Latest Prices for Daylily Seedlings and How to Grow Them
Daylily is also known as golden needle vegetable, brain-boosting vegetable, forget-sorrow grass, and so on. It is a perennial herbaceous plant with fleshy roots in the lily family, Hemerocallis genus. It is cultivated throughout northern and southern China, among which Quxian County in Sichuan is known as the “Hometown of Chinese Daylily”, while Shaodong County and Qidong County have been designated as the “Places of Origin of Daylily”. Now let us take a look together at the prices of daylily seedlings and how to grow them!
How much does one daylily seedling cost?
The price of daylily seedlings is about 0.05-0.10 yuan per plant, but it varies depending on the quality, specifications, place of origin, and market of the seedlings. Daylily is tolerant of poor soil and drought, and is not strict about soil requirements. It can be cultivated on field edges or hillsides, and has a wide range of adaptability to light, so it can be intercropped with relatively tall crops. The aboveground part is not cold-tolerant, while the underground part can withstand low temperatures of -10 degrees C. It dislikes overly wet or waterlogged soil. The commonly used propagation methods in production include division propagation, cutting propagation, and seed propagation, etc.
Propagation Methods for Daylily
1. Division: Division propagation is the most commonly used propagation method for daylily. One way is to dig out the entire mother clump and replant it in divisions. Another way is to dig out part of the plants from one side of the mother clump as seedlings, leaving the rest to continue growing. However, when digging and dividing seedlings, try to damage the roots as little as possible.
2. Cutting: After the daylily harvest is complete, select from the middle and upper parts of the flower scape those with fresh green bracts and obvious growth points below the bracts. Cut them leaving about 15 cm above and below the growth point, then insert them slightly in an arc horizontally into the soil. After about 1 week, they will grow roots and sprout.
3. Sowing: Seeds can be obtained by hand-pollinating daylily. When sowing, use fertile garden soil as the seedbed. Soak the seeds in warm water at 25 degrees C for 48 hours, cover with 2 cm of soil after sowing, and usually seedlings emerge in 1 week. After emergence, gradually lower the greenhouse temperature so the seedlings adapt to the outside climate.
How to Grow Daylily
1. Reasonable close planting: Close planting of daylily can bring out population advantages. Wide-and-narrow row cultivation is mostly used, with wide rows 60-75 cm, narrow rows 30-45 cm, and hole spacing 9-15 cm. Plant 2-3 plants per hole, at 3000-5000 plants per mu.
2. Proper deep planting: The root mass of daylily grows from around the shortened stem and has the characteristic of producing one layer per year, with the rooting position moving upward year by year from bottom to top. Therefore, proper deep planting helps the plants survive and grow vigorously. The suitable planting depth is 10-15 cm.
3. Cultivation and earthing up: During the growth period, daylily should be cultivated 3-4 times according to growth and soil compaction. Usually the first time is when the young shoots are just emerging, and the 2nd to 4th times are carried out during the bolting stage together with earthing up.
4. Fertilization management: Daylily requires sufficient winter fertilizer (base fertilizer), early seedling fertilizer, heavy scape fertilizer, and supplementary bud fertilizer.
(1) Winter fertilizer: Winter fertilizer is applied when the aboveground part of daylily stops growing, that is, after the autumn seedlings wither from frost, or at planting time. It is mainly organic fertilizer, applying 2000 kg per mu of high-quality farmyard manure and 50 kg per mu of calcium superphosphate.
(2) Seedling fertilizer: Seedling fertilizer can promote early and rapid leaf growth, and should be applied early rather than late. It should be topdressed when daylily begins to sprout, applying 10 kg per mu of calcium superphosphate and 2 kg per mu of potassium sulfate.
(3) Scape fertilizer: Scape fertilizer should be topdressed when the flower scape begins to emerge. At this time, daylily needs more nutrients, so apply 15 kg per mu of urea, 10 kg per mu of calcium superphosphate, and 5 kg per mu of potassium sulfate.
(4) Bud fertilizer: Bud fertilizer should be topdressed with 5 kg per mu of urea within 7-10 days after picking begins. During the picking period, spray the leaves every 7 days with 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate, 0.4% urea, and 1-2% calcium superphosphate aqueous solution.
Pest and Disease Control of Daylily
1. Rust
[Damage] Rust harms leaves and flower stems. Initial infection produces blister-like spots, then the entire leaf turns yellow. In severe cases, the leaves of the whole plant die, the flower stems turn reddish brown, and the flower buds shrivel or fall off.
[Control] In the early stage of disease, use 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 600-800 times dilution, 75% chlorothalonil wettable powder at 600 times dilution, 50% zineb at 500-600 times dilution, or 40% iprobenfos at 600-700 times dilution, spraying once every 7-10 days for 2-3 consecutive sprays.
2. Leaf blight
[Damage] It harms leaves. Initial infection starts from the leaf tip, showing small pale round spots, then gradually spreads downward along the leaf edge, turning yellow-brown and dry. When humidity is high, black mold-like substances appear on the diseased parts.
[Control] Commonly use equal-amount Bordeaux mixture at 0.5-0.6% or 75% chlorothalonil wettable powder at 800 times dilution for foliar spraying. After disease appears, spray once every 7-10 days for a total of 2-3 sprays.
3. Leaf spot
[Damage] It harms leaves and flower scapes. Small light yellow spots first appear on the leaves, which tend to rupture when dry. In severe cases, the whole leaf turns yellow and dies. Symptoms on flower scapes are similar to those on leaves. Mild cases affect flower scape growth and flower bud formation, while severe cases cause the flower scape to break and die.
[Control] In the early stage of disease, promptly use 50% procymidone wettable powder at 1500 times dilution, 40% sulfur-carbendazim suspension or 36% thiophanate-methyl suspension at 500 times dilution, or 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 800-1000 times dilution, spraying once every 7-10 days for 2-3 consecutive sprays.
4. Anthracnose
[Damage] It harms leaves. Starting from the leaf tip, they turn dark green, then dark yellow, and spread toward the leaf base. The lesion edges are brown with densely packed small black spots. In severe cases, the leaves die.
[Control] In the early stage of disease, promptly spray 1:1:100 Bordeaux mixture, 50% thiophanate-methyl or 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 800-1000 times dilution, or 75% chlorothalonil wettable powder at 600-800 times dilution.
5. Southern blight
[Damage] At the base of the leaf sheath near the ground, water-soaked brown lesions begin to appear on the whole plant or the base of outer leaves, then expand and become slightly sunken. The affected part becomes brown and wet-rotted, and the damaged leaves turn yellow and die because the transport of water and nutrients is blocked.
[Control] In the early stage of disease, use 50% carbendazim at 500-800 times dilution or 70% thiophanate-methyl at 800-1000 times dilution, spraying once every 7-10 days for 2-3 consecutive sprays.
6. Red spider mite
[Damage] Adults and nymphs gather to pierce and suck plant sap. Grayish-white small spots appear at the damaged areas, and in severe cases the leaves die.
[Control] Spray with 15% saomanjing wettable powder at 1500 times dilution, or 73% propargite at 2000 times dilution.
7. Aphids
[Damage] They first harm leaves, then gradually pierce and suck sap on flowers and flower buds. After being damaged, the flower buds become thin and small and are prone to falling off.
[Control] Spray with malathion emulsion at 1000-1500 times dilution or dimethoate solution, or grind fresh small chili peppers, mix with water, and spray to kill them.