How to Get a Daylily to Flower

Choose a spot for your daylilies in full sun or filtered shade. Work 6 inches of well-rotted manure or compost into the top 12 inches of soil. Smooth the soil with a garden rake. Space daylily plants 18 to 24 inches apart.

Dig a hole twice the diameter of the pot or root ball and 2 inches deeper. Add 2 inches of compost or manure into the bottom of the hole. Fill the hole with water and let it soak in.

Make a mound of compost or manure in the center of the hole. Spread the roots out over the mound and refill the hole, tamping the soil down with your fingers. Adjust the plant as you fill the hole so that the crown is not buried.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup Epsom salt around each plant to help roots establish well. Work it lightly into the soil and water the plants thoroughly. Water your daylilies every other day for the first 2 weeks and then at least twice a week if there is not 1 inch of rain. Daylilies can survive drought, but produce more and better blooms if kept well watered.

Fertilize daylilies three times a year using fertilizer with a 3:1:2 ratio, such as an 18-6-12. Use a rate of 1-1/2 pounds per 100 square feet of bed, or 1/2-cup spread in a foot diameter around each plant.

Watch your daylilies carefully for spider mites and thrips, and treat with an organic pesticide. Treat daylily rust by removing affected foliage and spraying with an organic fungicide such as liquid copper or neem oil.