How to Grow Perfume Lilies? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Care Methods
How do you grow perfume lilies? Perfume lilies have long been regarded as the queen of lilies, with petals free of any spots or blemishes, very beautiful to look at, and some perfume lilies have a light, delicate fragrance, making them very suitable for home decor. Below, the editor will share with you exactly how to grow perfume lilies!
Basic Information About Perfume Lilies
The perfume lily is a type of lily, also known as Casablanca or the lily of the sky, native to the Himalayan region and Australia. The perfume lily is the queen of lilies, with petals free of blemishes or spots and a very imposing posture when in bloom. The flower language of the perfume lily is “great and pure love”.
How Do You Grow Perfume Lilies?
1. Soil: Perfume lilies prefer fertile, deep soil rich in humus, and are most averse to hard clay; a well-drained, slightly acidic soil is best, with a soil pH of 5.5-6.5.
2. Watering: Simply keep the potting soil moist; the soil should not be too wet, otherwise the bulbs rot easily.
3. Light: Potted lilies have different requirements for light intensity at different growth stages. During the bud stage, shading is needed, and if leaf temperature gets too high, appropriate shading should also be provided. At other growth stages, light should be increased, especially during flower development.
4. Temperature: The growth and flowering temperature for perfume lilies is 16-24°C. Below 5°C or above 30°C, growth almost stops; the plant only grows normally above 10°C; and above 25°C growth stalls again. If winter nighttime temperatures stay below 5°C for 5-7 days, flower bud differentiation and bud development are severely affected, delaying flowering or even causing blind buds and split flowers.
5. Fertilizing: Lilies need relatively large amounts of nitrogen and potassium fertilizer, which should be applied every 10-15 days during the growing season, while phosphorus fertilizer should be limited, because too much phosphorus causes yellowing leaves. (During the flowering period, phosphorus fertilizer can be added for 1-2 days.)
6. Pests and Diseases
① Gray mold: Use captan, thiophanate, or zineb at 500 times dilution for control.
② Damping-off: Before planting, soak in 500 times diluted formazan or 40% formaldehyde at 50 times dilution for 15 minutes.
③ Root rot: Remove diseased plants, then disinfect the soil with dexon.
④ Pests: For aphids, mites, grubs, and cutworms, use omethoate, dicofol, and poison bait for control.
7. Pruning: To make the bulb plump, after a lily finishes flowering it can be cut back to the base to reduce nutrient consumption, because flowering has already used up a lot of the bulb's nutrients. If you want to keep the bulb for replanting, you must continue fertilizing to replenish the bulb's nutrients. After one month, the bulb can be dug out, the fibrous roots cut off, and it can be refrigerated for a period to break dormancy before planting again, though flower quality will decline.
Notes on Growing Perfume Lilies
1. Flowering regulation: To make perfume lilies bloom from November to early February of the following year, treat the bulbs first at 13°C for 2 weeks (14 days), then at 3°C for 4-5 weeks (28-36 days); this allows flowering in November-December. If flowering is required in January-February, first treat at 13°C for 2 weeks, then at 8°C for 4-5 weeks (28-36 days). At this time, nighttime temperatures after planting are relatively low, so heating should be added to maintain around 15°C.
2. Bud abortion treatment: In forced cultivation of lilies, when flower buds grow to 1-2 cm, insufficient light can easily cause bud abortion. Bud abortion often occurs from late October to mid-March of the following year. It can be prevented through artificial supplementary lighting by hanging one 40-watt high-pressure sodium lamp or ordinary waterproof incandescent lamp every 8-10 sq m. Supplementary lighting should begin when flower buds are 0.5-1 cm and continue until harvest. At 16°C, maintaining light for about 6 weeks, from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next morning each day, is very effective in preventing bud abortion, advancing flowering, and improving cut flower quality.
3. Elongated plant growth: During the growing season, perfume lilies should also have their pots turned once a week. Otherwise the plant tends to grow lopsided, affecting its appearance.
Propagation Methods for Perfume Lilies
There are many propagation methods for perfume lilies; the main ones are introduced below.
1. Bulb propagation: The number of bulbs is relatively small, so it cannot be a main propagation method, but it can still be used.
2. Bulbil propagation: The purple-black bulbils, similar to small bulbs, can be used for propagation.
3. Seed propagation: Lily seeds are divided into fast-germinating and slow-germinating types. Slow-germinating seeds must go through storage - rooting - small bulb formation - flowering and other stages, while the fast-germinating type has a relatively shorter process.
4. Cutting propagation: The stems and leaves of lilies near the ground can regrow in water or moist soil.
How do you grow perfume lilies? Through the above introduction to the growing methods and notes for perfume lilies, as well as their propagation methods, I believe everyone has gained some understanding. If you also like perfume lilies and hope to grow a beautiful pot of them to beautify your home, then give it a try!