I am sure this has been discussed before ..but here goes. This mainly deals with water lilies and lotus . here are my thoughts
If I were asked I would always suggest lotus if possible..I have had good luck with them and little problems and LOW maitenance. Remember most get VERY big quickly so keep it to one or two or you'll be overgrown even with a 1500 gal pond like I have...or go with smaller dwarf varieties
Why not lilies ...well if you like to work alot on your ponds go for it THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL..But they grow just much too fast for me... one 3" tuber will be 24-30" long and 5"-10" thick in one season in my pond ...You really have to repot each year and even then it will push dirt into your pond . I have a mess from them in one pond especially now I just let them grow in the pushed out soil on the bottom.I love 'em but find them too much work for me . I might add if you do go the lilly route don't plant too many the fewer the better 3-4 plants in a 1500 gal garden is more than enough and by the end of the first season you'll see why...
Frogs can also push out dirt even with rock on top like I have ...yes you can screen them but thats more work.
For my lotus I use fairly large rectangular clothes plastic storage containers 15 gal?? I drill holes in the bottom line with lanscape fabrick and add dirt and an inch of peas gravel on top..it works great. Use too small of containers and they become floaters pretty quick even with a heavy flagstone on top they will tip!!! or tip over in the bottom during the winter ( I overwinter all my plants no problem ).
Please feel free to post your experiences these are mine
Plants too many ...too few what types
Hey thanks; myersphcf for the tip. I was sure I needed dirt for lotus but all the sources I had around here said to use the pond soil [baked clay]. So far no luck with lotus.
I have quite a few lilies but the Koi love the roots so when they tend to grow outside the pond baskets the Koi have a snack. I do however have to split them up every other year and repot them. That is a job waiting till spring though. as I didn't trim the leaves and stems off last fall. I will have a lot of rotted vegitation to clean out .
I have two ponds end to end one flows into the other. There is probably 3000 gallons between the two. Do you think a depth of 2 to 3 feet would be ok for lotus.
If I used a bag like that? I put som catails inbetween the two ponds, they are what has really taken over in my pond That is another thing I am going to clesn up and if I put any back in, it will be in a plastic half barrel. that just gets a little trickel of water. Perhaps right near the waterfall.
I have had good success with 30" or less depth ..Of course if your pond freezes solid?? I don't know if you keep it unfrozen??? you should be fine remember you are in a colder zone than I ...I have had great luck with Mrs. Perry D. Slocum and a red that I have forgotten ..( Perry slocum is EASY to remember)...Slocum is beautiful changing red to pink to yellowish type large and does well in full sun and ok in partial shade... I haven't fertilized mine in 5 years and it ( they) bloom(s) like crazy from june through sept.... David
Thanks David;
our pond gets ice covered except where keep the water moveing with a pump. the ice hardly ever gets over 2" thick. I have a smaller pond slightly higher than the main pond both are deep enough to overwinter fish and plants. The upper one is all 3 and a half ft. and the lower ranges fron 1 1/2ft. down to 4ft. So I should be alright.
We have a lake in the area that has white lotus in it the power co. relieases water into it, I am not sure if that is the reason they do so good or not. It does ice over enough that it suports ice fishing. I am thinking I will give it a try. I tried it with a tuber from the lake. but didn't put in a bag of dirt. no luck.
I am a little concerned this year though as we are planning on taking a trip to Sanford NC. in may and any thing I order could come while we are down there. and could still freeze if delivered at that time. I may just pick up what I need from down there.
I am thinking that we will drive my old van on the trip, so I have the room. I say old as it has 367000 miles under its own power. with a few repairs here and there. however the same engine with only a valve job. So I'm thinking whats a couple thousand more. So hey will get bach to you later Russ
Email next late spring early summer if i have some extra tubers of slocom( most lilely will have a bunch) I would be glad to send em to you free...i will forget so just send me a note at myersphcf@aol.com...... David
I'd love for you to post pics as things progress and bloom.....I've been trying to get lilies to grow for over a year, and nada, nothing......This year I have ordered lotus tubers, and they are sprouting just floating while waiting to be planted. If any of you want to share an established lily someday, I'll happily accept one or make a trade for one. I've tried the 4 inch lily tuber/root cuttings with a leaf or 2, but they never really take off past that. There aren't any nursuries around here that offer full sized developed lily plants. I'm hoping to find one that is larger, more developed, and give it another try. I can't imagine that they won't grow here in Orlando where the water is warm most of the year.
