Growing Daylilies Together

I have about a 1/4 acre to create as many and any type of seedling beds I want.

I want easy access to seedlings, weed control without chemicals,
and optimal plant growth in zone 5.

Any suggestions?
Advice?
Interesting and whimsical antidotes?

Mike

Hi Mike, my beds are 4 foot wide, and the paths inbetween are about 2.5 foot wide.
Paths are mulched with pine bark over weedmatting-which is very good at keeping the weeds out.
The beds are as wide as I can handle-perhaps a tad too wide, but at least I am using the space efficiently. All beds are raised about 10-12 inches with 5 x 2 timber (+-)
The paths are wide enough to work in, but, too narrow to easily use a wheelbarrow. And when walking the beds in the morning, any dew on the foliage ends up on me!
This layout is for seedlings and a few other things I am growing.

If I had more room I would reduce the width of the beds to 36-40 inches, and increase the paths to around the same, but that means only 50% utilization. And that doesnt work for me!

I am about to start lining out the first of the keepers/further evaluation plants along with the limited number of named varieties I have. I plan on running 2 plants wide (perhaps 18 inches apart) down the 18 yards rows. Plants may be at around 18 inches down the bed as well. Again, I will use weedmatting and bark in the paths, and just plain bark as a mulch for weed control (we dont need to mulch for winter protection).

Hopefully the above will help you figure out what will work best for you...

All the best,
Duncan
New Zealand

Hi Mike

I agree with Duncan, beds in the 36-40" are perfect to work with. As you have some space, path should be as wide; don't forget that daylilies have arching foliage that can easily reduce that space.

For the seedlings, I place them 8" apart on all side. This way I can leave them in place 5 years. They have enough space and I don't have a lot of empty space to weed the first 2 years. I usually have 1 bed per year.

You'll need a bed or two for keepers: I would place these at least 12 to 18" apart as they are mature plants.

Here in Virginia I have to deal with wire grasses, so I bury a 2/8 treated board on the edge of my beds, which are not raised.

I have two such beds 12 x 50 for seedlings, and I grow about 1000 every year. These lie in 5 row beds within this bed and I have a 2.5' walk between each 5-row set. Rows are 12 inches apart and I plant at 3 inches between seeds, 50 plants per row, 250 per set. I keep the plants in this bed two years until bloom. I select 10-15% to move to another bed where they will stay 2 more years as I evaluate and select what to introduce.



This was last spring after seedlings were at 5 inches and I was mulching. My land is very flat and my rows very straight. This enables me to mulch using plastic gutters to cover my rows while applying mulch.





Here you see the 5 rows in one set with walk space on each side. The mulch easily lasts 2 years & controls weeds and preserves moisture. Some weeds pop up in the rows, which I pull after watering.

To prepare for my seedling evaluation season, I put labels on 30 inch plastic 1/2" pipe stuck in the ground at the beginning of each cross. This enables me to easily see my info while foliage is tall. I use the pipes year after year.

Hope this helps

Hi Mike,
All of the info already given is excellent. The only thing I can add is that some of the distances depend on you. What I mean is that since I am 6' 4" tall and have fairly long arms, the width of my seedling beds will be wider than someone who is 5' 5" tall and has shorter arms. Also, remember to make an accommodation for how you like to garden. If you get down on your hands and knees and reach across into the bed, you may need to have a place to put down a hand for support. If you are planting your seedlings very close together, finding the place for that hand could be a problem. Better to have the beds more narrow and be comfortably able to reach the middle row of plants without propping yourself up. As you get older, being comfortable while enjoying your garden (whether you are walking through it or working in it) is more important than having the room to put in just a few more seedlings. (Wow! Did I really say that? I must be getting old!)
Larry

Wow, thanks for all the ideas much appreciated and good food for thought.

Pictures of the beds were awesome!!!!

It really does help to see photos of seedling beds.

I planted my first beds this year (1100 seedlings), and my biggest worry is reliable labeling of the different crosses. I cut up pieces of vinyl window blinds and used an A.M.Leonard gardening marker to note the info., but I'm wondering about heaving from freezing & thawing, fading of the marker, and my cats using the beds as litter boxes.(Amazing how you can find a dug up, dried out seedling, stick it back in the ground, and in a couple of weeks its growing again...tough plants, thank goodness). I'm thinking the labels need to last at least 2 years, till you start pulling promising seedlings and giving them individual ID's.

What do you hybridizers out there use for both phases of labelling?

Thanks!

I raise my plants in pots, but labeling is a big concern however you have your seedlings. I too, use blinds for labels and I have done this for 10 years. Unless you use a paint marker, ink will fade. I tried this one year with just markers labeled as permanent and in 6 months you could barely read them. I immediately went back to my good old stand by. A lead pencil. I prefer a #9 mechanical, but just a plain old yellow pencil works just as well. I have some labels that's been outside for 10 years that I can still read. The window blind will break, so you will ocassionally lose one to this, but if you can find the pieces the pencil markings will still be there.

I have used a paint pen on some of my materials that I've tried and they have worked for 2 years without fading. I use them on the flagging material where I can not use a pencil. I buy mine at Walmart in the crafts section. The last ones that I bought were around $2.

Now, for my named varieties, I use the metal plant stands and put a label on them made from a Brother Ptouch label machine. I bought this about 6 years ago and it works great. There has been no fading of these labels at all. I have lost afew of them to the lawn mower, but O well, sometimes I just get alittle too close!

I'm sure others will have good ideas too. Maybe you will get some more respones because I'm always looking for better ways. I have read about using mailing labels created with a laser printer working, but I don't know the fine details. It sure would be nice not to have to hand write out hundreds of labels.

Blessings, Mona

Thanks, Mona.
A pencil sounds like a good idea...
The AMLeonard nursery markers that I've been using on the blinds are not supposed to fade, but I've noticed that exposure to sun just since June has started to have an effect. Labels that were face down, or accidently covered with dirt still looked fine.

In addition to the cut up blinds, which I use to ID the beginning of each cross, I'm using flexible vinyl nursery tags (the kind that have a slot on one end that you put the other end through to make sort of slip knot. These are often used to ID daylily fans that you mail-order.) I put them around the first and last seedlings of a cross when I line them out as a backup in case the cats dig up one of the blind labels. Unfortunately, the seedlings grew so fast that by August they were getting choked. I need to figure out a different way to use these tags, because they're cheap, easy to use, and they last. And from now on, I'll use a pencil on them!

Daniel, the 30" pipe idea sounds really good to me. I'm 5'11" and my back get tired trying to read info that's at ground level. What do you use for your labels?