What happened with my lilies and hyacinth?

[Lisak1]

I agree @adavisus about the smell of the pond itself - whenever I've been in the water I make my husband sniff my arms. It smells so good! (I'm weird - no doubt about I!) But potted plants in the pond always stink when you uproot them.

 

[CJMelonhead]

Well I threw the lilies out, I doubt they'll come back. Chromatella stunk but James Brydon did not. Both were firm, not mushy, but had no roots or what roots they had were rotten. Had a look at the hyacinth roots out of curiosity. All the roots were black, no new white growths, so I am 99% sure disease was a factor. Anybody know of the types of fungus that cause root rot? I know phytophtora does, but who are the other culprits?

 

[Angel]

totally missed the cut and re plant at winter. or the use of a fridge/freezer . I would never do that. if i need to prune or cut and replant to make a 2nd or so plant it would be during "pond opening" or a bit after. would not mess with an established plant during the wintering season.

But that is just me.

 

[sissy]

All plants when bought should be kept in a holding area and repoted ,the roots can carry all kinds of bad stuff ..I clean mine in peroxide and water and put in a tub of water for a week or 2 or 3 with a little fertilizer .

 

[adavisus]

phytophtora is a bad boy.

Many early attempts to grow waterlilies to bloom are going to fail with that in a pond, marliac hybrids do not cope, at all

Nuking a pond with copper sulphate, clorox might eradicate, wipe the slate clean....

 

[CJMelonhead]

Ok thanks for the advice guys. Never had anything like this happen before, lesson learned. Gonna do a good clean with bleach next spring and thoroughly check plants before purchase, such as not buying a stressed lily that jumped its pot like this year. I just have two more questions and I think I have all the info I need. First, when lilies pick up in spring, do they grow new roots first, new foliage, or both at the same time? Silly question, but it will help me next time after wintering a lily whether it is healthy or not. Second, could snails have been a factor? Those were new this year, melantho snails just to eat decaying matter in the pond (not for algae, I know they wouldn't eat it, which they didn't). They may have eaten some leaves, as the lily leaves seemed to have been skeletalized, leaving the veins intact before rotting away. They were never yellow, green and red or maroon like they should be before rotting away.

 

[Lisak1]

@CJMelonhead - I would suggest you leave your lilies in your pond for the winter, if it's deep enough to keep them below the ice. Then in spring when you see pads starting you can evaluate whether they need to be divided or not. Judge by how crowded the tubers are in the pot. If they need dividing, spring is a good time to do that.

As for what grows first - based on the rate that my lilies grow once they get started, I'm going to guess the roots and pads are all growing at the same time. But I always wait to see tiny pads starting when I divide - that way I can see which growing tips are the most active if I have to pick and choose what to re-pot.

And no, I don't think snails caused your problem.

 

[adavisus]

Hardy waterlilies always have healthy roots where the crown of the waterlily is growing. In cold waters, big foliage and buds stop, underwater you have submerse lilypads forming keeping photosynthesise going. These delicate curly lilypads are vulnerable to fish and snails snacking on them early spring
Snails and fish may well finish off an ailing waterlily before waters are warm enough to get them going
Many a tropical waterlily will be chomped to destruction, those submerse lilypads are very flimsy nibblies