Integrated Open-Field Cultivation Strategies for Two Functional Lily Cultivars: Balancing Ornamental Performance and Bulb Production

Functional lilies provide flowers, edible bulbs, and propagules, but these outputs compete for assimilates. We evaluated how planting depth, plastic-film mulch, and flower-bud removal affected ornamental traits, bulb production, and harvest timing in ‘Feixiang Shaohua’ and ‘Feixiang Tiancheng’ under open-field conditions. Responses were cultivar- and trait-specific. With buds retained, mulching at 10 cm produced the greatest mean stem diameter in ‘Feixiang Shaohua’ and the greatest first-bud length and mean plant width in ‘Feixiang Tiancheng’, although plant width did not differ between mulched depths. In ‘Feixiang Shaohua’, mulching combined with 14 cm planting and bud removal produced the greatest observed mean new-bulb fresh mass (85.66 g; 120.29% above the preplanting mean) and large stem bulblets but was not uniquely superior across all traits. In ‘Feixiang Tiancheng’, mulched bud-removal treatments at both depths produced the greatest observed mean new-bulb masses (66.73–66.76 g) but did not differ significantly from the corresponding bud-retention treatments. Planting at 14 cm increased bulblet number in some comparisons, whereas depth did not affect maximum bulblet mass or circumference under mulch. Bulb fresh mass and circumference generally declined initially and then recovered, with renewed growth beginning approximately 40–60 d after 80% shoot emergence and the highest late-season values occurring mainly at 100–110 d. The observed values and replicate-specific trajectories suggested preliminary harvest-timing ranges of approximately 90–110 d for ‘Feixiang Shaohua’, approximately 100 d for unmulched ‘Feixiang Tiancheng’, and approximately 90–110 d for plastic-mulched ‘Feixiang Tiancheng’. These findings support cultivar- and objective-specific management of ornamental performance, bulb production, propagation, and harvest timing.