Oil-dri vs kitty litter vs pea gravel

mrsclem

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I'm in the process of repotting most of my waterlilies. I had some planted in kitty litter and some with just pea gravel or pond stone covering the tuber. I'm using Oil-Dri which is kiln dried clay and also using Pond Tab fertilizer pellets. I have come to several conclusions. The lilies that were potted with the kitty litter ( some were fertilized last year, some not) did much better than the ones planted with gravel or stone. The lilies planted without litter had no tubers, just a root mat with very small roots. The lilies in litter had good tubers, massive roots and multiple growing points. When I pulled the pots, they smelled horrible. They were put in an inflatable pool for almost 2 weeks and now there is no odor to them. I have 3 adult koi in this pond and over a dozen 1-2 year olds. The other pond has 7 adult koi, 18-30", no bog or plants other than 5 hanging baskets with lilies. They were planted late last spring and did ok but very few blooms. I am not dividing these now as the baskets look great, lots of leaves and new growth.
I will post updates on how the newly potted lilies do with the new media vs the ones that were not repotted.
 
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I usually repot mine each Spring, but am interested to see how they do if I don't. I may try to push some pond tabs into the pots...but I have to get my waders on.
 

j.w

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Mine are sitting on plant ledge free as a bird putting up pads now. No repotting, no fuss, no muss, just someday will have to haul them out to cut them up and put back in. Goldfish don't bother them but I hear Koi will. Don't your koi bother yours @mrsclem ?
 

mrsclem

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The koi I have now are pretty good at leaving the lilies alone. I have had fish in the past that love to tear the plants apart. I'm not planning on putting these back in the pond till I get the youngsters moved out. Planning on no more than 7-8 koi total.
 
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Debating whether to pull lilly plants and repot this weekend. I have two with huge root systems outside the pot. Last year I struggled to get fert tabs into the pots they were so root bound. I may leave those alone and split the smaller ones. Last spring l planted all with kitty litter and added ferts each month. Had my best year with growth and flowers.
 

addy1

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I don't let mine jump the pot too much, it is almost impossible to move them. Heavy
 

mrsclem

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Took a while to find this thread! I just pulled multiple lilies from a 100 gallon stock tank. I used the Oil-Dri as medium. 5 years and the tank was completely overrun with roots. No nasty smell like you get with the kitty litter. It is also not slimy so wishing I had ordered more instead of the 200lbs of kitty litter I got from Tractor Supply.
 

mrsclem

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Oil-Dri is basically kitty litter that is baked. It is used in garages, etc to soak up spills. It seems like it held up better than the cat litter without the smell and sliminess. after 5 years it basically hadn't changed. So glad for the lack of odor with dealing with a 100gallon tank! Hoping I used it in the other 100 gallon tank I need to repot.
 

addy1

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i am going to set the lilies free in my 1000 gallon stock tank, forgot about oil dry, going to buy a bunch of 50 lb bags, via wally world, 5 dollar shipping. They will grow massive roots, but contained in the one pond, this is my current experiment lol. I have a lily in there that produces flowers that are over 8 inches in size, huge!

 

mrsclem

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Correction on my post- only 3 years. Tired hands! Both of y stock tanks are so overcrowded that the leaves are well above the water. One tank is all Colorado, the other is 5 different lilies so once they start blooming, i will get them labeled.
 

addy1

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the other is 5 different lilies so once they start blooming, i will get them labeled.
I have labeled so many times, metal tags, plastic tags, nothing seems to last. I have around 6 lilies in the 1000 gallon tank. Will be interesting to see how they do running free. Biggest issue will be grooming for the winter, I might need to go wading.
 

mrsclem

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Tried colored electrical tape, lost its color after 1 winter. Think the zip ties will hold color. Small but they won't fall off.
0311211257.jpg
 

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