Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Lilly Pads

My pond is deficient vegetation cover for bass.

I have the opportunity to relocate some Lilly pads to my pond and wonder if there is a downside to this.

What say yee......???

My neighbors pond is almost covered all the way across, his 7 acre is shallow not more than 6-8’

Lilly pads can be a dangerous experiment. I have read that some of the hybrids are less likely to cause you troubles and potting them in your pond can give you more control if your willing to maintain them.

Tbar, could you post some pics of the lilies you're looking to move to your pond?

It depends on the pond depth and topography, the varieties you plant, and what you desire for your pond. I have planted multiple varieties and colors in my ponds and wetlands, and I enjoy the flowers and cover they give to the fish. Planting in pots is what many recommend, but mine are in the pond bottom.

If you want slow growth in more of the shallow water then buy the dwarf and small varieties of hardy lilies. The Medium and Large varieties grow in deeper water 7-9ft and spread faster esp the larger white and yellow varieties. In ponds, I highly suggest not using the wild species of water lilies because the grow deep and their seeds are fertile and rhizomes fragment both allow fast spreading. Soft sediments allow for faster spreading.

Amazing how deep some of the large varieties will spread. Have a beaver taking out a bunch, but they could use a lot more thinning. Problem is that the rodent dug under my trash guard and is using the rhizomes to clog the exit pipe. Seems to have gone completely nocturnal so I clean out the water-control box daily.

Al,

These are the ones I am considering.

Gorgeous. I want my pond to look like yours when it grows up!

Tbar, I can't tell you what it is, but there one thing I see, and one thing I don't, that would make me pass on that plant.

First, there are mixed stalks with some above the water. That's what I'm seeing. What I'm not seeing is a split in the leaves like all the hybrid lilies I've seen have. Without seeing a flower, my first thought is that it's American Lotus. Maybe RAH or Bill Cody will have some thoughts.

This is my African Queen moment in 2016. I had to drag my spray boat into the core of the lotus just to get to it all.

Here are some others that are available. They are larger than those in the first picture.

Very nice!!!

Thanks for the information. I have a decent size grass carp in this pond. Is he going to be hard on new plants?

Al, you once mentioned a place where you shopped for these type of ornamental plants. I think it was located in the DFW area. Did you purchase some there and how did that turn out? Would you do it again? And if so, which have performed the best? Easy to control, color etc? Lessons learned? Hope I am not putting in a bad spot here. I know "it depends" on a lot of things when it comes to growing these types of plants in one's pond.

Tbar - The plants in your picture appear to be lotus. I planted a lotus in my newest (3rd) pond this spring and it has already sent leaves 8' out into the pond from the original planting site. No flowers yet, but the pond bottom is clay. I have previously shied away from lotus due to their reputation as being aggressive, but decided to experiment a bit on this newest pond. My 2nd pond is looking pretty nice around the edges this year as well (water lilies and other plants spreading and blooming well). The picture above is of my 1st pond. My goals are related to wildlife and I use a lot of natives, but am not a purist. Many plants currently considered "naturalized" were introduced in the last couple hundred years. Of course so were those we fight as invasives!

I just planted lilys in my pond and what I did was got a big tote from walmart, filled it up with garden soil, planted some lilys that where growing down the road from me and topped it with river rock to hold the soil down. It has worked great they are growing really good and I can place them where I want with out them taking over. You have to use river rock instead of pea gravel to cover it up or the bluegills will fan it all out and your tote will float up, ask me how I know lol. hope this helps!

My observation on the lotus (variety "The President") that I planted this spring is that it is spreading much much faster than my water lilies ever did. They talk about potting these, but I think that would require a lot of re-potting to avoid "root binding".

I have 3 hardy dwarf water lily bulbs I plan to plant on Saturday. I have a 18x6" kitty litter pan to pot them in.
Should the bulbs be partially buried in the soil or fully?

If my water is turbid, should they be placed at a depth the sun can reach?

If I get them started in the shallow water, can I then relocate them to deeper water?

Probably common sense, but ya never know!

Plant the rhizomes at an angle so the growing tip just sticks out of the soil. Place the container in shallow water until the leaves are growing well then you can move them into 2ft of water. Be aware that some critters including ducks - geese could eat the leaves and or uproot the plants. Once they are growing well maybe next spring transplant them the out of the containers because the dwarf and small varieties will never be a spreading problem for your pond.

Tbar Those are lotus not water lilies. Stay far away from them because they will be your pond nightmare by spreading into all water areas less than 10ft deep.

Thanks. where would be a good place to get true lilies?

I got my bulbs and rhizomes at petco.

I'll try post pictures as my lotus spread. Bill and others have given me fair warning, so problems are on me:)

Here is an aerial pic of a small pond which was chock full of American Lotus. Taken in late June, it was nearly 100% covered by late summer. Note some brown spots along the edges where someone may have sprayed herbicide. I drained this pond over the winter and sprayed the mud with Oust XP. Killed 95% of it.



Note in the background clearing has started for my new pond.

Glad my new pond has mostly steep edges!

RAH, are you going to let the seed heads open up? We're still getting popups all over the pond a year after all the lotus was gone.

Tracy, I bought my lilies from Creative Water Gardens in Garland. They cost a little more, but they're potted and actively growing, so you can see the leaf size and flower colors. But, be careful with places that sell plants for koi or aquarium plants. They are easy to manage in water like that, but not so much when they're unrestrained.

I couldn't comfortably recommend a variety, but here's a few pics of mine with, and the time they're been in the pond.

