Thanks for that. I enjoyed reading it. Ancient species are interesting. They sure have it figured out. My profile pic is a African Tiger Fish.
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Thanks for that. I enjoyed reading it. Ancient species are interesting. They sure have it figured out. My profile pic is a African Tiger Fish.
So the lily came in a pretty small pot and the soil is just a couple inches high but the leaves are doing so nicely that I m thinking maybe i should transplant it to a bigger pot so the roots can spread and add some clay and fertilizer.
I “overwintered” (my new word for the day) a few plants including my favorite, my first Saracenia ((Pitcher Plant),but realized that i probably should have cut it all down and just kept it moist for the winter instead of leaving it floating in the aquarium as it’s taking a long time now to grow.
And today I got my first booms on my water hyacinths! Heaven!
Yes, I would go ahead and transplant the lily into a bigger pot. Congrats on the water hyancinth. Mine was great last year and is dying this year. I think it's the baking soda/high pH in my new pond. I had to take it out because it was rotting. I'm reviving it in a stock tank I keep in the shrubbery and after just a few days it is already growing new dark green leaves. I have read that it likes low pH.
Just found some Jobes fertilizer spikes for fruit and citrus, can I use those?
I don't know much about the difference, but I would use fertilizer made for aquatic plants. One other thing I thought of too is that I think hardy (not tropical) aquatic plants do better if they are allowed to go dormant in the winter. It's part of their natural cycle. I think they benefit from the rest.
Amazing what one can do from bed as I'm sick with a cold! I ordered fertilizer tabs-the ones you suggested. Was so tempted to see that I could order 100 baby koi on amazon! Good thing I don't have room for them or I would have put them in my cart! It feels good to be slowly getting my small container ponds under control. Wonder if I can figure out how to post a video.......!
Houston, we have a problem. Now I need the experts advice. I see lily pads floating in my container pond! I think the Koi are nibbling them off the plant!!! So do I take a piece of window screen and wrap it around the plant (generously so there's space for the pads to float), so the fish can't get to it?? And is there a way to root the lily pads (I guess I need to find that topic on the forum!).
So I transferred the lily to a large pot so the Koi wouldn't eat the leaves. I lined the pot with a garbage bag, because I thought the rust from the pot might not be good for the plant. Put one fertilizer tab in the soil 3 weeks ago. I add some fresh water every few days to avoid it being stagnant. The plant is sitting around 8" under the water. Now have quite a few leaves but no flowers! What am I doing wrong?
If yours is still pushing out new leaves it may still be just getting it's roots in the dirt and re-establishing itself. It takes a lot of energy to push out a flower. I think it just needs some time. Sounds like it is on the right path though.
Some plants can be finicky too. I have 3 lily pots that flower constantly and 1 that hasn't flowered at all. They are all the same strand and get the same light, water, etc.
Ok thank you. Will try and be patient.
Nice!
Okay the Lily pads are looking good and i get more each day but the water is really almost hot, by the end of the day. One of the container ponds has no fish in it but doesn't get as much sun as the pot does now-should I move it?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts.
What do you mean by 'almost hot.' Put in a thermometer and give us a number. My water has been warmer that I want it, getting up to 88 deg. on some days. Lilies are hanging on but not going gangbusters like they did when they were fresh in late Spring...but that is a usual symptom of summer.
Your lily should do fine if the water temp is in the 80s, but I guess it depends on the variety too. I would say a stock tank in direct sun would get way too hot.
Well its really not that hot today and the water is definitely cooler than its been. Today the water is 85 degrees. Its a Nero lily. Sounds like from what youre saying, that I should move it to the pond.
I'm no expert. I have only owned one water lily in my life, so I don't really know about other varieties. You can leave it where it is if it's doing fine. It's easy to do partial water changes to cool it down too. Don't you get mosquito larvae in the container pond? I keep a few mosquito fish in my container. It's easy to catch them at any rural pond. Occasionally I will dip out some water and refill to cool it down for them. This year I was late putting them in and then one day I saw a bunch of wiggling larvae in the water. A couple of days after putting the minnows in, the mosquitoes were gone. This winter I will put the minnows back where I caught them and store the container until next Spring.
Sorry if I was unclear. I put the lily in a regular huge pot because our 70 lb dog likes to jump in the container pond and the lily was in danger. I take off and add water often and so far no larvae. Amazing though how many leaves I’m getting but no flower shoots! Was going to put it in a more shallow container as now it’s about 12” down, but the planting instructions said 1’-6’!-maybe it needs to be deeper. If I put it in with my koi again they’ll really ruin it.
Most lilies need lots of sunshine to bloom. 12 inches down is a little shallow, but that should not keep the plant from blooming. It is deep enough for blooming. What kind of soil do you have it in and what kind of fertilizer are you using? Sometimes a plant will not bloom but usually is because it does not have the nutrients which promotes blooms but has fertilizer which promotes leaf production.
Wow what information. So I think its API fertilizer and Im getting lots of leaves of different sizes. The soil? Whatever came with the lily. What should it be? Should I replant it with new soil?
When did you last divide the lily? Lilies need to be divided every two or three years if they are in pots. I would divide the plant if there are more than two or three crowns (plants) in the pot. Plant the divisions in a minimum of a two-three gallon pot using a good top soil without mulch, peat moss or vermiculite in it. Additives can foul your water. Put fertilizer, Osmocote or pond tabs in the bottom of the pot below the soil. I use Pondtabbs and put one tablet in per gallon. Fertilize once every month or two.
Matherfish-I’m new to koiphen and checked out your website-your lilies are heavenly.
My lily is new. Just received it from the company in May!