I had some trouble last year because of the wet summer, and I looked at botrytis but I wasn't sure if that was the culprit. Last year the lilies all bloomed fine, but the stalks on many browned immediately after blooming, on some it started before the bloom - it was like they just rotted. I will usually leave the lily stalks until spring (visual aid in where everything is planted) but last year I removed them all & did not compost them in case they were diseased. After freeze up I put down fresh straw mulch and this year, all came up fine albeit some were slightly smaller than they should have been (those that had browned so quick after blooming). There were a few buds with small dark spots and the odd misshaped one, but we had bruising hail in early July when the buds were forming so that may have been a cause.

We've not had all that constant rain this year so right now the lily stalks look healthy and should have a normal die back.

I'm about to hop over to the Lily Nook site - the orientals are blooming so beautiful, I want more, more, mwuahahahaha.

Hmmm, that may be what i had on a couple of lilies over the past couple of years. I wasn't sure what it was, but had the same symptoms as Pudge. This year, many of my lilies were small and never bloomed, and some grew well but never developed buds. This wasn't related to the browned, rotted stems, though - just something else with lilies this year that i was wondering about.

Pudge, i thought about that too with the Orientals, but they don't ship Orientals in the fall :(

Sharon ~ I was out at Parkland last week and Bob commented on how terrible the blight was this year. He also said that he could not remember a year so wet. The asiatics and hybrids looked like they had been through a forest fire. Just aweful! :(

Did Bob say what he was going to do about it? I have a friend who has the same problem.

That's exactly what mine did this year, they were blooming just fine, then boom, it took over in just a few days and only in the holding bed garden, the rest of the lilies out in the other gardens are fine. Today I cut back all the infected stems and threw them in the trash, weeded and raked as much debris as possible. Going to my local UFA on my next days off to make the BORDEAUX MIX recipe and try that.
Although I sure appreciated all the moisture this year, it sure took a toll on those lilies.

Here is a link that might be useful: Botrytis Control On Lilies

Marie ~ He didn't say, just that he was getting out of the lilites and sticking with peonies and daylilies.

I'm no expert but I've had what appears to be two different issues on lilies. I don't know which one or both is botrytis. sometimes one single stem of a lily will turn black and collapse very quickly, as in fine one day and two days later completely dead pile of black mush. Then sometimes I have widespread yellowing and slow death of the lower leaves throughout many of my lilies. I have that this year. It could be because of the heat and dryness, although I have been watering.

Anyway I have always assumed the first was botrytis. Usually it only happens to one stem and all the other lilies will be fine. The lily will regrow normally the next year.

Try Serenade. It's a bacteria that's a biofungicide. Worth a shot I suppose.

Just FYI, wear eye and nose/mouth protection if you're spraying copper sulphate.

This link might help to ID botrytis. This is exactly what Bob is dealing with and his diagnoses is botrytis. He told me it was due to the excessive moisture and hail. From what I have read this is the number one cause.

http://plantlilies.com/Botrytis-Most-common-disease-of-lilies.html

Thanks for the id. I have it too. lilies that were huge last year, barely came up. Hope at least some make a recovery for next year. Cheryl

Man oh man, a bulk bag Copper Sulfate/ Bluestone powder ain't cheap! $75! I need it though, otherwise I will lose hundreds of $ of lilies.

Will do Shazam, got my armour suit, mask, goggles ready.