MerryMary,
If you are ever in the Tampa area you could stop at http://www.pondscapesfl.com/pondscapeshome.html My husband and I stopped by and really enjoyed the visit. Right now they don't have a lot of plants due to the cold but they said they will in a month or two. The owner said he is all into instant gratification so he carries full grown stuff!
Diane
Wow Diane! Thanks for the link. I'm definitely heading there, it's only an hour or so from me!
Thanks so much...
MM. I was going to be a smarty and send a pic of my pond in jan. 04. With about 3" of ice on it and snow on top of that and one a day later with 15" of snow on top of a round table on the patio which is right beside the pond.
I have most of my lilies about 4 years and they are doing well. When I repot them this spring that will be only the second time. I have them in 8 by 8 by 5" deep
plastic mesh pots with a pond media soil which is just a little courser than kitty litter. I generaly get them at Lowes for about a16tnh. of what they cost at a nursery.
fill them about 3/4 full including the tuber then place rock around and on top of the pot.to keep the Koi from rooting them out. I place them in 18 to 24 inches deep.
which keeps them alive through the winter and they like to send the leaf stems up al least that far to the surface.
I also had a pic of the lilies in full bloom. I don't know why but the just would not send sorry. Try again I really don't think it should be too hot for them where you are.
I think a success will make it all worth while. Russ
Merry. Most anyone can grow lilies and get blooms if you have sun. Unless your water was boiling..LOL... I'm kidding but you get the point.
Tell us exactly what you did...how you planted... in what....how deep in the water etc.
I have my hardies about 15" below the surface. Usually planted in plastic nursery containers or water garden pots or those round oil changing pans from Walmart. I used regular soil, sand and some (a little( black cow compost). Just a bit of osmocote in the bottom of the mixture.
This is a pic of one of the ponds from last summer.
charlotte
My pond does in fact get sun...the plants themselves, I have a hard time getting past the "tuber with 2 nickel sized leaves) stage....I tried them in smaller pots first, in a combo of potting soil and plain kitty litter to try and get them up and running, but no luck. I ordered one that was a full size plant, so hoping that one does a bit better. Do you submerge yours to the 15" right away, or slowly drop them lower? I was afraid to plant the tubers and drop them that low immediately, didn't know if they'd find their way to the water surface or not. I love the colors and varieties available, so am working diligently to try and do it "right" so I don't have to envy the rest of you, but can list pics of my own!
:D
MerryMary
Very small ones can be a bit tricky...if I have babies like that I start them at about 6 inches....
now...are you talking about tropical lilies or hardies...tropicals like more shallow water so mine do fine in only about 6-9 inches of water over the crown...
hardies get moved deeper after they get started good....
they need little bits of fertilizer in the beginning but you could possibly be fertilizing them to death ...I think folks sometime do that with lotus....
I have to honestly say I have never fertilized lilies or lotus. I go out in the yard and find the most unimproved clay soil I have and that seems to make them very happy! The water plant fertilizer seems very high and I am just afraid to use tree spikes with my fish. :(
Dear MerryMary--
Yes, it is best to start your lilies up close to the surface and gradually lower them as they mature--especially if you are starting with a very small planting.
It is very important that the crown is not covered with soil or pepples. The sunlight hitting the crown is what stimulates the growth.
Also, waterlilies like still water. If you can see the water rippling--then it is too turbulent. Lilies also like 5 hours of direct sunlight.
There is a small yellow lily--Helvola that produces coin sized leaves.
The best type soil to plant your lilies in, is straight garden top soil. It is okay if it has a little bit of clay in it. I don't think that the kitty litter did anything to help your lily.
Hope the above helps and good luck with your new lily.
Happy water gardening, lilypons
Well duh - now I know why my little water lily never did too well last summer. It was down 3 feet from the beginning, and it was located directly across from the falls. The little guy barely made it, but I'm sure he'll be much happier when I move him come Spring - thanks much
Well, I guess I'll be patient. I didn't realize it would be difficult to grow the lilies from the little 4 inch root pieces I have been ordering. Maybe that's why I haven't been all that successful. I found one plant on Ebay that is rather large, so am concentrating on that one for now.
