Our tiger lilly beds have grown thicker than ever thanks to a mild winter and deer spray, but over the past week the lower leaves have begun to turn yellow in one of our larger beds. (Plants in the other beds appear fine.) We've had a couple of unusually cool nights (upper-30s) and the temps have been cooler than normal overall since early April, but the plants showed now signs of stress until now. April was significantly wetter than average and, while the rain subsided over the past couple weeks, we're certainly not dry. I fed the plants in March with a dry fertilizer (Holly-tone), but they've done fine in years when I haven't fed at all. I've posted some pics below and would appreciate thoughts on what is going on and what I can do to help them. Thanks!
Tiger Lilly Leaf Yellowing
- Thread starter goose70
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No need for Holly-tone fertilizer until mid summer. Your plants are suffering from a cold and wet season and when you gave it Holly-tone fertilizer it caused the yellowing leaves. The good thing is your plants will be ok in the next few weeks, as the temps warm up and the soil dries. So be patient and hang in there. .
The yellowing of the leaves has spread and worsened. The center of the plants are still green, but most outer and lower leaves have turned yellow/brown. I don't think the weather has been particularly unusual; a bit less rainfall than usual, but no heat (until today). No sign of aphids or other pests. Should I try
a fungicide?
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Take a hand trowel and dig down about hand deep and get a feel of the soil. If its bone dry then water, if its wet then wait and allow the soil to dry. Too much or too little water is the #1 reason that can cause leaf yellowing with tiger lily. The photos above showing your green blades are too healthy and green to be nutrient problem. That's why I suspect watering issue.
I think I got to the bottom of it. Spider mites! When I raised this issue again with my local nursery, their plant expert said that spider mites have been a big problem this year in Maryland. I went out to look more closely at the leaves and, sure enough, found a little red dot on one of them. I bought some organic spray and doused the plants. Fingers crossed.
I didn't think it was a watering issue because (1) the soil was neither soaked nor bone dry and in the past, our lilies have proven very resilient to both conditions and (2) the problem was spreading rather than effecting all the plants simultaneously.
I didn't think it was a watering issue because (1) the soil was neither soaked nor bone dry and in the past, our lilies have proven very resilient to both conditions and (2) the problem was spreading rather than effecting all the plants simultaneously.
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The red spotted spider mite is a very hard to kill and will need to be sprayed ever 3 days up to 12 days to get the freshly hatched eggs. They love a hot and dry environments. However, I don't think its spider mites because you would see webs, and speckled bites on the blades. The two most common and recognizable diseases causing the most lily plant problems are Basal Rot, and Botrytis blight. Basal Rot is more destructive to the entire plant. As a result, it attacks not only the stem but the bulb, also. Dig up a lily bulb and stem of the infected plant and post it so I can get a look at it.