honest lilies grow from bulbs , which are overdeveloped tooth root that lay in nutrients for next time of year ’s blooms . Transplanting lily bulbs should be easy if you see the lily ’s pattern of growth , bloom and regeneration . The job is that lily bulbs never really go dormant . They gather intellectual nourishment all summer and early downslope , rise antecedent structure all fall and winter and begin growing as soon as they sense the sunlight warming the solid ground in leaping . However , following a few guidelines will meliorate your prospect of success .
Step 1
Prepare planting cakehole about a foot deep and broad , 8 column inch to a ft apart before you start to grok up your lilies if potential . Make hole a few inches deeper for oriental bulbs , which tend to be larger . Line each of the golf hole with a cushion of compost and peat moss .
Step 2
Dig lily bulbs in late fall after all the foliage has died down . grok a circle around the plant life about 8 inches out from the main stem . Dig carefully — bulb may have grown tissue paper in any direction from the stem .
Step 3
Pry the bulb mass up from underneath softly with a garden fork , disturb as few roots as potential . Gently rinse clumps of dirt off so you may see how many bulbs you have . Cut the root off at the neck of the parent medulla and set it aside on a piece of newspaper .
Step 4
Twist adult bulbs apart and disperse the necks and any breaks with a industrial plant fungicide powder , sold in garden inwardness . Inspect the bulb for signs of putrefaction or damage from rodents and discard damaged bulb . Do not let lily bulb dry out ; if you must check planting , wrap up them in muslin or cheesecloth and keep them in a coolheaded , moist place like a refrigerator vegetable crisper .
Step 5
Place each lily electric light , roots down and neck up in a hole with its roots spread . Back filling with garden soil meliorate with compost and humous while holding the lightbulb 4 to 6 inches deep , bet on the size of it of the light bulb . Water well and mulch with about an column inch of well - rotted compost and foliage for wintertime protection .
Tip
Lilies can be transfer in spring but you start the risk of detrimental develop shoot , sacrificing a season ’s bloom . Wait to fertilize transplanted lilies until spring and again after unfolding , when they can use the food . Some people add a handful of slow - release bulb food to the planting hollow when setting lilies but the lightbulb wo n’t apply it until spring and it may enfeeble through the topsoil by that time . Pull bulblet from lily stem and establish them in flats of uninventive potting mix and keep moist and coolheaded . By spring , you could imbed them in the garden . They should take two to three years to bloom .
Warning
mouse and field mouse enjoy lily bulbs as a winter meal . Keep bulbil in cold frames to protect them and limit winter mulch to an inch so rodents ca n’t use it for shelter while they excavate for bulb . cut into medulla up very cautiously . Lily bulbs grow " contractile " ascendant that actually pull them deeper into the soil as they mature . You ’ll find medulla oblongata that you dig up to transplant sitting deeper than you constitute them . Always bear gloves while using fertilizer and chemical substance and wash bridge player thoroughly later on .
