Water Lily Maintenance
The Three Essentials for Knock-Out Water Lilies
By Steve Stroupe
To grow knock-out, drop dead gorgeous water lilies in your pond, three very important cultural requirements are necessary:
Full Sun: This means at least seven or more hours of unobstructed sunlight per day. While some varieties will tolerate less and still bloom to a degree, full sunlight is a mandatory requirement for truly awesome plants.
Adequately Sized Pot or Planting Pocket: A minimum size pot or pocket for most hardy water lilies is approximately 16 inches in diameter and 7 inches deep. A commercial pot is readily available in this configuration. Anything smaller than this is simply inadequate for most varieties. A much larger pot will make the plant harder to manage (lifting comes immediately to mind) but will increase the intervals between the necessary re-potting/ dividing. A pot or pocket this size will accommodate most cultivars for up to three years before repotting/dividing is needed. The hardy water lily rhizome actually travels across the soil horizontally, necessitating the wide pot or pocket.
Fertilizer: Plants, like most living things, simply love to eat, and water lilies like to eat a lot. They are almost gluttonous in their appetites for food and should be fertilized generously according to the fertilizer directions. Water lily tablets offer a convenient form for fertilizing water lilies without the mess of granular fertilizers. EcoTabs feed aquatic plants for 30-45 days and contain a 15-5-10 nutrient ratio. Low phosphorus helps keep the water clear.
Maintenance on any water lily -- hardy or tropical -- is minimal. If the three simple cultural rules have been followed, then little else should be necessary to keep them healthy and flourishing. A couple things to keep in mind though; water lilies do not like moving water or water from a fountain or waterfall splashing on their leaves. They do not like to be harassed by chewing or sucking insects, (or trampled by a large canine), so if any sign of insect infestation is evident, try to identify the offending pest and use appropriate treatment.
Also, water lilies are constantly producing new leaves throughout the season, and the old ones, like spent flowers, die. Removal of the spent flowers and leaves is desirable from an aesthetic and ecological perspective. It just looks nicer when yellowing leaves and decaying flowers are not present in your pond. And getting rid of any decaying plant debris is always good practice when maintaining a balanced ecosystem pond.
To grow knock-out, drop dead gorgeous water lilies in your pond, three very important cultural requirements are necessary:
Full Sun: This means at least seven or more hours of unobstructed sunlight per day. While some varieties will tolerate less and still bloom to a degree, full sunlight is a mandatory requirement for truly awesome plants.
Adequately Sized Pot or Planting Pocket: A minimum size pot or pocket for most hardy water lilies is approximately 16 inches in diameter and 7 inches deep. A commercial pot is readily available in this configuration. Anything smaller than this is simply inadequate for most varieties. A much larger pot will make the plant harder to manage (lifting comes immediately to mind) but will increase the intervals between the necessary re-potting/ dividing. A pot or pocket this size will accommodate most cultivars for up to three years before repotting/dividing is needed. The hardy water lily rhizome actually travels across the soil horizontally, necessitating the wide pot or pocket.
Fertilizer: Plants, like most living things, simply love to eat, and water lilies like to eat a lot. They are almost gluttonous in their appetites for food and should be fertilized generously according to the fertilizer directions. Water lily tablets offer a convenient form for fertilizing water lilies without the mess of granular fertilizers. EcoTabs feed aquatic plants for 30-45 days and contain a 15-5-10 nutrient ratio. Low phosphorus helps keep the water clear.
Maintenance on any water lily -- hardy or tropical -- is minimal. If the three simple cultural rules have been followed, then little else should be necessary to keep them healthy and flourishing. A couple things to keep in mind though; water lilies do not like moving water or water from a fountain or waterfall splashing on their leaves. They do not like to be harassed by chewing or sucking insects, (or trampled by a large canine), so if any sign of insect infestation is evident, try to identify the offending pest and use appropriate treatment.
Also, water lilies are constantly producing new leaves throughout the season, and the old ones, like spent flowers, die. Removal of the spent flowers and leaves is desirable from an aesthetic and ecological perspective. It just looks nicer when yellowing leaves and decaying flowers are not present in your pond. And getting rid of any decaying plant debris is always good practice when maintaining a balanced ecosystem pond.
