Oriental Lily Care & Propagation Instructions

Care

• 1

  Mulch Oriental lilies in early winter in locations where the ground freezes during winter, because the bulbs may be damaged when the temperature falls below 23 degrees Fahrenheit. New bulbs need 4 to 6 inches of organic mulch where snow cover will not stay all winter long.

• 2

  Remove the winter mulch after the last freeze in early spring, and replace it with a 1-inch mulch to protect bulbs from the summer sun’s heat. Avoid piling mulch against the lily’s stem.

• 3

  Treat your lilies to an application of phosphorus fertilizer each spring to give them a boost for their flowering phase. The University of Minnesota recommends a 5-10-10 slow-release fertilizer.

• 4

  Deadhead flowers when Orientals begin blooming in late summer to help the bulbs put all of their energy into new blooms. Faded blooms left on the plant may produce seed.

• 5

  Water Orientals during mid and late summer dry spells. Orientals are growing and setting blooms during some of the hottest and driest weather of summer, so provide their requisite inch of water a week.

Propagation

• 6

  After Orientals finish blooming and their stalks begin to die back in the fall, dig up the bulbs. The bulbs may have settled up to 4 inches deeper than they were planted.

• 7

  Brush the bulbs off -- do not wash them. Separate the small bulbs that have formed around the base, or growth plate of the bulb, and the little bulblets that grow along the stem above the bulb. Orientals do not set bulbils in their leaf axils as do their Asiatic relatives. Dust all of the bulbs and bulblets with a horticultural fungicide.

• 8

  Set the largest bulbs back in the lily plot. Set them, stem end up, 8 inches deep and at least 4 inches apart.

• 9

  Plant small bulbs and bulblets in a nursery plot in full sun to grow them to blooming age of about two years. Plant immature bulbs and bulblets three times as deep as they are tall in well-cultivated, well-drained soil with a pH of 6.5 to 7.0.

• 10

  Deeply water newly planted bulbs to encourage root development. Mulch them with 4 to 6 inches of organic mulch, and wait until spring to fertilize the new Oriental lilies.