Benefits Of Pruning Daylilies In The Fall That No One Has Told You About

If you grow daylilies, sharpen your garden shears this fall because there's a satisfying checklist of snipping to do. Invest some time doing some heavy-handed pruning once summer has wound down, and you'll be rewarded in a wealth of ways, both in the short term and the long term. For starters, boosting growth and mitigating pests and diseases are pretty convincing reasons to tackle this task. Also, once the flowers fade, the plants are ready for their winter slumber, and the nutrients they waste trying to maintain spent leaves are better saved for next spring's growth. Help each plant conserve vital energy and stay healthy by pruning. 

Crowded dead foliage hinders airflow and provides nests for unwanted critters. Plus, spikes of dead plant matter in a garden aren't visually appealing, either. Fall-pruning your daylilies isn't a moderate affair, since you'll be cutting nearly everything away. Still, there are some specifics to keep in mind. Proper tool use, post-pruning care, and a few other nuggets of knowledge will ensure that the work you've done will yield the most benefits.

Let's keep those daylily plants looking neat after they're done flowering. Better yet, prep them for storing energy and moisture over winter. If the flowers are dead but there's still a bit more time in your growing season, you can cut down all of the tired leaves along with the dead stems. In a few weeks, a new flush of foliage should appear, ready to soak up extra energy to store for the upcoming growing season. Making cuts at 45-degree angles helps prevent water from collecting in the remnants of the leaves.

However, if the first frost is fast approaching or has already passed, the leaves can go. Clean, sharp shears are a must for any pruning task. Clip off all of the leaves to a couple of inches above the base of the plant and be cautious not to damage the crown (the white core you'll see between the leaves and the roots). Don't trash the leaves; they are ideal as part of your own DIY compost.

After their trim, treat the remnants to a dose of fertilizer and mulch. A balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10 or a rich layer of compost will do the trick. Top your daylily beds with a couple of inches of dead leaves, and avoid covering the crowns.