I went ahead and dug up the bulb. It wasn't as deep as I thought it was. The stem was twisted and I passed by some critter's tunnel on the way down. The bulb looked fine, but I was unable to break off a bit of the basal plate with any of the scales :(

Anyone with tips on how to break off a scale AND get some of the basal plate with it? Should I have left the bulb intact for a day or two to dry out before trying to break off some scales?

Hi Anita,

Sometimes it doesn't look like any plate is with the scale - yet the scale produces bulblets. If you break off the scale far enough down that there is a chance of a trace of basal plate being on it go ahead and plant it. After all what do you have to lose?

I know this because I'm not very good at breaking off the scales either. So anyone out there with tips please chime in and do both of us a favor! :)

-Helen

Just an update,

I had 13 scales, 2 just disappeared in the seedling mix. But the other 11 have itty bitty mitten shaped protrusions. I think it worked! Some of these protrusions are further up the scale than I expected. From now on, I'm going to take off a couple of scales from every lily bulb I get. This is just too much fun.

Hi Anita,

Let your "protrusions" get a little root or two then carefully break off from the scale and plant in a peat pot with potting soil and put them in a protected location (sunny spot on a porch) where you can baby them. Put the scale back and it will make more bulblets. You can get a lot of "lily babies" off of one productive scale.

In late summer/early fall plant the peat pots in the ground and mulch, (but pull the mulch back in early spring so they can come up and so slugs don't get them). I'd put a plant tag in each peat pot, since they'll be pretty small when they come up next year. Because of their small size things happen to bulbets pretty easily so make as many as you can to plant out. Besides, it's hard to have too many lilies!

Congrats!

-Helen