Water Lilies

I have a half acre pond. It is average 3-4 ft deep. max is 8 ft. I have
owned this property for two years and am just getting comfortable with
taking care of a pond. There are bluegill and bass in the pond. I want to
add some water plants. The pond is clear of surface vegetation now, Can I
add water lilies and not have then take over the pond? Also any pointers to
links or pond books for this size & type of pond appreciated.

Al S

Check with you local farm service or conservation people. If your
pond is hospitable to the lilies, I can't see what would stop them
from choking it out. Have you any triploid grass carp in the pond?
Where are you located?

We have an acre pond, also with bass and bluegill (and red ear) in
MS. The agents recommend not putting greenery in it. Our grass carp
are taking care of that!

Jim

"Al Schmidt" <kd6nt@hotmail.com> wrote:

>The pond is clear of surface vegetation now, Can I
>add water lilies and not have then take over the pond?

You can do what I and other do: grow the lilies in 3-gallon plastic pails,
so they're basically potted plants. They will need to be divided every few
years, and fed a couple of times during the summer, but grow and flower
just fine. I don't pull them out for winter; just move to deeper water so
they don't freeze, which breaks the buckets.

For lotus, I use 1-bushel Rubbermaid tubs.

Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

"Al Schmidt" <kd6nt@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:HAEql.479$%u5.340@nwrddc01.gnilink.net...
>I have a half acre pond. It is average 3-4 ft deep. max is 8 ft. I have
>owned this property for two years and am just getting comfortable with
>taking care of a pond. There are bluegill and bass in the pond. I want t
o
>add some water plants. The pond is clear of surface vegetation now, Can
I
>add water lilies and not have then take over the pond? Also any pointers
to
>links or pond books for this size & type of pond appreciated.
>
> Al S

===================If it's a dirt bottom pond adding water lilies can be a mistake unless yo
u
keep them in large submerged tubs like those blue and green $10 kiddy poo
ls
sold all over. But you would have to make sure they don't sneak out over
the edges and root into the bottom. Submerge the pools where the water i
s
about 3' deep.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(ö>

"ReelMcKoi" <anon@anon.net> wrote:

> If it's a dirt bottom pond adding water lilies can be a mistake unless
> you keep them in large submerged tubs

I put 4 water different colored water lilies in a 15' x 45' pond with a
cement bottom. After a few years we only had a white water lily, but it
was all over the pond. When I drained the pond about 25 years later, I
saw what looked like a black plastic hose all over the pond bottom. It
was the rhizome of one of the lilies that had taken over the entire
pond. It must have been over 200 feet long. I saved the best sections
of this rhizome and planted them in pots when I refilled the pond.
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to rhodyman@earthlink.net
18,000 gallon (17'x 47'x 2-4') lily pond garden in Zone 6
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA

"Stephen Henning" <pighash@aol.com> wrote in message
news:pighash-74A424.14343803032009@news.isp.giganews.com...
> "ReelMcKoi" <anon@anon.net> wrote:
>
>> If it's a dirt bottom pond adding water lilies can be a mistake unless
>> you keep them in large submerged tubs
>
> I put 4 water different colored water lilies in a 15' x 45' pond with a
> cement bottom. After a few years we only had a white water lily, but i
t
> was all over the pond. When I drained the pond about 25 years later, I
> saw what looked like a black plastic hose all over the pond bottom. It
> was the rhizome of one of the lilies that had taken over the entire
> pond. It must have been over 200 feet long. I saved the best sections
> of this rhizome and planted them in pots when I refilled the pond.
> --
===================================Yes, one will take over and it's not always the prettiest most colorful
lily. The rhizomes will go on and on and branch off. I've seen a pond wit
h
such a thing happen and they can't remove them because it's a dirt bottom
..
They plan to use chemicals to kill all the lilies in the pond. I haven't
heard back from them so don't know it that succeeded.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(ö>

Thanks to all who responded. I will not add lillies to my pond except in a
tub/pot. Now I need to let the wife know.


Thanks Al

"Al Schmidt" <kd6nt@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:HAEql.479$%u5.340@nwrddc01.gnilink.net...
> I have a half acre pond. It is average 3-4 ft deep. max is 8 ft. I have
> owned this property for two years and am just getting comfortable with
> taking care of a pond. There are bluegill and bass in the pond. I want to
> add some water plants. The pond is clear of surface vegetation now, Can I
> add water lilies and not have then take over the pond? Also any pointers
> to links or pond books for this size & type of pond appreciated.
>
> Al S

Hi Al,
Good luck with the planting. Take care where you get your waterlilies
from.

Many fast spreading odorata hybrids, nuphars come onto the market very
cheap. Really unsuitable for a pond, the curse you hear of folk who
have choked ponds.

There are very very suitable hybrids, which, folk who know them, and
grow them, can steer you toward.

They do all you want in a waterlily, spread at a modest pace, easy to
crop and make new positions, go where you want them., do what you
like.

Alas, the nursery trade is not what it used to be, the plants dumped on
the market tend to be poorly described, poor cultivation information,
often taken from ponds with endemic crown rot problems

The situation is not helped when many a special interest message board
is littered with dishonest racketeering cliques, Kitt Knott's mailing
list, Americanponders and the wgi being among the worst. More ponds
wrecked, more bucks wasted on bad information, bad plants, bad
choices.

There might still be some good nurseries out there, somewhere, however
I haven't come across many that impressed me since visiting Stapeleys
and Bennett's, in England, twenty or so years ago

Now they really really would steer you toward stuff that would be a
very pleasant long term investment

Regards, andy
http://tinyurl.com/5wkal7
http://tinyurl.com/4z2umo




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