OPINION! *** My current thinking on water lilies. *** OPINION!

[HTH]

Waring: Don't read if you already know everything there is to know abut pond. See signature!

Bare root water lilies put on a lot of foliage and roots/rhinestone and must take the nutrients from the water to do so. They are easily controlled by cutting the plant back to whatever size suites you leaving one or more growing tips and as much or little plant matter as you desire.

The big complaint people have is a reduction in blooming which happens when the nitrates are under control, There is a solution. Simply place potted lilies in with the bare roots and fertilize them for max blossoms. We can have our cake and eat it too.

Recently I received 'fan mail' giving me crap for this quote.

Not only are water lilies beautiful, they are also beneficial to a water garden. The water lily pad resting on the water's surface insulates the pool. During the day it reflects heat and holds heat at night, therefore, stablizing water temperature and assisting in algae control. They also take out nutrients of the water which helps to starve algae. To environmental balance a pool 40-60 percent of the water should be covered by floating foilage. A water lily is just the plant to use.

This is supported by others.

Water lilies do several things to improve the quality of lakes and ponds. They provide shade, shelter and cooler water temperatures for any fish or invertebrates living in the water. But perhaps the most useful advantage of water lilies is their ability to filter and detoxify the water. In fact, water lilies thrive in water polluted with heavy metals.

Read more: The Advantages of Water Lilies | Garden Guides http://www.gardenguides.com/79534-advantages-water-lilies.html#ixzz2XKioTWwW

Yeah maybe not for everyone but bare root water lilies are an untapped resource. Think about setting a few free.

Howard

 

[dieselplower]

What I didn't even know you could do that.... I'm doing it.

 

[HTH]

I would wash the soil from the roots with a sprayer then tie it to a brick or rock if it wants to float.

 

[mrsclem]

I have mine in pots with just a couple of rocks to hold the roots down and snow fence across the top to keep the koi out. 16 blooms this morning (some 8") and clear water. These lilies have not been fertilized except by the fish. It does work!

 

[dieselplower]

Too late its already sitting on the bottom and I left for work hahahha. maybe ill rinse it off tomorrow.

 

[fishin4cars]

Caution when doing bare rooted lilies. Yes small ones will not bloom as much as the ones that are potted and fertilized. But if you ever get a hardy to take off the root system can become gigantic and a bugger to remove from the pond. These plants do remove nitrates, but they also are just like magnets for trapping waste that isn't removed and the stagnant area's in the pond become huge sewer pits. I've had to remove my share of bare rooted lilies and pickerel rushes from ponds that plain and simply took the pond completely over. But the bad part in removing them is the hydrogen sulfide and gases released when they get disturbed. Once a pond becomes that overloaded there is only one choice to get it out. Completely start the pond over. Yes that means removing the fish, taking the plant life out and completely cleaning the whole pond before starting I back up. If not all the gases released when taking it out will kill the fish and the pond will go through all types of problems until everything settles back down. Do this in a unfiltered pond and the story gets worse. In a large enough pond with years of settlement these gases can become quite dangerous for humans. Bacteria can cause infections where humans can lose body tissue, The gases can become so high that they can cause humans to black out when disturbed.

HTH-- Howard, I have been reading your post on growing lilies bare rooted in ponds. Also been reading through the thread about keeping ponds with no filtration. While I do agree that while true these type ponds can be done, and they can be done with some success, and be very easy and simple set-ups. Please be aware that they can also be quite dangerous for both wildlife and human life if not done with serious considerations taken ahead of time. I myself have a accidental pond that is exactly as you are describing. It has many plants, no filtration, fish, tadpoles, insect life, and yes crystal clear water and it's working quite well. It's a kiddy swimming pool, Which was a large water bowl swimming pool for the dogs when they stayed back there. They don't use the area right now and I had some extra plants from a couple of pond rebuilds I didn't want to throw away. So I threw them in the water until I could get TUIT. So that is the Round Tuit Pond. LOL But I also have experience with this type of pond setting and feel like I can approach cleaning this pond with safety in mind. It's not a in ground of large capacity pond So I won't have to be in a enclosed condition when I need to clean it. And yes there will be a day it has to be cleaned. I have water close by and can flush the water and muck with limited exposure to any trapped gases. Rubber gloves for cleaning and washing down. Portable so I can move it easily if I need to make the area animal safe again.

I ask you to please learn and teach others the pro's and con's of this type system. Maybe a thread of this type of pond build with others thoughts and input to safety would be a great learning experience for all of us. As a moderator to the forum I feel a need to point out many times we are talking to a wide array of pond keepers and pond experience. I feel it needs to be brought out that while these type ponds are very much a possibility. There are things that you can get away with and things you simply can't. What else can we teach others in our experiences with this type of pond keeping. Safety is my #1 concern, Fish loads for this type of pond needs to be focused on, as well as why this type of ponds does work and why it can be a disaster if not approached with complete forethought.

