Hi Rowly,
Large waterlilies spread about 12' wide above their growing crowns, those crowns may not extend in the first year while they establish new feeder and tether roots, after that the crown might grow 2' long in a year.
A tub at three years old might have rhisomes 4' long, and have a foliage canopy up to 18' wide, at that stage its rambling rhisomes are spreading a couple of feet or so over the edges of the tubs, cut at that stage they should lift with one cut with all their roots intact, easy to start off in new positions....
Hi Pottsy,
There is only one terminal condition specific to hardy hybrids of nymphaeas, nicknamed 'waterlily root rot' or 'crown rot'. If ever infected water lilies have been introduced, the fungus is left behind after the waterlily has been slowly but surely destroyed. Some hardies are vigorous enough to outgrow it, the hardy waterlily 'alba' is the only waterlily known to be not susceptible.
If that gets into the cells of the rhisomes, the flesh turns a distinctive purply black with a unique stinky smell, the waterlily loses most of its vigor, stops flowering and only lives as long as what strength remains in the plants ability to try to grow crowns, infected plants die in a few years or so.
Waterlilies infected like that are usually considered 'disappointing' and end up being given away as 'cheap' or 'free' by their disgruntled owners, not familiar with what is causing their disappointing performance
Unscrupulous folk have been known to dump large numbers of infected waterlilies on the market, motivated by the idea that after the lilies die off, the customer is likely to come back to try another one in a year or so...
Regards, Andy
