How To Kill Daylilies? – 6 Easy Ways

Introduction

It’s a common scenario that daylilies have spread over the garden beds and shade out weeds. Chances are you are facing something like that. However, there are ways to get rid of this.

So, that being said, how to kill daylilies?

In this article, we talked about 6 easy ways to kill daylilies. Let’s get to know them!

6 Easy Processes to Kill Daylilies

So, here you go with 6 possible and effective ways to get the job done.

Hand-Weeding Process

The basic way to kill daylilies is simply hoeing and hand-weeding. If you can do it regularly, this will be an effective weed control in your daily beds. You may dig out the area but it is not an option when it disturbs your daily plants.

However, if you use a scuffle hoe to cut weeds down at the soil surface for hoeing open areas between plants then it can get rid of lily roots. A scuffle hoe is a narrow, D-shaped, sharp blade that forms a straight line.

Also, you may do the hand weed job using a trowel in narrow spaces between daily plants. If you can go through the hand-weed process every week, it will kill weed seedlings as well as weaken perennial weed roots. This will make the weeds exhausted and let them die.

Process ‘In the Dark’

Well, what does this mean?! For this process, you have to deprive daylilies of light. Use landscape fabric and organic mulches to control weeds by depriving them of light. However, hand-weeding or applying herbicides before laying fabric or mulches will provide you the best result.

To set aside any emerging shoots, place the landscaping fabric on open areas while daylilies are growing strongly. To keep the landscaping fabric and the mulch, weigh them down with stones. A 3-inch layer of organic mulch (e.g shredded bark or cocoa hulls, wood chips) can also kill the weeds (by depriving air) emerging among daily plants.

Remember, if you keep the mulch near the stems of the daylily, it will cause rotting. Sometimes, weeds might appear from under the fabric or through mulches. Do not forget to remove them by hand or simply spray a systemic weedkiller (after protecting daylilies with a barrier).

Mowing the Area

Mowing helps you get rid of most of the unwanted stuff on your lawn. It’s an obvious option for you is to mow the area where daylilies have been invaded. To do so, you can use a mower blade and then put it at its lowest setting. Now, you may proceed to remove all of the growing plants.

What if the area where daylilies are growing cannot be mowed? Well, in such a case, you can use a string trimmer instead of a mower. You should mulch the area after mowing it. For this, you may cover the entire area with about 12 inches of mulch. As we mentioned before, this will prevent sunlight from being absorbed by daylilies. You can expect the mulch will kill off the daylilies in about a year.

Even so, keep this in your mind that daylilies will perhaps try to come back through the mulch itself. So, reapplying mulch again (when you see any green parts coming back through them) is an important job. Also, when you see any daily growth back, you can just add in a layer of newspaper. Besides, water it well before you add in another batch of mulch.

Using a Weed Barrier

You can cover areas or places that have been affected using a plastic weed barrier. This also works as an ‘in the dark’ process. Because in this way, the daylilies will be deprived of sunlight. Eventually, this will kill the daylilies themselves.

Using Systemic Weed Killers

In case, all the above-mentioned methods fail, you can use a systemic weed killer that will control perennial weeds in your daily beds. Systemic weed killers travel through weeds from their leaves to the roots and prevent them from regrowing.

Start working on a dry, still day to spray all the weed parts with a ready-to-use 2% glyphosate solution. Before doing so, use small cardboard or similar barriers to protect the ground or close other plants. Systemic herbicides take 2 to 3 weeks to kill the weeds. In addition, they will also control persistent weeds growing from beneath mulch or landscape fabrics.

Applying Pre-Emergent Weed Killer

Well, this is something like a line of defense, weed seeds lie dormant in the garden unless they are triggered to grow. However, if you apply a pre-emergent herbicide to daily beds in spring and fall, it will provide year-round weed germination control. So, the intention of this process is to prevent the germination of the weed seeds.

You may use a granular herbicide at a rate of 1 ounce/10 square feet or simply according to the manufacturer’s instruction. Remember to activate the chemical after application by watering the soil.

A point worth noting here is that pre-emergent weed killers form a chemical barrier on the soil surface. For this, hoeing may reduce their effectiveness. If you apply them under a mulch, they will be preventing weed generation at the soil surface but not on the top of that mulch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Especially which daily life is extremely invasive and difficult to control?

Answer: Common orange daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) also known as ditch lily or tiger lily.

Question: Can hot water kill daylilies?

Answer: Yes, it could be effective. Because though daylilies can tolerate a wide range of growing conditions, boiling water will scald the plant tissues and cook roots. So, you may pour boiling water on them.

Conclusion

So, that’s all we wanted to say to you. We hope that at the end of this article, ‘how to kill daylilies?’ is not a big question for you.

As we showed you a total of six options of killing daylilies, pick one that you want to try the most. And, it’s better to try a natural way first before using chemical products.