Lily propagation: turning one bulb into twenty by scaling

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A single lily bulb can be turned into twenty new plants in one operation, using nothing but a clean knife and a bag of compost. The technique is called scaling, and it works because every scale on a lily bulb is capable of producing a bulblet of its own.

That is unusual. Most bulbs multiply only by slow division, and it explains why lilies are among the cheapest plants to increase yourself and among the most expensive to buy in quantity.

Scaling: the method that multiplies fastest

The bulb survives the operation and flowers as usual, provided you take no more than a third of its scales.

• Lift the bulb after the foliage has died back, or work on a freshly bought bulb
• Snap the outer scales downward and outward so each breaks away with a piece of the base plate attached. That fragment is what matters — a scale torn off without it will not form a bulblet
• Take a third at most, then replant the parent bulb immediately
• Dust the scales with fungicide if you have it, and let the broken surfaces dry for an hour
• Put them in a bag of barely moist compost or vermiculite, seal it, and keep it somewhere warm and dark — around 20 °C
• Bulblets appear in six to ten weeks at the base of each scale. Pot them on individually once they have roots, in a free-draining mix

Expect flowers in two to three years. Losses are normal: aim for fifteen usable plants from twenty scales.

Bulbils: the effortless method, for the species that offer it

Some lilies — tiger lilies above all, and a handful of others — form small dark bulbils where the leaves meet the stem.

• Pick them once they detach at a touch, usually as the flowers fade
• Press them into a tray of compost, just covered, and keep it cool and moist
• They root within weeks and flower in two to three years
• Left on the plant they drop and root where they fall, which is how a single tiger lily becomes a colony

Bulblets and division: the slow, certain route

• Bulblets form underground on the stem, above the parent bulb. Lift the clump, detach them, and grow them on in a nursery bed for two years
• Division applies once a bulb has split into several noses. Separate them by hand rather than cutting, and replant at once — lily bulbs must not be left lying about to dry
• The best moment for both is after the foliage has died back, which is also when you would deal with the clump for winter
• The principle is the same as dividing any perennial, with the caution that lilies dislike disturbance and may sulk for a season

The mistakes that lose a batch

• Scales taken without a piece of the base plate. The single commonest failure — they simply rot
• Compost too wet. Barely moist means it holds together when squeezed and releases no water. Anything wetter rots the scales
• Propagating from a virused plant. Mottled leaves or streaked flowers mean every bulblet will carry the virus — see lily diseases
• Letting bulbs dry out. Unlike a tulip, a lily bulb has no tunic and dies if left bare and dry
• Impatience. Two to three years to flowering is normal; a bulblet forced with fertiliser makes leaves, not flowers

For the plant itself, see the lily care guide, and growing lilies in pots for raising the young bulbs on. As with every part of the plant, the material you are handling is toxic to cats.