The Best Ways to Kill Weeds in Beds of Daylilies

The daylily gets its name from the Greek words "hemera" and "kallos," literally meaning "day beauty." As the name implies, each daylily bloom lasts only one day before it dies. While this may seem like a lot of work for only one day of enjoyment, the daylily is relatively maintenance free as it can adapt to different soil and light conditions. Perhaps the main problem associated with a daylily garden bed is invasive weeds.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You’ll Need

• Landscape fabric
• Mulch
• Herbicides

1. Pull out the weeds manually for a natural, hands-on approach. According to Sandy Feather from the Penn State Cooperative Extension, it’s possible to exhaust the root reserves of the weeds, which ultimately causes them to die off. Manual removal must be performed two or more times per week, so it can be a labor intensive option for large garden beds.
2. Apply landscape fabric on the soil of the garden bed to suffocate the weeds. The fabric must be laid around the daylilies, leaving an inch of space around the stems. Landscape fabric has the tendency to absorb and retain excessive heat, so lay 2 to 3 inches of mulch on top of the fabric to reduce some of the heat retention.
3. Apply herbicides to the soil for a chemical approach. According to a publication by the University of Tennessee Department of Plant sciences, a combination of selective pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicides works best for effectively controlling weeds in a daylily bed. Pre-emergent herbicides work at preventing future weed growth while post-emergent works for grown weed. An herbicide containing fluazifop-P-butyl works well for broadleaf weeds. Always follow the application directions for the chosen herbicide.

Tips & Warnings

• Newspaper can be used in place of landscape fabric for a cheaper option. Lay three to five layers of newspaper on the soil around the dayliles and cover it with 3 inches of mulch.

• Mulch can also be used on its own, but it my not be as effective as using it in combination with landscape fabric or newspaper.