I know there was a thread maybe last year where someone was telling how they successfully overwinter tropical waterlilies. If I'm not mistaken they put them in the refridgerator. I had this thread saved on my old computer which went caput and I haven't been able to get it fixed so I can get all my stuff off of it. Please, if anyone saved this thread or has a way they have successfully overwintered lilies let me know. It's getting very close to time for them to be put away.
Thanks!
Lana
Overwintering Tropical Lillies
Lana, I had the same question. Tried a search here and it just sat there so I went back many pages to this time last year (about page 21) and found the following.
Horticulture, The Art of American Gardening, Sept 1999 v96 i7 p30
Overwintering a Tropical Water Lily. (Brief Article) JANET H. SANCHEZ.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1999 PRIMEDIA Special Interest Publications
THE ROMANTIC, COLORFUL BLOSSOMS of tropical water lilies (Nymphaea spp.) add drama and fragrance to ponds in summer and early fall. Unlike hardy water lilies, tropicals are available in stunning shades of blue, violet, and purple, and many open their exquisite blooms in the evening. Yet since many of these plants are descended from water lilies native to South America, Mexico, Africa, and Asia, they will perish over the winter in all but the warmer parts of USDA Zones 9 and 10. While some gardeners treat them as annuals (and costly annuals at that), a little effort will allow you to overwinter them indoors by saving the dormant tubers.
To encourage the onset of dormancy, stop fertilizing your tropical water lilies six weeks before the first expected frost.
1. Retrieve the Tubers
As air and water temperatures cool, the leaves will turn yellow and die. After the first few frosts, or when the water temperature in your pond has dropped to 50[degrees]F, remove the plant from the pond. Tip the water lily out of its pot and hose off most of the soil. Check among and beneath the roots for the tubers, which will be hard and dark brown, and about the size of hickory nuts or walnuts. Snap them off with your fingers and put them in a shady, warm place to air dry for a few days. Remove any remaining pieces of root or stem.
2. Pack the Tubers in Sand
Full Size PictureFill a pail with clean builder's sand and moisten it with water. The idea is to just dampen the sand, rather than make it dripping wet. Fill a resealable plastic bag halfway with sand. Set the tuber on top of the sand and cover it completely with more sand. If you have multiple tubers, give each its own bag. Add plastic labels, marked with indelible ink, before sealing the bags (for future identification).
Store the bags in a cool, dark place, where the temperature ranges from 50[degrees] to 55[degrees]F. Do not let them freeze. Over the course of the winter, check the bags to make sure the sand remains damp.
3. Repot and Submerge the Tubers
Six weeks before your last expected frost, pot up each tuber in its own small, two-or three-inch pot of good topsoil, setting each about an inch deep. A thin layer of gravel over the top will help to keep the soil in place when the pot is submerged. Then set the pots in a large pail of water or in an aquarium. There should be three inches of water over the rim of the pots. Place the pail or aquarium in a sunny spot or under supplemental lighting. A water temperature of 70[degrees]F should stimulate growth; colder water will shock the plant and delay growth. You may need to use an aquarium heater to warm the water.
4. Pot up the Plantlets
After a few weeks, each tuber will produce one or more plantlets. When their leaves are large enough to float on the surface of the water, pot them up into four- or five-inch pots of clayey soil. (If you get more than one shoot, you can divide them and pot them individually.) Put the pots back in the pail or aquarium quickly so that the plants don't dry out.
5. Repot and Transfer to the Pond
When your pond has reached 70[degrees]F, repot each plant in a large container, such as a 19-quart water-lily pan, of heavy garden soil. Center the crown and keep it slightly above soil level. Tropical water lilies are heavy feeders; add a couple of fertilizer tablets specially formulated for water lilies. . Set the pan back in the pond with its rim 8 to 12 inches below the surface of the water. As the leaves grow and reach the surface, lower the tub to 18 inches.
OTHER METHODS Some tropical water lilies, such as `Dauben' (which is among the easiest to grow), are viviparous, producing tiny plantlets at the sinus, or center meeting point of a leaf's lobes. Once rooted, these plantlets can be potted up and overwintered in an aquarium. If you have the room, an alternative method practiced by many gardeners (and favored by the late Henry Mitchell) is to lift and save the entire plant after the first few frosts. Keep as much of the soil around the roots as possible and put the plant in a large waterproof tub. Trim off the old leaves and place the tub in a sunny southern window or in a greenhouse, covering the roots with six inches of water. Growth may not occur during the winter, but will pick up again in the spring. When your pond is warm enough, repot the water lily in fresh soil, fertilize it, and return it outdoors.--J.H.S.