EVERYTHING Lilpons has posted is absolutly correct...If you follow what she says you should have NO problem growing lillies...and it is not a fancy pants sort of thing unless you want to make it that way. I would add one thing if you want a lot of blooms fertilization is best... those time release tablets...Tetra Pond Lilly Grow work great ( I don't use it any more and have much less blooms but adequate for me) and as was stated PLENTY of sunlight. As I said the only complaint I have is the agressive growth I have that may or may not be a problem where any of you live ,,,, and the need to yearly divide and or discard large pieces of oversize tubers and repot ...if you have 1-3 plants no problemo if a dozen its mucho work !!!...otherwise your dirt will be on the bottom of your pond like mine is...heres a photo with a pink ??? and one of my little friends . David
here's a yellow one...most of ours as I said do not now bloom heavily not being properly cared for but I am satisfied with them and LAZY having many beautiful leaves and a few flowers gives a nice differnt look IMHO...David
Well you all have me encouraged to continue with my efforts. Hopefully (fingers crossed) it will pay off this year....
My pond is in full sun, so I know that's not the issue. Blooms or not, I need the leaves to shade the water a bit.
I'll keep chugging along. I ordered some fertilizer tablets that you stick down in the pot with the lilies. Do they make the algae grow too? If so, maybe I'll go with better soil and no fertilzer? Up to this point, I've done no fertilizing at all. I assumed fish poop in the water was enough...
:)
Full sun ponds are problematic with green water ...that has been my experience but many others here have not had problems...I use a turbo twist uv sterilizer and it keeps em really clear ( I used a tetra uv sterilizer and it was worthless!!)... If you use the fertilizer sparingly you will most likely be ok and have better blooming...if you are going for mostly shade coverage then I'd skip it and enjoy less blooms and just as many leaves. Of couse there are other types of algae that the uv will not stop...but you can treat that with varias stuff....I had green water problems in my total sun pond until I got the turbo twist ...it was so green I didn't know I had so many fish...kriptonite green!!! David
I'm with you MerryMary - I'm going to try it again too - I do love water lilies (the ones other people have) and since I'm going to try the lotus in the bog, should have the room, and the sun - HOWEVER, myersphcf, I've got that same green water poblem - turbo twist uv sterilizer worked for you? Please tell me more -
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=10824&Ntt=turbo%20twist&Ntk=All&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1
I got mine from Doctors Foster & Smiths see link above...My ponds are big so i use the 36 watt one ....As I said I used the tetra uv's with NO success...I'm sure there are others out there as well and other folks on this site poo poo em and use other stuff ..but these work for me and are IMHO not too expensive...This place has great delivery good prices and good customer service ...just what I started using last year which was the FIRST year I finally got rid of my green water problem in my sun pond so there ya go... one drawback is I think it has a 9 or 12 ft cord ( better check) not the 18ft the tetra had also bulbs are expensive but if you get the number and MFR off the bulb ( I can't remember ) and google it you can find it on line as a uv bulb not specifiically for the tetra , but identical for less than half the price ( btw this is true with any uv sterilizer bulb ...buy bulbs from the sterilizer company or ditributors you gonna get screwed!!!.David
"bulb not specifiically for the tetra" ...ooops turbo twist not tetra sorry
I got mine for either the old tetra or the new turbotwist ( can't remember from:
www.atlantalightbulbs.com
I'm sure they will have whatever uv bulb you need at really cheap prices and answers email questions within one day
A trick that i like to do is put a layer of manure, horse, rabbit or if cow, well rotted, in the bottom of my pots, then a heavy layer of clay over that, good garden soil where the roots are when you are dividing, then a layer of pea gravel to discourage the fish, gold not koi as nothing much discourages them except a layer of solid concrete, lol. i alsi put a handful of 888 wrapped in paper towels below the gravel and well into the soil, I'll do this about 3 times, stopping in high summer and i get great blooms and much cheaper than the plant tabs, i have wealth clients that use the tabs and they are fine but i don't see much difference except when the ponds are in full sun, mine are about 1/2.
Yahoo!!! My first lily to survive, and not only survive, but BLOOM! There IS hope for me! This one variety is Mayla. I love the color. Thanks to all of you for your insight and information along the way....
:)
MerryMary
