Bare Root Water Lilies....

[j.w]

Yep sun would be nice but we takes what we gets and looks like we gets the rains starting today sometime. Dark clouds are up north where I am right now and heard a couple thunder booms right after I got home from my walk.

 

[j.w]

Been a long time since I first put my bare root lilies in the pond w/o soil. Finally getting some nice blooms from them so maybe this bare root idea will really work for me?

 

[shellena]

Haven't done mine yet. MC do you just tie them in the baskets and then put a rock to hold the baskets down?

Hi! You can put them in a milk crate with rocks to weigh them down , you can cover them with sand, you can almost throw them in and walk away, they will grow ! And grow and grow!' Lol they have the ability to take over!! I started out with one that came to me in a black garbage bag about 4 years ago and it is now in 7 different pond habitat !! Careful what u wish for comes to mind! Lol

 

[j.w]

@shellena Yep mine are in a black crisscross weaved plastic basket w/a rock on top. I will have to grab them out one day and chop them up or they will take over the whole pond! Glad they finally started blooming

 

[j.w]

Been about 3yrs now and my bare root lilies are really starting to do well. Even have a pink one now blooming! So looks like the bare test thing is working. No more digging them out of soil or litter to divide. I wonder how big those tubers can get? I better watch them cuz I don't want to have to hire a crane to haul them outta there some year.

 

[DutchMuch]

How on earth, is it that J.w. is the only one that posted pics???

slackers...lol

 

[sissy]

my lilies are in a lily pond bare root

 

[j.w]

@sissy do you have them weighted down w/anything or tied? And is there any fish in there to fertilize them or do you just fertilize them your self w/something?

 

[Lisak1]

This is a YouTube channel I enjoy watching - they garden in my zone so I learn lots from them. They have a raised pond that had waterlilies and cattails (in pots originally, but you'll see how that turned out). They basically left them on their own for 20 plus years - here's part one of them cleaning out the pond:

 

[sissy]

not tied down and no fish .I just throw in some fertilizer or use some water from the pond .

 

[Jhn]

The shallow portion of my pond has 3 lilies growing bare root and a lotus bare root for roughly 8 years. Basically, just shoved the lily tubers in between rocks in 18" of water, fish and turtles provide all the fertilizer the plants need.

The lilies have grown everywhere in the 18" deep portion of the pond,(16'x18') flower like crazy until the lotus gets going, then they slow down as the lotus takes over. I had the deep portion of the pond separated from the shallow portion of the pond by large river rock to keep the larger koi out until the plants took over now i dont worry about it.

In hindsight probably not the best move with the lotus, I can see eventually it will choke out the lilies. Already had to remove some tubers from the yellow lily and the lotus a few years back as both were everywhere.

Only aside, is I can see about 2' down in the 4' deep part of the pond. On the plus side, that is as far as the heron can see when it shows up for lunch.

 

[j.w]

@Lisak1 I will have to keep sharp eye on those lilies cuz if my pond became like theirs did I would die!

So @Jhn are you gonna thin your lilies and lotus soon to keep them from ending up like that pond in the video?

 

[Jhn]

[QUOTE="j.So @Jhn are you gonna thin your lilies and lotus soon to keep them from ending up like that pond in the video?[/QUOTE]

Yes, will probably thin them out some this fall. I should thin them out quite abit in the near future and let them start over again. Not to keen on getting in there at the moment since there is a water snake that has been hanging around that portion of the pond.

Had a friend that had a decent size pond, helped him pull a yellow iris out of there that had literally taken over the whole pond and turned it into one giant plant pot. We had to get it with a truck, rope and boat anchor to hook into the rootball to drag it out. Looked kinda like what was going on in the video. Found out after we were done that thing that kept bumping into us in the pond was a huge snapping turtle.

 

[Lisak1]

Seriously! I was exhausted just watching her work on that! And there's a part two! They are the sweetest couple - both so upbeat and positive. I just love watching them work together.

 

[addy1]

When one of my lilies jumps the pot and puts out a bit of roots that get covered with muck, I can barely lift it out to groom it. This is a lily a bit bigger than a oil pan. I call dear hubby to pull it out for me if it is too heavy.

The lotus are only in a contained pond, 300 gallon they are free to grow as much as they want, in that pond. I tried to push in a bit of fertilizer last year, nothing but tubers and roots. They have packed it tight.

I had a small, two foot tall, lotus in one of my small ponds in two years it jumped the pot filled the pond with tubers and roots, I yanked it out. Took a lot of yanking.

They grow like crazy so if you ignore them for too long.............good luck!

I don't let them go crazy. Doing my best to save my hands, back and arms.