the difference in the choice of soil is colossal. White hybrids require alkaline, tubular hybrids require neutral, Martagon and Oriental hybrids require sour. A mistake will cost beautiful flowering and proper development of plants.

Related article:

Lily Lollipop

The most popular types and varieties of garden lilies

Among the beautiful garden flowers of lilies you can find many interesting and beautiful varieties. The division of hybrids into large groups is based on their origin. Highlight:

• American lilies;
• Asian;
• Eastern (Orientals);
• Long-flowered;
• Tubular or Orleans;
• Martagon;
• Candidum.

In addition to the above division into species, interspecific hybrids of lilies are also noted:

• OA hybrids (Eastern + Asian);
• LA hybrids (Asian + long-flowered);
• OT-hybrids (oriental + tubular orientations);
• LO hybrids (long-flowered + oriental).

Undoubtedly, spring planting requires a lot of effort and attention, but the result in the form of beautiful flowering in the garden will pay off all your investments!

Soil preparation

Lilies like soft, well-drained soil. Therefore, before planting seedlings, the soil must be dug up to 30-40 cm deep. If the soil is clayey, in this case, when digging, sand is added at a rate of 1 kg per sq.m. Peat is added to improve sandy soil. Also, to improve fertility, add manure or compost; one or two buckets per square meter is enough. Before planting perennial plants, you can apply phosphorus-potassium fertilizer (about 100 g per sq.m.). If you fertilize the flowers correctly, they will not need additional feeding until they reach 3 years of age.

Lilies do not do well in acidic soil. If necessary, the ground will be limed. To reduce the soil to slightly alkaline or slightly acidic, you can add chalk or wood ash to it, on average 200 g per sq.m.

Pests and ways to combat them

1. Lilac or potato cutworm . The caterpillars of this pest eat the stems of flowers from the inside, causing the damaged shoots to wither and die. A sign of plant damage by pests is the appearance of necrosis along the edges of the leaves. Control method: at the beginning of the growing season, plants are sprayed with a solution of 10% Karbofos emulsion concentrate. The solution is prepared from 90 g of the drug per 10 liters of water. To obtain the maximum effect, treatment is carried out 2 times with a break of 5-7 days.
2. Onion leaf beetle - the pest eats leaves along the edges or gnaws out oblong holes in them. The larvae eat the leaves so that only veins remain. Regular destruction of weeds, which are a favorable environment for its habitat, helps to cope with the leaf beetle. The beetles are collected by hand. With the growth of the colony, spraying the plants with chlorophos containing from 0.1 to 0.15% of the active substance will help. As a gentle method, treatment with infusions of wormwood and pollination with pyrethrum is used.
3. Lily hoverfly . The voracious hoverfly larvae eat the bulbs from the inside. As a result, infected lilies slow down their rate of development and lose the ability to form shoots and flowers normally. Control methods: during the growing season, it is necessary to cull infected plants. Before planting, the seed must be pickled - soaked in a solution of 30% Karbofos (2 g per 1 liter of water) for 5 minutes. During the egg-laying period, it is necessary to repel flies. To do this, the soil is pollinated 2-3 times with an interval of 8-10 days with naphthalene and sand, taken in a ratio of 1:10, at the rate of 5 g per 1 m2. You can also spray the soil with 30% Karbofos (50 g per 10 liters of water). To destroy the larvae, plants are watered with an infusion of ash (500g per 10 liters of water).
4. Lily beetle . The pest beetle is dangerous both in the larval stage and in the adult state, because it is excessively voracious and can completely eat the leaves of the entire plant. Methods of control: the beetle reproduces slowly and with due attention you can manage to collect its larvae and adults by hand and destroy it. If the pest is detected too late, then insecticides must be used against leaf-eating pests.
5. Onion root mite . It lives in the soil and in plant debris, penetrates the bulbs through the bottom or in places of damage. When affected, plant growth slows down, leaves turn yellow and die. Control methods: culling infected planting material, treating the soil with fungicides.

Onion leaf beetle

Features of care

This flower does not require care. It needs to be watered on time and weeds removed. During intensive growth, lilies need a lot of moisture. However, you should try not to flood the plant, as it does not like excessive dampness. On hot summer days, watering is carried out in the morning and evening hours, and it is recommended to mulch the soil so that it does not dry out very quickly.

The first feeding is carried out in the spring after the shoots appear. When flowering begins, lilies are fed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizer. The fertilizers needed for fertilizing can be purchased at a specialized store.

Often, hybrid oriental lilies tolerate winter very poorly. It is recommended to cover such a flower in rainy weather, this will prevent the soil from getting too wet and the development of rot on the bulbs. Lilies need to be ventilated only when the sun is shining.

Lack of flowering may be a consequence of deep planting. The rapid wilting of flowers is associated with overheating of the soil. In this case, its surface must be mulched.

Only one pest can appear on a plant - the lily beetle. It is recommended to collect it manually. The fact is that chemical treatment can significantly spoil the appearance of foliage.

When the lily fades, you need to wait a while and only then collect the seeds. Watering is carried out until late autumn or before transplantation.

Bulbs must be stored correctly. So, the bulbs should be cleaned from the soil and dried.

The main problems when growing lilies

• The stems of lilies are elongated and thin . Reason: lack of sunlight. Prevention: plants must be grown in well-warmed and illuminated areas.
• The stems of the plant bend to one side . Reason: the plant is located in a windy area. Solution to the problem: create a screen, install a fence. Tie the plants to stakes. Prevention: grow in open, sunny, windless areas.
• The inflorescences are deformed , the plant grows poorly. Reason: lack of moisture in the soil during budding and inflorescence formation. Recommendations: adjust the frequency and volume of watering.
• Lilies wither , the bulbs rot or turn dark. The reason is Fusarium infection. Infection occurs when there is an excess of nitrogen and ammonia in the soil, and also develops in heavily waterlogged areas. Recommendations: transplant the plant to a new location. Before planting, treat the tubers with a fungicide. After planting, adjust the watering rate.
• Brown spots have formed on the leaves , and gray rot has formed on the shoots. The cause is infection with botrythiosis, or gray mold. This disease leads to the death of the plant. If the plant is not severely affected by gray rot, it can be dug up and treated with Fundazol.
• Gray or white mycelia have formed on the bulbs . The reason is infection of the plant with sclerotial rot. Infected bulbs cannot be saved; the plant is destroyed. Preventive measures: before planting, the soil is treated with the drug “Carbation”, and the bulbs with the drug “Formalin”.