Q. When is the best time of year to divide a Lily of the
Nile? Please tell me how to do it. I have 1 that is about 10 years old and it
isn’t looking very good.
A. The soil might be getting exhausted. They do like a
fairly rich soil and if you do not apply compost to them frequently the soil
can get mineralized and they will begin to look peaked (yellowing with little
growth or poor flowering). They like organic mulches and do not like rock mulch
at all.
other plants. In the trades they refer to them as bulbs but they are not bulbs
at all. It is late (April) to do it now but you can divide them in early spring
(February) or fall around October 1 to 15.
You would wet the soil and lift them
with a shovel being careful not to damage the “bulb”. After lifting them, wash
the bulb (looks like fingers) with a strong stream of water from a hose and get
the mud off of them. Cut them apart with a sharp knife. It is best to not
divide them into too many small “bulbs” but you should have two or three
growing points in each “bulb” that you replant.
Wash the cuts and dust them
with a fungicide like Thiram or allow them to air dry in the shade before you
replant them. Replant them with the buds (in the spring you may see a bud but
in the fall it’s the end with the leaves) pointing up and about two inches
deep. They can be planted about 18 to 24 inches apart with soil amended with
compost and a starter fertilizer.