 

[mrsclem]

Fishin- Are you referring to plant that are just loose in the ponds or in pots? I have about 15 pots of lilies in a 11x13 pond. Haven't moved any since spring so do I need to worry about stuff building up in or around the pots?

 

[dieselplower]

So in theory I could just lift rand gently shake the root ball from time to time to "freshen" it up....?

 

[fishin4cars]

Fishin- Are you referring to plant that are just loose in the ponds or in pots? I have about 15 pots of lilies in a 11x13 pond. Haven't moved any since spring so do I need to worry about stuff building up in or around the pots?

I'm referring to plants planted loose in the bottom of the pond. Around pots can build some so it's not a bad idea to vacuum or net any muck that is sitting close to the pots but in most cases a yearly or bi-yearly cleaning of the bottom is fine.

So in theory I could just lift rand gently shake the root ball from time to time to "freshen" it up....?

This is not a good idea at all. By doing this you will releases trapped gases into the water column. When it becomes time to clean the muck around lilies that have been on the bottom loosely planted it is best to remove the fish before disturbing the plants, and yes this means starting the pond over for the most part. Once these conditions are in place they are usually best left undisturbed as long as possible.

 

[HTH]

@fishin4cars

We are talking about 2 somewhat different methods. I just finished cleaning out tons of monster lilies from a ~18'x40' foot pond. I understand that type of pond and it is not what I am suggesting. But left on its own what I am suggesting will surely turn into that.

I am recommending that people trim or divide lilies as needed to prevent monsters. Obviously it deserves more emphasis. I will bold that in the original post.

Bare root water lilies put on a lot of foliage and roots/rhinestone and must take the nutrients from the water to do so. They are easily controlled by cutting the plant back to whatever size suites you leaving one or more growing tips and as much or little plant matter as you desire.

Lilies that break out of their pot are subject to the same problem. But generally they will not be doing it in a single season.

Potted lilies should be inspected annually to determine if there is enough room for another years growth. Different varieties grow at different rates and fertilization should enter into it but by the 3rd year most lilies will be needing division. Yellows and changeables have been slower growers for me.

I have kept several successful ponds without filtration but I have always used vigorous aireation

One has to be careful not too draw conclusion form single observations. I get that and it is in part why I included OPINION in the title twice. I do have a 1000+ above ground setup running with one chamber dedicated to lilies denitrification. It is working in that the nitrates are lower then that in my tap water. I would not call the system perfect as it is overload and I am doing weekly large water changes. It is serving well as tempoary quarters while I rebuild my ponds.



Please disregard the mess. When I took the image I was cleaning out the small greenhouse in an attempt to use it as a fish room.

 

[adavisus]

Potting a hardy waterlily roots allows the plant to grow anchored where you want it. You can shuffle it around when the time comes to divide it. Medium and large varieties will have more restrained growing habit

Let the beast grow bare root and you will much sooner see rhisomes six feet long, as thick as your leg, which may well amble into shallow water and have a scraggy growing and blooming habit

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[HTH]

Potting a hardy waterlily roots allows the plant to grow anchored where you want it. You can shuffle it around when the time comes to divide it. Medium and large varieties will have more restrained growing habit

Let the beast grow bare root and you will much sooner see rhisomes six feet long, as thick as your leg, which may well amble into shallow water and have a scraggy growing and blooming habit

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

This thread is about taking the road less traveled Andy.

Bare root lilies can be anchored when small and once they get to what a pot weighs they tend to stay put. If you pull a root bound lily from a pot (rinse off the dirt) it will weigh nearly what it did potted and stay put like it did when it was potted.

The faster the lily grows the more nutrients it is pulling out of the water! Both potted and bare root lilies need periodic attention. With bare root you can be cutting it back instead of fertilizing.

When potted lilies break out of the pot they often have the pond nutrients all to themselves, or close to it. I have not verified this but I suspect growth slows in a nutrient poor pond. It is one of the things we need to check.

Ss you mentioned some varieties such as yellows and changables tend to grow slower then others.

 

[dieselplower]

Is it possible for a giant beast plant to actually puncture a liner?

 

[addy1]

Is it possible for a giant beast plant to actually puncture a liner?

Their roots are pretty soft, I doubt they could mess up a liner

 

[HTH]

Have you lost any water clarity from depotting your lily DP? I have been using quilt batting to clear it up on the couple of ponds I am trying this on.

Oh and the roots are very soft.