Cheryl, you only need to leave 1/3 of the stem. You can cut 2/3s. We cut the entire stem because we no longer carry the bulbs over; and, customers pay more $$$$ for very long stems.

And, I have a very, very sad story about 300 lilies; but, I can't share at this time. It has been a dreadful day.......

Are you kidding me? How the heck did I get that backwards! I'm very sorry to hear about your dreadful day, and I won't ask about the lilies, but it sounds like a big loss. Please share your story when you can, you can always get lots of support here on this forum, and we all feel your pain. Thanks for your answer to my question.
Cheryl

Flowerfarmer,
Do you field grow your lilies or do them all in crates?
Kirk

Kirk,
We grow in crates in the hoophouse. We also do some in pots for early plant sales.
We have some in the field from a few years ago that we don't cut -- if the late frost doesn't get them the deer do.........

I've found that I can cut up to 1/2 of the stem and STILL have a slightly bigger plant the following year. If I want a MUCH bigger plant, I go with the 1/3 (from the top) rule. I've never cut as much as 2/3, as I'm afraid the plant will be no bigger and may be smaller. On my older lilies, that's no loss, in fact it may be a virtue, since they have gotten so big that they are hard to use in bouquets. I'm experimenting with that this year, cutting some of the big dudes 2/3, and will see the results next year.

Jeanne

You are confusing me. (It doesn't take much) One says 2/3, and the other says 1/3. One thing for sure, on these asiatics, it WOULD be a blessing if they were smaller next year. What do you do with these things??? They look like a small tree stuck in a vase. I'm at a loss for how to do these, as nothing really looks right with them. I used oasis and did a large arrangement for myself yesterday because I just couldn't make it look right in a vase. I have lots of flowers that look good with the bright orange, feverfew is great, coreopsis, shastas, hot pink dianthus, veronica, ect.. but can't figure out how to bring it all together due to the size of these things. Maybe they are just too big to be useful. They have 20-26 buds on them. I needed loppers to cut them. Ha.(no kidding) Anyway, on the cutting, maybe I should just split the difference and cut half. Thanks
Cheryl

Cheryl, let the darned things bloom for awhile and enjoy them until they are down to a manageable bunch of buds!

Liza

Liza,
Good suggestion. They are a dark orange, and really nice to look at in the garden.
Cheryl

I'm finding that I can cut 1/2 of the stem off, and the Asiatics and Asiatic crosses will STILL be too big the next year. With the orientals, I've generally cut no more than 1/3 off, and those are getting too big also.

With the overly-huge stems, I usually do what LizaLily does, and wait until the stem is down to a manageable number of buds. Or I'll cut some of the flowers off before trying to arrange with it. You can try selling the big guys by the stem but not that many people want to buy them. Another way out is to use just one stem, add a little greenery, and several of a small flower in a contrasting color, and voila, you have a bouqet that is much easier to sell than single stem, and wasn't a whole lot more work. This works best if the single stem has flowers at different levels already, rather than just the bottom row open, so sometimes you still have to wait to cut it.

Jeanne