These are 3 one year old lilies that were originally potted . I almost always pot my lilies for 2 reasons. One, if you plant them to move to another BOW, there is the potential for invasives to be moved with them. I thoroughly rinse and hand inspect the entire plant for freeloaders, and potting the plant keeps the plant handy for inspection down the road. Also, I move lilies to deeper water when we get water drops. It can be hard to plant lilies in water 4' deep, but it is easy to plant them when that same water is 1' deep in the summer. These are on the shoreline right now, but the were 2' down when I actually planted them.



These are some peach Colorado lilies that have been in the pond for 6-7 years. These haven't been aggressive spreaders, but I'm starting to see them pop up at various areas around the pond.

If you look above the peach lilies, you can see a large patch above these. These lilies are probably 100 to 150' from the shore, and are in 4-5' of water when the pond's at full pool. The LMB love this batch.


This pic of the original batch of lilies that were planted 8-10 years ago. These lilies have survived the drought years, and never failed to come back, even after being above the water line for several months. These are colored like RAH's, but I'm not sure they're the same. This area at the dam traps the lilies on 3 of the 4 sides, and so I think the spread is pretty well confined to the north bank at this point.

The lotus will be left to seed. I am more tolerant of water plants than many seem to be. This pond has a bottom drain, so if I really hate my "experiment", then I can end it. I will drop the cable to the bottom valve this summer as the pond seems to be very tight. Will take a diver to reopen.

Al, NICE! I can't say enough for all the information that you and other PBF Mods and Owners do here. The information on the lilies, I don't think it could be topped by anyone when talking of their experience about Texas Ponds. Not to mention the other stuff you have contributed. I will also have to mention highflyer, who may not be a forum mod today but seems to be the Go To Guy for solar pond stuff. Heck, Just look at what all he did to assist in Colorado for a forum member here. Many other members contribute here and to the PB Mag also. And I herd it said, there is only so much one can talk of ponds. But I find I am still full of questions, new ones seem to come up each new year and this 4th year I need some plants that will provide cover and reduce excess nutrients. I need a kick start. Where are the native plants that were to just pop up on their own? Haha, no ponds are alike, lol.


One question is in the pic of the isolated Peach lilies 100+ feet out from the shoreline, did they take hold and spread on their own or was that a planting? And do you spray to control these lilies?

Another unexpected observation is how the water lilies thriving in my 3 fish ponds have struggled and not spread in my 2 "duck ponds" over the last decade. These shallow (<5 ft max) ponds were originally designed to be shallower wetlands, but were dug deeper based on DNR and FWS folks saying the ground would not hold water after taking soil core samples (have become more confident in my own judgement of the my land). A third emergent wetland in another field (about 3' max) has the same lilies spreading very well. One difference is that the lilies in the duck ponds may have greater muskrat pressure, but they just never look as robust in these ponds, even when muskrats are all trapped out. These duck ponds are almost exclusively fed by springs and could have water chemistry that the lilies don't like. Most of my other pond plants have done fine in these duck ponds though. Just wanted to share this observation.

Tracy, that area where the offshore lilies are growing is on a big flat. Before all the rain we've gotten over the last 4 years, we used to walk out there and fish so it was easy to plant them, but it was just a shot in the dark to see if they grew. It'll be interesting to see how big that batch gets with no limiting factors other than rain.

I haven't tried to control any lilies yet. If I do need to trim them back, I'd probably do it in the fall, and just use a weed razor to cut the stems off near the bottom. Just a guess, but I would think that the tubers would need to be cut to properly treat just a section of the lilies. Maybe a drag with a blade on the bottom using a tractor or truck to pull it back to the bank? Now you've got me thinking.

Be very careful with lotus. They can be quite hard to control and it’s quite possible they will survive fully draining a pond. They will take over, and are quite capable of chokin. Out a whole pond in a short time. The tubers grow laterally around 8-14” below the pond bottom.

As to water lily, there are two root growth types among hardy Lily’s. Some grow laterally and some grow in a cluster. The cluster root tend to be smaller, and are easier to keep from spreading out. The lateral root are known to spread over wide areas and have more spaced out pads, and typically are larger all around. Planting either in pots is a great way to do it. You just have to pull the pots up every year or two and divide out some of the roots to keep them healthy. Personally I find Colorado, Sioux, and chrysanthia to be quite nice, easy to keep, and easy to propagate. If you want to cover water surface fast, look no further than oderata gigantea. Lilypons water gardens in Adamstown MD does mail order and has a ton of varieties.

Added some new residents to the big pond. Charlene Strawn hybrid lilies. It's hard to tell from the pic, but the flowers are a bright yellow, and the stamens range from a bright yellow to orange.

I now have 3 Kirk Strawn varieties and I'm very happy with them. The peach colored Colorado seems to spread the most, while the pink flowered Denver seems to be a slower grower, and prefers shallower water. Time will tell with the Charlene Strawns.

I potted 2 of the 3 plants, and changed from buckets to disposable concrete mixing tubs. They're cheap, and allow for a better lateral spread before I split them.

You should be happy with those lilies.

I worked on Lilies for a couple years and they were doing good. Then some muskrats decided the pond was a nice area to call home. They destroyed my lilies.

I now know that beavers also tear up water lilies and even use the rhizomes to clog pipes. Mine seems to be a single and he is almost exclusively nocturnal. Neighbor was unable to trap him out this past winter, but caught 5 others in another spot on my property (still at least one left there too). I have a lot of lilies, so the damage is currently just opening some areas up. Not as happy about a few bald cypress he felled, but he seems to prefer other species of trees. Really took a toll on my few cork-screw willows. Need to figure out how to seal up the bottom of my trash rack where he removed bricks to get in... Needs to quit raining first.