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This is related to my previous question about deadheading daylilies. I did a good job of pruning some, although I neglected others.

All of the flowers have gone by and I'd like to know when to remove the stalks. They die from the top down, so the tops can be gray and brittle even when there are green, pliable areas closer to the base of the plant. Are those green areas still providing nutrition, even when the rest is so far gone that further flowering isn't possible?

Do the dead stalks affect the health of the neighboring live ones? If so, should I remove each one as it dies? I think each is connected to an individual tuber or root system, so it wouldn't matter, but I don't know if that's correct.

Obviously the plants are prettier without dead stalks, but other than the aesthetics of it, is there a general rule of thumb?

The stalks in this picture are mostly dead, although if you look closely, you can see a bit of green at the base of one or two. Unfortunately I don't have a picture that shows the process at an earlier stage, where the stalks are alive farther up.

enter image description here

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Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
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1 Answers1

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If you have the time, clip out the flowered stems as close to the base as possible now; if you clip out one or two leaves by accident, that's not a problem, many professional growers deliberately remove weak, damaged or crowded leaf stems anyway. There are two reasons for removing flowered stems - one is to make the plant look a lot tidier, and the second is to prevent seeding, although that particular ship may already have sailed! It's not the end of the world if you don't get round to it, they'll still grow and flower next year.

Note that, as a basic principle, flowered stems do not contribute anything back to the rhizome/bulb/corm/tuber of a plant, quite the reverse if they produce seed, that takes energy away from the roots; it's the green leaves which do that job.

Bamboo
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  • Perfect answer, although I am much more inclined to just rip the stalk out. It should pop off the bottom with no trouble. It has done its job and if you don't take those stalks off the plant will continue to use energy to abscise a worthless part of its anatomy. I pull those stalks when the last flower is done. – stormy Aug 24 '16 at 19:39
  • I see a seed capsule in your picture...try not to allow this to happen unless you want seed. Pull fingers through the leaves to remove dead foliage. – stormy Aug 24 '16 at 19:41
  • Thanks Bamboo, and @stormy for this excellent advice. My new word for the day is abscise - love it! As for the foliage, I usually wait until more is dead before combing through it. I have about 20 plants, and am just lazy I guess. I do notice, though, that sometimes the ground underneath is wet and moldy, which I suppose is another good reason to remove the dead foliage sooner. – Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL Aug 24 '16 at 21:36
  • @Sue - how dedicated you are, I never bother with any of that nonsense, feeling life's too short, but in the UK, they disappear below ground by October,, so all the foliage comes off anyway. Does that not happen where you are? – Bamboo Aug 24 '16 at 22:22