Mag.Coll.: 101M4141
Thanks Gardengal! That's not exactly what I was looking for but a couple of good options. Still hoping the person who has overwintered lilies in the fridge will chime in.
Lana
I do overwinter mine in an aquarium. I have not had stellar success with tubers though I know some folks do and I never throw tubers out.
see if this is it
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/104045/
Moretz, thanks for the great links. Lots of information. Wonder if you could keep them in an aquarium with about 60 degree water to let them go dormant until spring? Then increase the water temp to 75 in the spring to jump start them until it's warm enough outside.
Lana
last year I kept a large stock tank with a large aquarium heater in my greenhouse and kept the temp of the water between 65 and 70 degrees. I had bought several tropical lilies and I ended up losing all of them. It seemed like they liked it and were putting out new leaves and then all of a sudden they stopped, and eventually they turned to mush. I don't know what I did wrong, but this year I'm definitely doing something different!
Pixie, did you have any flow in the tank or do any water changes?
Lana
would it work to put them in a basement in a tub with water and have woodstove nd very little light?or should they go in a greenhouse with a heater to where it dont stay but like55-60 degrees?
In my aquarium... 70 degrees and high light was the key. I did use an air stone to help keep the water looking a bit better but no filter or water changes. I gave my small plantlet almost no fertilizer until Feb as I didnt want them to start growing too soon.
This worked for me last year due to the fact that I took small new plantlets off the mother plant and potted these in small containers.
Well... please dont consider me an authority on this as I dont really know "squat" but I am trying to learn :)
I just dont think florescent can cut it... I too had a florescent bulb in the beginning but I changed to 2 of those round metal hooded hanging shop lights with 60 or 75 watt bulbs and hanging about 5 inches above the water.
My guess is that you did not have a "strong" enough light. I dread getting that stuff started up but I must get to it soon :)
charlotte
My "guess" it that yes they were definately too far away for the tropical lilies and honestly I wonder if they would be strong enough even closer. I feel that the tropical lilies would need a much stronger (intense) light than a florescent. Again... I dont know....just trying to learn too :)
So are the lights you are using incandescent? When you said the 'shop lights' I thought maybe we were actually talking about the same thing. The ones I use take two of the 4 foot long florescent bulbs, and mine are Phillips Daylight bulbs at 500Kelvin. So now I'm going to have to do a little research because maybe you are onto something here and that's what I did wrong. I sure hated to lose the 'White Knight' lily (I think that's the name, anyway). It was such a pretty one, and a night bloomer.
Pixy, having reef tanks here and knowing the light it takes to keep them alive I would guess the fluorescents weren't nearly strong enough. Metal halide would be best but can be expensive.
Lana
Lana is right but I cant afford the metal halide lights.
I used the regular "house" lights.. the "natural daylight " ones that you buy at Lowes 75 watt is best but I did get by with 60watt. Two of these hanging over my 30 gallon aquarium - fairly close to the water (6-8 inches)- on about 10-12 hours per day. This also helps heat the water but I do use an aquarium heater set to 70. I dont want them to grow very much just stay alive.
I used those round silver bell hooded light things...can you tell I dont know the technical name for them :) They have a round silver hood and the light bulb screws up inside.
I'm trying to attach a pic for you.. these are called "clamp lights". I have one like this but my favorite one came from Lowes and it doesnt have the "clamp" thing (it can be very aggravating-and I think a bit dangerous if it fell in the water) the better one just has a metal loop that I use to hang the light securely over the aquarium.
Whoops! No light fixtures in the water please! I'm glad you didn't get hurt. Okay, I feel better. My lights are at least this bright and possibly brighter. Maybe I just had them too far away. Maybe I'll experiment with one of the tropicals in my little aquarium, and another packed in moist sand. I hope I don't kill them again. :( Who knew it would be so hard?
I have a baby Albert Greenburg, Miami Rose and Red Flare in tiny pots in the small aquarium in the greenhouse. I will have to bring them inside in a month or so since I dont heat the greenhouse during Dec and Jan. My Electra and Green Smoke didnt have any small babies to pull off so I am hoping they will "tuber up".. though I do hate fooling with tubers ! :)
I hope they do well for you. I better get my hiney in gear and get stuff inside. This week it was in the high 60's, low 70's and sunny (UNBELIEVABLE!), but today the rain has begun and it is pouring. We're having lows in the low 40's overnight, so I am really pressing my luck with all kinds of things. Time to break out the rain gear and 'just do it'.