Water lily fertilizer

[BarbAZCA]

I read that a well stocked pond, including goldfish & koi, will produce enough fertilizer to sustain a waterlily. And by adding additional fertilizer (in tab form for me) contributes to an over abundance of algae causing nutrients. Your experiences/thoughts?

 

[Tula]

I found my lilles put out more blooms when I fertilized them.

 

[JRS]

Enough nitrogen byproducts from the fish perhaps but trace elements which promote blooms often lacking. Also depends how much you feed and how many plants you have. I have added miracle grow and other general fertilizer to my bog in the past when it looked like the other plants were declining. (This was in addition to the root fertilizer for the lilies.)

 

[Hound Heaven]

I didn't add the biweekly Osmocote to mine this year and blooms were almost non existent. Algae stayed just the same.

 

[poolpondaz]

I feed my algae, but the tabs definitely improve my bloom rates on more reluctant lily cultivars.

 

[addy1]

My free lilies are doing great with blooming. When in pots I fertilized once a year. 1/4 cup of osmocote dumped in the bottom.

 

[Lisak1]

I'm with @addy1 - I have one lily that busted free from it's pot years ago that does fine without any additional fertilizer, but my potted lilies benefit from at least one dose annually of slow release fertilizer or a more frequent fertilizer tab.

 

[jdale]

The theory is that slow release tabs buried in the growing medium mostly don't diffuse out into the water. I don't know whether it's true. As with others, I got way more flowers when I fertilized.