Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment Detective Erika

I've added a new hardy tropical cross waterlily to my 3 Kirk Strawn hardy lily strains. The flower on this one is purple with a golden center, and is supposed to survive our winters.

I bought 2 from Pond Megastore, and both were in great shape on arrival.


I do a 1/3 mix of garden soil, not potting soil, with our sandy loam, then cover the tuber with 3-4" of sandy loam. I use garden soil for 2 reasons. One, it's less likely float because of the low amount of organics, and two, I don't want organics that may rot over time. Having active stems and leafs makes it easy to set the plant correctly.


Once planted, I slowly fill the bucket with water so that the air wont explode the soil if pushed under water. I get a stick and poke holes in the soil and continue to add water until the bubbles stop. When the bubbles stop, it's safe to place the bucket under water.


I set the buckets, and will slowly move them deeper, as flowers pop up. The bucket on the left already has 2 new leafs. Once flowers show up, I'll replant them into square 24X36 drywall mixing tubs. I've found that moving the square tubs underwater is much easier than moving round ones.


If these lilies make it through winter, I'll split and add them to my existing shoreline lilies. These pics were taken on a cloudy day, so the flowers aren't showing off.

Thanks Al.

That is a great tutorial!

Your lilies survived up here for years until the water dropped low and the dang geese rooted them out when I wasn't home. Those new ones should do great!!

Bingo, time to replant. First lily with blue in it.

I see that Al's plan regarding all of the creatures that like to destroy lilies, is as follows:

"Bring it on!"

Stinkin' turtles and grass carp like munching on lilies. When I do plant these, I'll plant them behind the existing lilies.

So when is the time to take the lilies out of the square drywall mixing pans and into the pond bottom itself? or are all those lilies in your pictures all in separate tubs sitting on top of the pondbottom yet?

I'll probably plant them in August. I think Bill Cody had mentioned getting lilies rooted before winter, and I agree with that. I'm not sure keeping the lilies in tubs would get them through tough winters.

Many years ago I had a vision or having lily beds very similar to yours. I bought about $600.00 worth of plants and gleefully put them in pots and into the pond. The next morning they were all gone. I relive the experience when I occasionally find a floating pot or see pics of thriving plants from one end of a pond to the other. Looks like those lily beds go on and on for at least a mile. I'm sick with envy.

AL, the lilies I got from you survived, with the low water levels they are putting up leaves now. I will mark them and pull them shallower if the water level rises.

Good deal Scott. They are tough.

I decided to not use the mixing tub because the lilies will be pulled out in a couple of months. I only used top soil, because that's more inline with what the lilies will be buried in. I did add 2/5/3 fertilizer, and that's it.



Here's a root ball from one of the buckets, and they've both had a tremendous amount of growth in 6 weeks.



Done until August when I plant them in holes that match the size of the original buckets they were in.

Looking great!

So I pulled them last week and got them planted. I planted one at 18", and one at 24". I'm hoping they get through winter, but if either makes it, my money's on the one buried 24". The pond's down around 2', so I'm thinking 3' to 4' down is about where they'll be during winter. They have excelled over summer, and I hope they do the same next year.

I like the cheap concrete tubs because they float ark like.


This one's settled in. I planted both plants inside the other hybrid lilies to protct them from grass carp. Historically, here at least, they munch on the plants easiest to get to.

Looking great!

Freak.

Good stuff though...

What Hybrid Lilly do the grass carp avoid? Have you had problems with Muskrats or Beavers eating the rhizomes??

So all those Lillies are in tubs in your lake????Or do you remove them from the tub and allow them to root into the lake bottom? I have found the tubs greatly reduce the growing capacity of the plant, but maybe that's what you want.

One last question how deep are those plants growing???

The GC avoid the shallow water near the bank, and I've had no problems lily wise with Muskrats or Beavers. I've got multiple brush piles, and beaver focused on those. What I did have rhizome problems with was Nutrias. I handled those.

Ultimately, they're in the lake. Almost all hybrid lilies are sold with bare roots. I like to start them out in tubs so they can acclimate to the weather and heal their roots. If I get a huge water drop, the tubs also allow me to move the lilies into deeper water. Yes, tubs do help control the spread of the lilies. Some can still spread via seeds, but not as fast. I planted a very slow spreading hybrid lily 3-4 years ago, and I'm seeing pop ups in several different areas in the pond.

Depth? I can't remember seeing any in water deeper than 3' , but most seem to do be denser and spread faster in the bank to 2' water.

Bingo

Erika made it through Summer droughts, 98 degree water, and 3-4" of ice. The flower just popped up, and the water's just above 70 degrees, while the leaves had been up for over a month. The flower color is a little lighter, but there was no sun, and later flowers may be as dark as last year's.

Gosh those are beautiful flowers! Going to have to try these out I think.

For all of the married, male pond managers that may have gone "over budget" a few times in the past, Al has just revealed a secret weapon that you can deploy at your pond so you don't have to sleep in the doghouse quite so often!

Wife asked if we could just have one that has flowers. I told her we can plant that band of tulips she’s been after me about and she signed right up for these guys.

Ahhh…the wonderful compromises we make to keep on the good side of not sharing the bed with the dog.

Well done Allen, well done indeed. It is great to have a passion, and yours is turning out so well.