Planting lily roots vs.rizome

[lindsayanng]

First sorry if I spelled rizome wrong. Wast sure if it was ryzome or rizome. Anyways, I have a lily (hardy) that my aunt gave me from her pond. It was dormant when I got it, and we were careful when we moved it

The question is, when I planted it in a decent sized pot, I used the soil from he pond and gravel but I only hurried the roots and left the rizome. Is that the right way to do it??

It's been in there for about a week or two and I just thought about asking.

The lily had only 2 pads and one flower bud. Since planting it we got 5 more pads and still see that bud but no signs of flowering yet. We are in zone 6 and are just having out first warm weather spells so I am sure that accounts for something.

I just wanted to make sure it was all ok so far

 

[oldmarine]

Sounds like you are on the right track. Not sure what rysome is or what it does, but all I have done so far is exactly what the intructions say that came with my water lillies, and fertalized as recommended. So far my five year old lilly has about ten pads, and one lilly bloosom about four inches from the surface of the water. The last three years it gave me purple blossoms from June to September. I rerooted it for the first time this last May only because it was getting to small for the potting basket it was in. Next year it will end up being two separate lillies because it is now starting to sprout new lilly pads at the other end of the pot that it is in.

 

[lindsayanng]

wow.. you post REALLY just confused me..

The rizome is the tall hard thing that is underwater that the tubes grow out of.. thent here are the roots that come off of that.. and the leaves and such.

I just dont know if the entire rizome is to be buried or just the small roots.

This one is growing fast too.. i'm happy.. I just want to make sure i'm doing it right.

Also, when you say it bloomed all month.. i though tthey were only supposed to bloom for a week or so

 

[oldmarine]

Okay, now I'm confused. Still not sure what a rysome is. Is it a plant, a rock, or what?

 

[lovinglife]

Oldmarine, its just the big thick root of your lilies.

I usually put my under gravel or whatever planting mix I am using at the time. Sometimes the koi will uncover a bunch of it, no big deal so far. I have them actually growing over the side of my pot, must cut them off and start some new ones! Some of my lilies have just started blooming in zone 5 and will continue until late fall.

 

[oldmarine]

Thank you, I'm with you now.

Something that I had to result to is putting a layer of 3/4" diameter round rocks in my potted water lillies. Even my eight inch Shubunkins will pick out the smaller pee gravel sized rocks out of my water plants, and drop them to the bottom.

 

[koiguy1969]

actually the rhyzone should be buried at a 45* angle with the last 1 or 2 inches where the the stem cluster is sticking out, if youve got shoots across the rhyzone than it can be split into 2 pots

 

[lindsayanng]

Thanks Koi Guy.. that was what I was trying to figure out. Mine is not buried at all.. Should i repot it and make sure it is buried up to the shoots?

I have another lily related question..
A few of the actual pads died. We had some warm days where the pads shot up from the tubes, and then it got REALLY FREAKIN COLD at night and the leaves of some of the pads look really brown and rotted. I am pretty sure its because of the cold, because the tubes dont look rotted.

Should I clip them off like you do with rotten leaves on terrestrial plants? Will that harm the tube for next time it blooms?

 

[koiguy1969]

cut them off about 1" from the rhyzome. or the plant will keep feeding it and wasting energy it could be using to grow and bloom. not to mention decaying plant matter in the pond. its gotta go!!

 

[lindsayanng]

thanks.. thats what I was thinking. along the same lines as terrestrial plants. I will do that tomorrow. right now its raining like cats and dogs.

I will be interested to see what this one looks like when it blooms and how LONG it will bloom. I really have no clue. I took it from my aunt's pond.. Shes a super ponder.

 

[oldmarine]

Thanks Koiguy, I learned something as well. Good info about planting water lillies.

I had one mimiture water lilly from last year that didn't do well at all. When I went to repot it two months ago, it had rotted. Looked like a blob of jelly. So I dumped it and the potting mix it was in.

 

[lovinglife]

:icon_mrgreen:I know there is always a better way to do things, but you know, I never planted my lilies at a 45 degree angle, heck if they stay planted they are lucky, the ones I do get the fish to leave alone, usually with large rocks around them, I just stuff a bunch of fertilizer in them and watch them take off. I mean take off! One of my pots had 10 blooms on them at one time, of course there are several plants in it. Sometimes I think we try to make things too hard. If your pond is green, you probably need more filter, I don't believe you have to have 5 different kinds of filter material. I think there are lots of ways to make what you have work. I tried all those different things to get clear water, nothing worked until I got a BIGGER filter filled with gravel and plants. Now my pond is almost too clear, really don't like seeing the pump and all the pots and stands in the water. It is staying clear in spite of the tree fertilizer spikes I broke up and stuck in my lily pots last week. My fish are very healthy, they keep making goldfish koi cross babies that over take my pond, so I guess the water quality is fine. I wouldn't know, I don't have a test kit. My backyard pond is subject to high winds blowing in grass cuttings, weeds and trash from the highway 200 yards away and full sun all day long. No, it is no show piece, but I think it is beautiful and it gives me total pleasure. The water is clear, the fish are happy and thats all that matters.

All this to say, everything does not have to be done perfectly to have a beautiful relaxing pond, complete with happy fish and plants. If you are wondering if you need a bigger filter, just try rigging up a kid swimming pool temp. and see if it helps clean up your water. I will take a picture of my pond and water fall, even though we don't have the waterfall going now because of pump failure, just dont look at the weeds that need pulled because I have not had time to get to them.

This is just my opinion and I am sure others disagree, but to me a pond should be relaxing and not a constant source of work and worry. Until tomorrow when I can post a picture of my pond, if I haven't been banned anyway!!!

 

[lindsayanng]

I agree with you partly. I am against using chemicals to clear your pond. I also don't think you NEED the expensive UV sterilizers that every pond store employees tells you that you need. But I DO believe that if you can do things the right way first you should. I also feel that there's a right way for a reason. Most small ponds and manmade ponds aren't going to sustain themselves so we all need to do things to sustain them. You NEED different types of filtermedia to control the different things that can go wrong. You need to step in and change things if they aren't the way you want them.

If they say it's best to plant a lily at a 45 degree angle then the next time I pull out it lily or plant a new one, why not try it? Plants do things themselves in the wild because they aren't in pots surrounded with rocks and gravel. So we do it for them.

 

[lovinglife]

I wasn't saying, or didn't mean to anyway, not to do your best to make your pond right, my point was just that I feel if you have a big enough filter you probably won't have as many issues that require fixes. If you study awhile on filters, they are not hard to create and really don't cost that much if you have the room. As far as the lilies go, they are pretty tough and not at all hard to grow. I don't know, maybe I just got the really super hardy kind.

I think all the technical talk and must do's and must have's discourage some from attempting a pond, while it really does not have to be that difficult, but that's just me.

I didn't get a picture, it was raining and windy, not a good day for photo taking.
:boldblue:

 

[lindsayanng]

I gotcha.. but then you have people who are like "Screw the rules.. I have a 350 gallon pond and I WANT 8 goldfish and 1 koi in it and i am going to do it!!"

At some point, NO amount of filtration can help..