Daylily not blooming is a common problem if your plant doesn’t receive adequate sunlight exposure or you’re not dividing it regularly. This problem can also be caused by competition with nearby plants, pests, or a lack of pruning because you’ve neglected the plant for too long.
Despite being hardy plants, daylilies might have declined blooming or stopped growing flowers if you don’t grow them in the right conditions. Our gardening team will tell you about the best way to save your plants and restore their healthy look.
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Why Are The Daylily Not Blooming?
Daylily are not blooming because of the inadequate sun exposure is one of the common reasons. It might also stop blooming if you’ve been neglecting your plant by not pruning or dividing it. This plant might sometimes lose its flowers because of pests that regularly attack it.
– Inadequate Sunlight Exposure
Hemerocallis or daylilies aren’t true lilies, but they’re still quite popular as they come in various bright colors and are tolerant of high temperatures and drought. However, because they’re usually grown by novice gardeners who love how easy they’re to take care of, daylily plants might experience blooming or stop growing flowers if you don’t expose them to enough sunlight.
Too much sunlight can scorch this beautiful plant, so providing some afternoon shade is recommended. Darker daylily varieties are specifically more prone to damage when exposed to direct sunlight, as they might lose their bright and vibrant colors.
– Overcrowding
Daylilies establish quickly and grow fast, so they’re prone to overcrowding. Lack of or declined blooming is usually a sign that your plants are overcrowded because you don’t divide them often. So, if you’re wondering why are my Stella ‘D Oro daylilies not blooming, this might be because you’ve left too many of them in the same pot or next to each other.
Overcrowding means that your plants will compete for nutrients. This affects the overall health of plants, causing unhealthy foliage and failure to flower.
So, if your plant grows fewer flowers, you should divide it. Otherwise, it might stop flowering altogether because it’s neglected.
– Lack of Pruning
Although daylilies are popular among beginner gardeners, neglect can affect the plant, and cause declined or failed blooming. Your daylily blooms when you remove the spent flowers during summer. Flowers often last a day, but the plant can continue blooming for over five weeks.
However, leaving spent flowers on the plant leads to the formation of seed pods. These deprive the plant of essential energy, impact shoots and roots’ growth, and jeopardize future blooming.
Therefore, removing these seedpods is vital if you want your plant to continue blooming throughout the season. If you skip doing so, and they become growing in a hazardous way, you will see that they aren’t healthy anymore due to the lack of space.
– Pest Infestation
Although beginner gardeners love daylilies because they’re almost pest-free, the hemerocallis gall midge usually attacks these beautiful plants. This is a small, delicate fly with long legs and antennae and fond of attacking daylilies.
The gall midge lays its eggs in the flower buds of daylilies, and the larvae feed on them, preventing them from growing. The buds get swollen and stay closed because the larvae live inside and feed on them, so they won’t grow into flowers, and this can happen when they are also infested by aphids, as they would weaken them.
Gall midges usually attack daylilies in May to early July. You can tell that the gall midge infested your plant if the foliage looks normal, but the flower buds look abnormal. The infected buds are usually shorter and fatter than the normal ones. After they fail to open, they either dry or rot. You’ll also see the transparent maggots crawling around the buds.
– Poor Landscaping
In addition to being crowded by other daylilies, your plants might fail to bloom if you’ve made poor landscaping decisions. Planting daylilies next to established trees and bushes can lead to declining or failed blooming.
These established plants suck up most of the nutrients in the soil, leaving your daylilies hungry and deprived. Although daylilies aren’t heavy feeders, but you will see how they begin to struggle if the soil’s nutrients are depleted because other plants are sucking up all the nutrients. Daylilies aren’t aggressive competitors, so bigger trees and other plants will leave them malnourished, and the plants won’t bloom.
How To Help Daylily To Bloom Again?
To help daylily to bloom again you should adjust the sunlight exposure to it, and deal with the overcrowding. Then you should also make sure to prune it regularly, and treat the pests surrounding the plant, and make sure to redesign your landscape.
If you no longer see enough daylily flowers on the plant or your plant has stopped blooming, you can adjust sun exposure, divide daylilies, or treat the plant for infestations. Remove the plant away from established trees and shrubs to improve its access to nutrients.
– Adjust Sunlight Exposure
Daylilies care and maintenance guide states that these plants must grow in full sun. They’ll bloom and achieve their best foliage when they get proper amount of bright sunlight. So, when do daylilies bloom, can be a worry, but note that they bloom and thrive in full sun, so receiving at least six hours of direct bright sunlight is essential to keep them healthy. However, in extremely hot climates, this might be an issue.
