Scale Cuttings

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23618, 30 March 1940, Page 8 (Supplement)

Scale Cuttings

r simplest way of increasing lilies :is, of course, by means of the offsets or bulblets produced by the parent bulb. When once a choice lily has become established, the novice grower is naturally chary of lifting it. He hopes it will increase in size and form a large clump. Some lilies can bo increased very quickly by means of seeds, but this method cannot bo employed where special varieties, or the choice hybrids, are concerned, for they will not come true from the seed. There remains the method of propagating by means of scalei cuttings, a simple and interest-

Way to Increase Lilies

ing process. When planting lily bulbs, it will not harm them to remove a few of the outer scales from each, provided the bulbs are then dusted with sulphur. Dibble the scales into pots or boxes of sandy compost, place in a greenhouse or frame and keep moderately moist. As a result ot this treatment, ft number of small bulbils will he produced on the margin. Leave undisturbed in the pots until leat growth commences in spring. The bulbils can then be pricked out into boxes of leafy compost, or in a specially prepared bed in a sheltered outdoor position.