Lily and other plants: Use containers WITH holes or NO holes? Also, cannas, sagitaria plants, water only ok? No dirt?

[Belindab77]

I have planted lily and canna in dirt in a dishpan type container ... no holes. I read somewhere that these plants need holes in the container and do see online plant "bags" or containers sold with dozens of perforated type holes.

1.Which is best? Or, makes no difference?

I am replanting YEARLY with the "no hole" planters and dirt is smelly.

2. Can most all shelf plants simply be put in container with water (and rocks), no dirt? And use liquid fertilizer for these?

Thanks for your advice.

 

[MajorDan]

Good questions. I am a first year ponder and planted the lilies in oil pans from Walmart and the pickerel rush in plastic, 5 quart paint buckets from Lowes. The pickerel rush sent oodels of roots out of the top of the buckets so I know have lots of those roots. Wondering how it would have been better to put holes in the buckets. I also planted red luikia in the ! quart buckets, again no holes.
I filled them with kitty litter and osmocote fertiliizer and covered the top of the container with pea gravel.

All of the plants have done really well so far so I have no complaints but just wondering if the holes would have made a difference. The down side to putting holes in may be when you need to repot them you would either have to lose the roots that came out the holes or really destroy the bucket to save the roots.

The handle on the 5 quart bucket can be easily removed.

Looking fowared to other folks comments.

 

[Tula]

I have three types of containers currently in use in my pond and don't really notice a difference. I have some plant baskets, oil pans and dish pans. One disadvantage to not having holes in the container is the weight of the planter when I lift them to the side of the pond, but I only do this once or twice a year.

@addy1 seems to have glorious lilies and I know she uses oil pans, lets see what she says about holes

 

[Belindab77]

Major Dan and Tula...Thanks for the input..
☺

 

[addy1]

None of my pots have holes. Lilies, pickerel, iris etc all are in solid pots. The lotus are in their own tub running free.

I had lilies, years ago, in a pot with holes, the roots went out the holes, made a massive amount of roots out in the muck, horrible heavy to pick up and move.

The oil pots I can push with my toes, easy to pull up and work on.

 

[mgmine]

I just use the oil pans. I don't see a need to put holes in them. Holes are put into pots to let the water run out so the roots don't rot. I don't see that as an issue in a pond unless I'm missing something.

 

[j.w]

I would use pots w/o holes as when I had lilies in my pond in the holey ones they did like @addy1 posted and so hard to get out. Some here have made some kind of lifting devices and maybe they will mention them for you.

 

[addy1]

Most of my pond plants are put into kitty litter, I don't use dirt.

 

[Belindab77]

Thank you all for the great input.

 

[Spanky]

Very interesting. I'm a new ponder using a raised bog as my filter. I planted bog plants minus any kind of pot directly in the bog gravel. I did plant one lily in a fabric pot in the pond and will be adding more marginal plants in the pond come spring. Good to know that solid walled containers work well for that

 

[Lisak1]

I bought a new lily this year and commented to the guy at the pond store that some of my plants had struggled a bit the year before to produce blooms. He said "oh, you should just put SLITS in the pot and let the roots grow OUT into the pond". I said "are you available in three years to come and help me haul the monster you created out of the pond?"

Everything in my pond is naturalized EXCEPT my lilies. I've seen what the can do when you keep them contained in pots! I've had them bust right through those plastic nursery pots they're sold in, rip right through fabric bags, jump over the side of my oil pan pots... they are wild and wanna be freeeeeeee! haha!

 

[Relic]

I have a pot of Louisiana iris that over the years split apart as the plant grew and grew, with rhizomes and roots spreading out. Most if not all of the dirt has disappeared and the only thing holding this monster in place on a shelf of the pond is a bent coat-hanger anchored to the side of the pond. Not sure it made any difference whether the pot was open or closed, the plant eventually burst out like superman...even after repeatedly cutting everything back down to the water level in cold winters. Tougher than my wife's cooking.