So, if you’re growing them in the garden, ensure they’re not shaded by taller trees, shrubs, or structures that might shade them. Unfortunately, this is pretty common since some varieties of daylilies can only be a few inches tall, so rotate the plant to see the right extension of sunlight that would come to it.
You could redesign your garden, trim taller plants, or grow daylilies away from the shade of taller structures. Ensure that the flower bed has access to bright sunlight, but some afternoon shade might be necessary, especially if you’re growing a dark daylily variety.
If you’re growing daylilies in pots, this shouldn’t be a problem, as you can move your plant pot where it receives more light. Placing your plant pot next to a south-facing window is better if you live in a colder climate. In a hotter weather, an east-facing window will be an even better option because it can provide some afternoon shade from the hot sun.
– Deal With Overcrowding
If you see that your daylily plant is no longer blooming, this might happen because you stopped dividing your plant. Moving your plants to a new flower bed or pot will encourage new growth and blooming.
Root-bound plants struggle to grow because there’s no room for the roots to spread. This can lead to root death because the plant has no access to water or nutrients. In addition, you must also be cautious that some varieties can last three to five years in flower beds before being divided. However, you should do this more often if you grow daylilies in plant pots.
Dividing daylilies is better done in the spring or the growing season to give them time to establish. Ensure you don’t place them too deep into the soil, or they will fail to bloom. In this case, you should also make sure to change their pot if they have been getting bigger over time.
– Prune Regularly
Pruning and trimming the spent flowers and dead foliage saves the plant’s energy and encourages blooming. This is why, if your daylilies have stopped growing flowers, you might have neglected to trim and prune your plant for too long.
So, if you deadhead daylilies will they bloom again, and if you would, you may also worry on how to prune daylilies after they bloom? The blooms last a day or so, and removing them guarantees that the plant’s energy will be reserved for future flowering. This practice also ensures that your plants will look their best.
But when to cut back daylilies for winter? Doing this in the fall or after the first frost is best. Mow daylilies using a sterilized knife or shears to remove all the dead foliage and flowers. Keep in mind that removing the spent flowers and cutting the leaves back to a few inches, saves the plant’s energy.
As a matter of fact, this will encourage better growth in the spring when the temperature rises. You can remove the dead or spent flowers during the blooming season. This will redirect the plant’s energy and force it to produce more flowers. Leaving dead flowers will lead to the formation of seed pods that burst in the fall, causing the plant to spread.
– Treat Pests
Gall midges will affect the blooms but not the overall daylily plants. So, your plant will recover once you eliminate these pests. The best way to deal with these insects is to remove the infected buds as long as they start swelling.
This prevents the insects from spreading and infecting the rest of your plants. The pests might be transferred to your garden from nearby gardens, so talk to your neighbors about removing the infected flower buds on their plants.
The infected buds should be frozen for at least 48 hours or burning. They shouldn’t be used in compost as they’ll spread the infection to your plant. Unfortunately, no commercial pesticide or insecticide is currently available to deal with gall midges.
You will also see that in the right time, they will establish again and start blooming, as the beautiful flowers of daylily will last for only one day. Nevertheless, the plant will continue blooming for several weeks as long as you keep in the right growing conditions.
You should deadhead the spent flowers without harming nearby buds as long as the stem is still blooming, if the issue has grown more. Once it has seized blooming, you can cut it back to the ground to preserve the plant’s energy.
– Redesign Your Landscape
You don’t have to remove any shrubs and trees to learn how to revive daylilies. However, you might want to consider transplanting your daylilies if they grow in the shade.
It’s best to grow your plants in an empty space in your garden, giving them enough room to spread their roots and grow. These plants thrive in the right conditions and will fill up the space in no time.
You can also choose some good companion plants for daylilies, as some heavy feeders will deprive them of the essential nutrients. Good companion plants include lavender, daffodils, and Russian sage.
When grown from seeds, daylilies will take two to three years to start blooming, depending on their variety. However, if you’re growing them from roots, you might see their attractive bright blooms in the same year if you provide them with the right growing conditions.
Conclusion
Daylilies are popular because they’re easy to grow and produce brightly colored blooms throughout summer. If your daylilies aren’t blooming, this might be caused by some neglect in the plant’s care, so here’s a recap:
- Daylilies need at least six hours of full sun to grow their flowers.
- Overcrowding the plant, lack of pruning, pest infestations, and competition with other nearby plants can decline or prevent the blooming of your daylilies.
- Daylilies should be divided once every three to five years or when you notice that your plant is rootbound.
- Removing the dead flowers and gall midges-infected flower buds will encourage your plant to resume blooming.
It’s easy to maintain the gorgeous look of your daylilies and enjoy their vibrant blooms throughout the growing season by following our gardening team’s advice.
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