Walmart Waterlily

Hi,

On impulse (I know bad idea!) I bought a packaged waterlily from Walmart. It's too cold here to put it in water yet (water is frozen) so I was wondering the best way to store this plant so it won't break dormancy. I took a chance and stuck the package (it's in a plastic container) on a hallway shelf. It's pretty cool in that unheated area.
Anything I should or shouldn't be doing? This is my first waterlily ever.

Thanks!
MollyD

Congratulations on your first waterlily! Do you have an attached garage? A bucket of water sitting in there should be fine I would think.

No attached garage I'm afraid. I have a greenhouse but thought that would make it start growing if I put it in there.

MollyD

What ever you do, I would have it in water. Anything around 50-55 degrees should do it.

Thanks azreno. I'll take care of that tomorrow.

MollyD

I bought three of their waterlilies and then saw they are the hardy kind. Their leaves are much smaller then the tropicals which I have but at least they are growing.

Fred

Yes these are the hardy ones. Does that make a difference in how you treat them?

MollyD

You'll need advise from someone in your zone for that Molly, You may be able to leave your hardies in your pond, or you may not, I don't know, tropicals would require more effort on your part than hardies, without a doubt.

The wrapper said it could stay in the pond if the water wasn't below the plant level when it (the water) froze. I think I'll stay away from tropicals for now.

Thanks!
MollyD

I bought some water lilies from Walmart too. They are in the coco fiber nets with the artifical flower you attach with a string. I threw them in the pond and out popped the water lily now floating in the pond. Hopefully it will sink or attach itself to water weeds to root. I had attached the ball of coco to a string, thank goodness. I had to retrieve it before my labador did. Him chewing on it would be a bad thing for sure. I'm in zone 8a so I don't have a problem with water freezing from here on out.
Molly, does your container say cold hardy to -30 degrees? If that's the case, wouldn't it survive if the roots aren't frozen? I don't have any advice to give you since I'm not familar with your area's weather nor water lilies as far as that goes. But my thinking is, if you don't want it to break dormancy, don't expose it to light. Mine already had some green growth that's why I went ahead and tossed it in the pond.

It's the temperature that will trigger growth, not the light.

Yes the package does say hardy to -30 (we get to -10 most winters, on rare occasions to -20). I don't think being hardy means the roots can be exposed to the air at those temps since cold air is very dry. It would freeze burn them. I think that's why they want it covered with water (even if frozen water) in the winter.

I was more worried about it being inside the house while it waits to go out. The hallway where I put it is around 40 degrees as long as it's cold outside. I was going to put it in water today but I've been having trouble since yesterday with my greenhouse heater so I've been wrapped up in fixing that problem first. I was out at 1 am in our snow storm working on the darn thing! Kept snuffing out in spite of being vented. This morning I tore everything out (yes the storm is still here) and re-installed it a bit differently. So far it's running. Had to lug a kerosene heater out there at 1am so I could get a little sleep. My brain is running on an empty tank right now!

Thanks!
MollyD

Here's one of my wallmart lilies about 3 or 4 weeks from purchase

and this is a tropical lily planted at the same time bought via mail order from Texas Water Lilies. They grow much faster if bought with an existing root stock.

I read an artical about some place in Colorado and they stored their water lilies in damp (not wet) peat moss. I think they also treated them with a fungicide. I've stored lotus tubers treated with a fungicide that way and had pretty good success with keeping them inside a plastic storage bag in a cooler in the garage.

I think you should divide them and feed with fertilizer frequently for best bloom. I think this pot of hardy lilies was about two years old. As you can see, it's already broken the pot in several places.

Good info! Thanks folks!

MollyD

I was at my local Walmart on Thursday and saw their Waterplant display. I'm in Westminster Maryland - not far from the Pennsylvania border - zone 7a or 6 borderline. My pond was installed last fall and I was looking for a few water lilies to provide shade. When I saw the ones at Walmart for $5.84 I was delighted. They had about 6 different varieties ranging in color from a deep red to yellow to pale pink.

As someone who has been burned by packaged plants in the past, I opened each one to examine the plants themselves before buying. Most of the water lilies were fresh and just breaking dormancy. I picked two that looked the best - had the best roots and the most small leaves beginning at the crown.

When I got home I took them out of their packaging and tossed them into my pond in the planting range they recommended. I didn't attach those fake flowers because right now my pond water is very clear and I expect it to stay that way. I can see the plants and will be able to monitor them.

Ken