lily pads not surfacing

[Joshi83]

Hey everyone,
Iv just completed rebuilding my pond from scratch. all the fish and other aquatic life, as well as the elephant ear plant seem to be going great, but I have 4 potted lilies that have tons of pads on them (some quite large) but only 2 pads have come to the surface?

The pond is about 50cm deep and about 1.8x1.2 surface area.
Over the summer before the rebuilt (due to a leak) I got a lot of flowers from one lily, and the others had a lot of lily pads surface.
But now summer is over and the plants have gone back into the pond (3weeks now) they don't want to surface? (the pond they were stored in during the rebuild was half the depth)
I know I won't get flowers but I thought the pads would still float to the top?

Iv lifted them up near the water surface for the last week, but nothing has changed and I have given them all a fertiliser tablet too.

Are my lilies past it (ie chuck them and buy new ones) or is this a normal post summer thing? ( not that the temperature has changed much in Australia)

 

[addy1]

If the pads grew in the shallower water, that is why they are not reaching the surface of the deeper pond. They will produce new pads that will get to the surface, give them some time. Even plants need to adjust to pond changes Don't toss them, they will be fine, unless totally dead, i.e. mushy.

 

[Joshi83]

Thanks! Will persist more with them than.
So should I lower them back down to the base of the pond? Or leave them up near the surface till they start to grow again and lower them down gradually?

 

[addy1]

I would lower them gradually. What is the temperature of your water? They may slow down as it does. If it is getting colder you might want to leave them where the current leaves are at water surface, the plant might be slowing down and it needs all the food it can get for the winter.

 

[koiguy1969]

up nearer the surface will help the sun reach them lower them as the pads near the surface. i do this and get to a lower point than where they go so the stems grow longer then move them back up so i get a bigger spread on the pads.

 

[Joshi83]

Sweet, thanks all.

Will report back in a few weeks time hopefully with good news!

 

[j.w]

Much luck to ya Joshi and hope to see some lovely photos of them when they are growing strong soon :surfing:

 

[sissy]

welcome joshi83 seems lillies are always fussy thought one of mine died over winter but looked today and there was new sprouts coming up .I trimmed all the roots on the bottom and maybe that helped as there was a lot of mushy yucky ones on the bottom of the pot

 

[scooter7728]

They recommend 2 ft depth my pond is 36" would lilies grow to reach the air level and if not would they be ok not reaching air level ?

 

[addy1]

I had some in my pond in arizona, around that level they did not do well at all. You might want to put them on a milk crate, blocks something to raise them up some. They need to be able to get the leaves on the surface of the water

 

[fishin4cars]

36" is pretty deep for most lilies except the largest species, hardy and dwarfs do far better at 18'-24" in depth. (From the crown of the bulb, to the water surface) If the leaves can't reach the surface the plant will usually die. As addy said, a milk crate, over turned put with holes drilled in it to allow water to still flow in or a rock, anything to get the pot up closer to the surface will help.

 

[scooter7728]

never thought of a milk crate that may work