What ate my day lilies?

Question

I have a few of these but don't know the name. I went out the other day to cut a couple for my table and they were GONE! Something ate them. There were no tracks around anywhere. They looked like they were cut off clean. Any ideas what got them?

Sensible Gardening and Living · Answer

Cathy , if you have deer it could be them although they usually just go for the buds.

Lori J · Answer

A neighbor with a pair of scissors? I have kids pick from my alley garden. Caught the pair at it and since I started it as a community beautification project, I asked them to not to cut more than one lily and take as many of the heliopsis as they want.

White Oak Studio Designs · Answer

I too suspect deer. The deer here wait for the buds to just open and then over night they are gone. It's very frustrating!

Cathy Murphy · Answer

If you look closely in the picture to the right of the blooms you can see where the others used to be. There are no deer tracks in the yard, or in the dirt near the flower bed and we have had a lot of rain. We moved to NC from WV and we had deer in the yard every day almost, but they always left tracks. Nothing has touched my Tiger Lilies...yet.

Douglas Hunt · Answer

Light-footed deer.

White Oak Studio Designs · Answer

The stem looks exactly like mine do when the deer have visited our 'B & B' (i.e. my garden!) They browse, so they eat some stems and not others. They also appear to have certain taste preferences, eating some favorites and not others.

Peg · Answer

The 'day lily' last for...a Day. They'll go limp and eventually drop off and leave a void on the stem. The deer will usually nip off more than just the bud. Sometimes the entire top of the stem with all of the buds will be gone. Yum! But, they can pop off just the bud. A Fresh bud is harder to pop off then a 'spent' one though.

Cherie · Answer

To me your daylilies look like the spent blooms naturally fell off. Most of mine require deadheading to look good but a few of them self-deadhead. Yours may be one that does, or you say you had rain and that can also break off blooms! Check the ground around the daylily for spent blooms.

Elaine Simmons · Answer

Do you have ground squirrels around your place? I saw one chomping on mine. He bit most of the leaves off before I caught him.

Jude · Answer

There are a certain type of beetles who like to eat lilies of ALL varieties, and often lay eggs inside the developing lily head as it is growing, the lilies then look normal until it comes to them opening and then there is nothing! Here in the UK I grow yellow lilies and it is a bright RED beetle that decimates my flowers - this year, every day, I went around my garden and crushed them and have an almost perfect crop of wonderful flowers for my troubles. Lily's are a favourite for all types of insects - useful one that help to pollenate, and others that eat through the petals to get to the nectar. Have a look for small puncture marks at the base of the petals, and keep a look out for insects that seem to spend a LONG time on your lilies! I hope this helps - we are lucky that deer can't get into my garden, but a visiting fox, hedgehog and other nocturnal creatures do!

Starla Swanson · Answer

First thought is deer. We are also seeing birds 'feathering their nests' with petals. One friend caught blackbirds stripping flowers off the stems and flying off, presumably to a nest with their harvest.

Kathy · Answer

I have day lilies all over my yard. They are a favorite of the deer. They can strip a garden in a short time.

Shelly M · Answer

The deer ate my Tiger Lillies...every one! It looks like a clean cut, but we actually caught them at it!

Nancy ONeil · Answer

I have a deer problem and they just love daylilies. The picture you posted does not look like the end result of a deer feast, just the natural drop off of spent blooms. The deer leave a ragged torn stub and will eat multiple stems at a browsing. To Jude - we have the red lily beetles here as well. They are nasty little devils and can totally strip a plant of all leaves and flowers.They eat Asiatic Lilies but do not bother the daylillies (Hemerocallis). They were so destructive I was forced to stop growing Asiatics.

B · Answer

Deer love mine! The buds just disappear overnight.

Denise Disinger · Answer

I have day lilies on the side of my house and they were full of buds but a few days later they were all gone. The deer ate them all. I hope they enjoyed them :-)

Elizabeth Gladden · Answer

Cathy, I live in Morganton, NC. I have had lots of daylilies over many years. This really looks as if the spent bloom has fallen off. I love daylilies and iris.

Sandra R · Answer

Don't forget turtles tortous(sp).

Kathleen · Answer

Your chopped off stems look just like those at my place, and in my case definitely deer. Sprinkle egg shells, human or pet hair around and deter them from taking more. So very upsetting! I had rabbits do that to my tulips in the spring too:(

Nancy Christopher-Morrison · Answer

I agree with those who said that just looks like a spent flower....not deer damage...they eat the flower and leave a piece of the flower behind. Day lilies last a day.

Joanie1051 · Answer

That's what daylily scapes look like when the spent flowers drop off them. They aren't for use as a cut flower since they only last a day, then wither. Unless you only need a few flowers for one day for some event.

Nancy Williams · Answer

buy a cheap bar of face soap, carve a small hole in the middle, thread heavy butcher string thru the hole, leave a long strand, tie tight, hang close to your flowers, shrubs or in a tree nearby...deer don't like the smell of bar soap.  I've done this for years, no deer eating my bird seed or flowers. N.W.

MaryAnn B · Answer

Perhaps they were yesterday's blooms and they just fell off.

Kathleen · Answer

Nancy reminded me of the soap, and it really works!

Deb Powell · Answer

I too had a problem Its either a rabbit, squirrels or a deer.. Like I said before squirrels do a lot of damages I have seen them eat my lilies, daisy's, Pumpkins, and many other gardens plants spray pepper spray it does the trick Most of the time but after it rained you should spray again

Andrea · Answer

We have those little red beetles here also and they will do damage to Lilies in no time at all..They lay their eggs under the leaves and you have to smear them off..lol..I have a friend who does that for and she also squishes any and all beetles with her fingers!!!! YUCK....cut worms are good for clipping tops off of flowers too..dig around the plant, just a little, and see if you have cut worms under the soil near the plants, if so KILL them...

Kathy · Answer

The last few years I have had the little red beetles. I dug a little trench near all my lilies that had problems with the beetles and put in a banana peel. I had read that as the banana peel rots it gives off a smell.. I have seen a few red beetles, but the didn't eat my plants. I still squished them anyway.

Mary Richard · Answer

Neighbors!! These are gorgeous. ; )

Margita · Answer

@Nancy Williams, the soap does not work!! (Note the bar dangling next to the deer's head). I am not sure if it is an old wives tale and I fell for it. But I saw a squirrel soaping up with the bar and running through the sprinklers ;)

Elaine Simmons · Answer

Margita, had no idea squirrels were that clean! LOL

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