water lily only has 5 lily pads?

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Hi all... I bought a packaged lily at Lowes... some sort of pink hardy water lily I believe. I do know know if i put it down too deep or what because it only had about 5 lily pads and pretty much stopped right there. Could it not produce enough pads if I put it down too deep into the pond? The other lily I bought at the same time from Lowes has about 20 lily pads and had 2 flowers this year. These came in a barley bag- should i remove it from the bag and plant into a larger container? Thanks! *tried the search and it keeps saying my words are too short or something*
 

addy1

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You might want to check and see if the roots are crowded, I would remove it from the bag and put in a oil pan or something of that sort with kitty litter clay. It might need some nutrients also.

When you start a new lily it is best to keep it shallow in good sun light. When I start my lilies in the spring, I keep them in the 1-2 foot deep area of the pond, the walk out end. They stay there until they get some good leaves going.

When I plant them, I put about 1/4 of osmocote under the clay, then add a fertilizer tab off and on. They like to be fed. I do not have a real heavy fish load for the size of my pond, around 200 fish or so, all different sizes, no koi. I have found the fish poo is not enough to keep the plants happy, at least not yet.
 
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Ok... that sounds like an idea... I will do that shortly. Shall I just leave the few pads that are there? They seem to be getting chewed up a bit. I have some fertilizer tablets as well. Wow going to be a busy day today because my husband and I are redoing the waterfall with less drop to it... kind of turning it into more of a stream with less height in each step. :) Thanks for replying
 
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I examined the tuber and it did not have a lot of roots coming out (a few coming out of the bag its in)... i broke the end off of it and it was white so i guess that is ok... I placed it on a shallow shelf and will move it down deeper as it grows.

I think its just one of those slower growing plants because i did not plant it really deep when I first got it but after a while I planted it further down and the pads grew long and then just stopped pretty much. I will fertilize in a few days from now since i broke part of the end off. Hope it works!
 

Mmathis

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I bought 2 hardy lilies from Lowe's, too, and sorta had/having the same experience. One took off and the other one has just been "hanging in there" with less leaves, smaller leaves, and no flowers. Recently repotted [and fertilized] them both, so I'll hopefully see some improvement soon. Also moved them to a different location in the pond where the slower one can get more sunlight.
 

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