mass lily die off?

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Hey everyone, im hoping it's just the change in the seasons, here in Australia we are coming into winter, but all off my lilies are decomposing!

My wife bought me a new one for my birthday at the start of April,looked stunning, bright vivid green pads, has about 10x 15cm pads (as my current lilies have barely any pads and only very tiny).
It's been going strong, new pads coming up, but in the last week they are going brown and dieing off.
Is this because of the shorter days and cooler temperature 20degrees during the day, about 14degs of a night.
Or is it a desease, lack of nutrients in the water?
I'm freaking out a bit cause it looked so cool in the pond, plus being a present I don't want the miss us to think iv killed it lol (this plant is a symbol of our love, when it dies... Yadda yadda lol)

My original lilies don't seem to be browning or dieing off, but then there pads are about 3cm and only 2cm stems off the pot...

I'm not concerned about any flowers, I just want the pads to cover some of the water and give the fish some protection (cats on the prowl recently)
 

j.w

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Don't know how cold it is where you are right now but here is a bit of info on the hardy variety of water lilies:

Hardy water lilies are the first of the lilies to come into bloom in the spring. Once the water temperature holds steady at 60 degrees F, they will begin to bloom, spreading their pads across the pond with their blossoms eventually floating on or just above the water’s surface. These shallow-rooted plants need plenty of room to grow and spread up and out across the pond.

In the early spring, these fresh lily pads will begin to emerge on the water’s surface. Many of the lilies will be in bloom by mid- to late-spring. They bloom throughout the warm-weather months, eventually becoming dormant in the fall. These are perennial plants, meaning that as long as the rhizome – the underground stem that sends out roots and shoots – does not freeze, the plant will survive through the winter and bloom again in spring. Come winter, in areas with no frost, they will continue to grow, however their growth will certainly slow down a bit. Year-round blooming is possible in frost-free zones. In areas with frost, however, the lilies survive through the winter only if they are below the pond ice.
 

addy1

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If they are tropical lilies they start to die back and die during the winter. If they are the hardy variety they will die back but survive the winter. If you get ice on you pond you need to clip off the dead leaves etc and put them in the deepest part of your pond.
20c i assume? which is around 68 degrees daytime and 57 night time.

Have you been giving them plant tabs?

lol jw you beat me and typed more info...........my hands are tired been digging all day
 

addy1

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j.w said:
I cheated and copied it from somewhere else :rolleyes:

cheater lol, I do the same if I can find what I have typed before or a link I can find...........
 
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Hey sorry guys,the coldest it gets here of a night is 15degs CELCIUS (not farenheit). Not sure what the conversion is?

I don't know what frost is :lol:

I just don't want the pads to rot and disappear, which they are doing a a great rate at the moment.
 

addy1

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That is around 57 or so f

do you have fish, I can't recall, do you feed the lilies?
 
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I do have fish, they are only tiny and to be honest I don't know what kind they are. (they just apeared one day??) The biggest is only 30mm long and they are all black/brown. So I'm thinking they are a goldfish or something. I don't believe they are eating the plants, I do feed them and iv never noticed them chomping away at the plants.

I do have tablets so will give it a feed today.
The guy my wife bought the lily off said they had just been feed, which is not even 4weeks ago now, but he could have been telling porkies.

Actually, now that I think of it I should check ph levels etc too...
 

addy1

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The lilies like to be fed every 3 weeks or so, esp without a good fish load. I use three tabs per plant pot.
 

addy1

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There is some nutrients in the pond from bugs, frogs the lil fish, but lilies, lotus like food.
 
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Man I'm devastated! I want to go home now and feed them up! still another 5hours of work.
damn I never thought I would become this attached to a pond, addictive stuff....
 
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Ok, iv lifted the pots and poked some feed into the lilies.
This is a photo i took this arvo just to give you all an idea of whats happening.
Looks very yuck...

Does this look like a lack of food problem? a water quality problem? or something else?
pond1.jpg


I also have this plant in there (i cant remember what it is called??)
Its tips seem to be dieing off too, but still has plenty of vivid green stems coming up so it might be ok. maybe just trim the dieing stems back.

pond2.jpg
 

addy1

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I would go through the lilies and prune off the dieing leaves. They do die off and grow new ones. Your water looks very still, is it always that way? If so that is the way the lilies like it. They do not like water splashing on their leaves. I would not think, with your temperatures they would be doing the winter die back.
See what happens with some tabs and pruning, let us know.
I have seen that plant will see if I can recall, or find out what it is.
 
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ok, i'll prune back, and see how it goes.
I do have a pump in the pond, its just a small bubbler type furtherest away from the lilies as possible, so it doesnt splash and the water near the lilies move a little, its pretty still though and definatly no water on the pads, plus its only turned on for maybe an hour or two a day.

Iv been racking my brain thinking whats different thats happened in the last week, and we did get 2or 3 days of pretty heavy constant rain. Could this be the pads pores 'drowning' as such from having a lot of rain falling on them?

The pond is raised up out of the ground and full to the rim, so excess rain water just flows over the edge.

As for the taller plant, heres the flower it produces on a tall stem when its in a happier mood.
Cant believe i threw away the name tag it came with ages ago. wasnt thinking there :rolleyes:
pond3.jpg
 

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