Depth of water lilies for winter?

[Jersey_Marine]

What depth should my water lilie pots be at for the lilies to survive the winter? Should I drop them down to 3ft? 3.5ft? They are about 12-15 inches right now

 

[tbendl]

I think the deepest you can go is what is recommended for you snow people.

 

[Jersey_Marine]

I think the deepest you can go is what is recommended for you snow people.

Lol. Well that's basically what I was getting at. I want a "snow person" to give me some insight. Lol

 

[Mmathis]

Deep enough that they won't freeze...... How deep is your pond? And you are talking about hardy lilys, right?

 

[Jersey_Marine]

Deep enough that they won't freeze...... How deep is your pond? And you are talking about hardy lilys, right?

Yes hardy....pond is about 3-3.5 ft

 

[addy1]

My hardies have been from 6 inches (forgot about a few) to around 18-24 inches. As long as they are below the ice depth. But in saying that I had four that were in small shallow ponds that I forgot about, they froze solid and all came back.

 

[Jersey_Marine]

My hardies have been from 6 inches (forgot about a few) to around 18-24 inches. As long as they are below the ice depth. But in saying that I had four that were in small shallow ponds that I forgot about, they froze solid and all came back.

Wow. They froze and came back. If thats the case Im not too worried about them staying at 15 inches

 

[Mmathis]

Yes hardy....pond is about 3-3.5 ft

Sorry, no clue! Just thought it would sound like I knew something if I asked those questions, LOL!

If no one on here answers, and I'm sure @addy1 will, you can always Google it. There's a ton of info. When I first started, I thought I had to lower mine, because that's what everyone did and lots of people said to lower them to 3', etc. Until a couple of members finally told me that due to my location, I didn't need to lower them at all. It doesn't get cold enough here.

So it's going to depend on how deeply your water freezes, as they can get cold and survive, but you don't want them to freeze, which disrupts the cellular structure.

 

[addy1]

Wow. They froze and came back. If thats the case Im not too worried about them staying at 15 inches

I would not rely on that not harming them, I was totally shocked to be honest. I also had a small lotus come back, that froze. The ice was to the bottom of the pond, this was in a shallow preform that I just removed due to a crack.

In my big pond the ice was 12 inches deep, in the small ponds they froze to the bottom.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

My hardies have been from 6 inches (forgot about a few) to around 18-24 inches. As long as they are below the ice depth. But in saying that I had four that were in small shallow ponds that I forgot about, they froze solid and all came back.

When my drain came undone last winter the ice collapsed on my lilies. We had several nights in the minus 20's F too. They came back just fine.

 

[MitchM]

Mike, do you measure your pond water temperature?
If so, how warm does it get during the summer?
I haven't been able to get hardy lilies to do very well in my pond. I keep thinking it's because of cool water temperatures.
(question to Jersey_Marine, too)

 

[cas]

ice was 12 inches deep

Addy, how did you determine how thick your ice was? I have never been able to determine how thick my ice gets.

 

[Jersey_Marine]

Mike, do you measure your pond water temperature?
If so, how warm does it get during the summer?
I haven't been able to get hardy lilies to do very well in my pond. I keep thinking it's because of cool water temperatures.
(question to Jersey_Marine, too)

Ehh my lilies aren't the greatest either. Not sure of the water temp now. I start monitoring that in a few weeks to determine when I should change over to the fall food. Only one of my lilies flower and thats because its in direct sun. The other lilie never flowers I think because its in part shade....they are living but they dont look half as nice as most lilies I see on here. They are just so expensive Id like them to last the winter and rather not buy them again next year

 

[addy1]

Addy, how did you determine how thick your ice was? I have never been able to determine how thick my ice gets.

Took a long drill bit and drilled through it. (5 foot deep area no chance of hitting bottom)

The small ponds, once the edge started melting I stuck my hand down until I felt the bottom of the ice and it was at the bottom of the pond.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

Mike, do you measure your pond water temperature?
If so, how warm does it get during the summer?
I haven't been able to get hardy lilies to do very well in my pond. I keep thinking it's because of cool water temperatures.
(question to Jersey_Marine, too)

I don't. It's something I would like to start doing though. The pond is 15 feet deep. It was dug down to the ledge. That keeps the water pretty cool. My fish start to feel stress at 65 degrees F. If I had to guess, I would say the water doesn't gets above 55 F in the deep part.