How to Separate Day Lilies
- 1). Loosen the soil around your day lilies with a garden fork. Try to avoid damaging the day lily roots, which extend 6 to 12 inches beyond the perimeter of the leaves.
- 2). Using a garden fork or shovel, lift the root ball out of the ground.
- 3). Gently brush away some of the soil with your fingers and examine the day lily root ball. There should be an area in the middle that looks weak or thin. Use this as your guide for separating the clump.
- 4). Cut the root ball in half with a sharp knife. You may also pry it apart with a garden fork. If the root ball is very large, you may make several divisions. If you like, you can even use your fingers to separate individual plants. Make sure that each division has a fan of leaves and an attached cluster of roots.
- 5). Replant the newly separated day lilies by digging a hole for each division and burying it at the same depth it was growing before. If you are planting individual day lilies, without any soil attached to the root ball, build a small mound inside the planting hole and spread out the roots over the mound.
- 6). Cover the soil around your replanted day lilies with mulch and water well.
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