Weeds are always a problem in any garden situation. They take up space in your garden and worst of all weeds absorb the nutrients in the soil that you provide for the other garden plants. Daily weed control is necessary to remove the weeds completely from your garden. There are different methods to remove the different types of weeds. Daylilies can become a weed in your garden if they are not managed with proper maintenance and weed control measures are not done on time. Once established, the orange daylilies or the ditch lilies are difficult to discard.
Know the Weed
The common orange daylily or Hemerocallis fulva does not require any care to grow in your garden. Though they brighten up the garden, controlling daylily weeds or invasive species can be a challenging time as they can become real trouble for gardeners. The tuberous root of this hardy perennial has a high potential to grow. Killing these plants to stop the spread requires lots of effort and patience, so don’t panic.
Most H. fulva species form runners more than 20cm from the mother plant. H. lilioasphodelus also produces runners, however, the runners are usually 10cm long before the new shoots develop and come out of the soil.
Pull Out the Tubers
The easy method to eliminate them and completely remove these weeds from small areas is to pull out the tubers from the soil. Dig the soil look for the runners and tubers, and dispose of them safely in plastic bags. It is necessary to remove even the tiny bits of the tubers otherwise new daylily plants will grow from it. The positives are that this method is highly effective, but be aware you may have to repeat it two to three times maybe more.
Use Herbicides for Larger Areas
If you are looking for daily control in large areas, the best solution will be using a herbicide. It has been found that post-emergent herbicides containing glyphosate are the best and most efficient herbicide for established daylilies.
You do not have to cut off other plants or keep them isolated in any way from any other plant just make sure that the herbicide does not coat any other nearby plants. It is best to do this on a still day. It will take at least two weeks to get the plants killed by this method. You need to take out the roots and tubers once the top part of the plant dies off.
Smother the Daylilies
To smother the daylilies, you have to cut all the leaves at the soil level using a brush cutter or lawn mower. Cover the remaining part with thick layers of newspaper or black plastic sheet. Cover it with a layer of mulch that is 5 to 6 inches in thickness so that the plant does not get sunlight to grow. Regularly cut any new growth coming out through the layer of mulch.
Tips for Controlling Daylilies
- When using a lawn mower or whipper snipper to remove the top part, make sure that you are removing it to the ground level.
- After digging up the tubers for the first time, wait for 1 to 2 weeks. Look for any new shoots and dig again to take out any remaining tubers.
- Never throw the dugout tubers in the compost pile to avoid spreading the problem to other areas.
- You need to smother using mulch for about one year to completely kill these plants.
- The herbicide you use to kill the daylilies can sterilise the soil and no other plants will be able to grow there for a while.
- One should always be vigilant about returning daylilies that form stolons back into your garden. Learn how to identify this daylily variety to prevent them from growing where they are not wanted around our homes.
Try out organic methods before you use herbicides to control these weeds.