Garden lilies are becoming more and more popular every season, they can already be seen in almost all gardens. Most plants are unpretentious and get along well in our latitudes. Every amateur gardener will find the right flower for himself in a wide variety of varieties and hybrids. But not everyone knows how to care for lilies after flowering. We will talk about this in this article.
Many beginner flower growers are interested in the question: "When to prune lilies after flowering?" Naturally, the plant no longer looks decorative, and the gardener's normal reaction is to cut the stems. It's better not to do this! The main condition for the proper cultivation of lilies is to leave them alone. The only thing you can do is remove the seed set.
If you cut the stems, the lily bulb will stop developing and growing, and will not be able to fully mature. Even withering leaves do not stop giving the necessary nutrients to the bulb. The plant receives an additional portion of nutrition from annual roots, which you can observe on a lily near the very ground level.
How to care for lilies after flowering, if you need a transplant?
Even if you plan to transplant plants or dig bulbs for the winter, this should be done no earlier than 3 weeks after they bloom. And in this case, do not cut the stems and leaves! And if you have the opportunity to wait longer, until late autumn, then your bulbs will get stronger and you will get good planting material. Such bulbs tolerate winter well when transplanted and are better preserved if they hibernate in the cellar.
Experienced flower growers recommend replanting unpretentious varieties of lilies in the fall once every few years. And rare hybrid varieties, if possible, should be transplanted once a year and also in autumn.
If pruning is not required, what should I do after the lily blooms? The fact that these plants require minimal maintenance makes them very popular. But this does not mean that they do not require attention at all. After the plants have flowered, you should loosen the soil and remove the weeds. This must be done carefully enough so as not to damage the bulbs. The better you clean the ground from unnecessary plants around the lilies, the less work you will have to do with germinating weeds in the spring.
If there are severe winters in your latitudes, hilling will not be out of place, which will need to be done in late autumn. It can be replaced by mulching with fallen leaves, sawdust or straw.
In how to care for lilies after flowering,there is one more nuance. In order for the buds to be large and bright in spring, the plants need to be fertilized with fertilizers.
For these purposes, organic fertilizers are best suited. Do not use manure or fresh compost. This can lead to burns, to the development of various fungal diseases of the bulbs. And, as a rule, to the death of the plant. Mineral fertilizers are also not recommended.
In specialized stores, you can buy solutions with microorganisms that need to be applied along with irrigation. These fertilizers are best for bulb maturation and flower bud formation.
Now you know how to care for lilies after flowering. It is not difficult and does not require much effort and expense from you, which will pay off with the pleasure of admiring flowering plants.
