Help lily shipment arrived

[koiguy1969]

your welcome...but my experience with peagravel has been just the opposite.. my lillies grow roots well outside the oil pan. to the point i trim them back!! i plant in peagravel and the roots are the only part in the gravel the spaces in the gravel allow for easy growth of roots they dont have to fight thru clay to do so. on top of the peagravel and over the rhyzone i put 1 - 1&1/2 river rock so the koi cant dig much (they dug in the original clay and peagravel as well). my lillies do better, my pads got larger and flowers were more plentifull when i switched to peagravel and i never fertilize .. many on this site have switched to peagravel and are very happy with the results.
side note... the digging has pretty much stopped but now they discovered that the pulp in the stem is a tastey treat so they like to bite the stems off as low as they can and suck out the last 3 inches of pulp ( stem meat).

 

[addy1]

Once again a good post fishin and koiguy, my lilies are in clay the walmart cheap kitty litter is just clay, no additives. My bog is all pea gravel, but all the dirt etc from the pond gets washed through the pea gravel, those plants are growing fine.

I have tablets to fertilize the lilies with, I will go with your one per plant per month and see how they do. They are just starting to grow leaves, ice is covering the small ponds this am again lol, the big pond is ice free. They were all just tubors with a few leaves at the end of last season, but I did not get them until around september from someone cleaning out their pond.

koiguy, I think I will put some in pea gravel, some in clay and see who does the best lol

 

[koiguy1969]

i used to fertilize once a month ..one tab. and yes, my lillies did well... addy, i beleive you said you only have a few fish in a LARGE pond.. and you have a bog as well. i think these factors may minimize the effectiveness of the peagravel planting... all my pond plants are in peagravel or bareroot.

 

[addy1]

Yep koiguy, new 9 to 10000 gallon pond, 5 - 2 inch fish. and a 2400 gallon bog to filter it with.
so very little fish poop to feed the plants with lol It got cold before we could introduce more fish.
That is one reason I went with clay for the lilies, but once we have more fish, more fish poop I might go back to pea gravel for the lilies.

 

[mouseams]

Wow, thanks all. I am thinking on going with the pea gravel since I have a lot of fishies in a pretty big pond. Two more questions- do I drill holes in the oli pan and can I put two lilies in one pot or is it one to one? Thanks again! BTW- the smaller leaves which are now closer ro the water are just fine and growing. Going in tomorrow hopefully.

 

[addy1]

I put one per pan, you don't need to drill holes, at least I don't, others might lol, we all have ideas on what works.

 

[mouseams]

:sniffles: My hands are FROZEN! I just sent my lilies to the shallow water in the pond. Their trip was made to their depths in cleaned and new oil pans and all natural clay kitty litter from Walmart. 4 Lilies purchased from Hughes for $40.00, 9.50 for the pans and 3.77 ffor the litter. 2 lilies would have cost me that much from the nursery here. Thanks Pond Forum People!!!

 

[addy1]

You are so welcome, I was working on my bog, no kidding at the frozen hands! my pond water is holding a warm 44. Enjoy!

 

[mouseams]

Addy, what are the dimensions of your pond? I was SOOOOO impressed by your excavating and braun! Not to mention your brains! I would love to embark on a project like that one day, but MY hubby would never give up the motorized vehicle for me to use! Awesome job!

 

[addy1]

awwwwwwwwwww shucks and thanks. My honey bought it for me cause he knows i like to keep busy and i left my arizona pond and job, to marry him!

The pond is around 28 feet long, 20 feet wide, (varies a little) from 1 foot to 6 foot in depth.
The bog is 28 x 6 x 2.5 feet.

The hardest part of the building was trying to make it level! from our house to the pond is around a 30 foot drop in height. Makes a great slope for the stream, I switch backed the stream to keep it from just slamming down the hill, also added 3 9x9 ponds and a 3 smaller ones in the stream.

Had to dig down 3 feet in the upper slope and build up the lower slope by around 4 feet to make a level area, then figure out how to cover the dirt slopes, lol

Building on a slope was fun, but but but lol Still working on it, picking away at little things, finishing details lol. and will be working on it for as long as we live here.
You will too, a pond is never "done" Love plants too

At least won't be sliding into the apple trees when i try to mow that slope anymore! That is what started this also, the slope was so hard to mow.

 

[mouseams]

Ahhhhhh. Yes mowing stinks! How have you adapted to the climate change from AZ? Thinking we would eventually like to move out west one day. Thaought about MD, but hey, you get snow just like us! We spent a long weekend in Ocean City two years ago first week of Oct. It was a wonderful time. Weather was so warm. I want a place where I can enjoy my pond all year, problem is now that we have this one, I can't leave it!

 

[addy1]

Well believe it or not, lol, I love the weather here, arizona is so darn hot, yeah I know dry heat, but it is hot at 100 plus for months on end.

I was raised in maryland, I still find it hard to believe I met a guy on the internet, that lives 40 minutes from my parents house.
I enjoy planting without stressing about water use, here you plant it it grows (well sometimes need to water)

Also really enjoy the change in the seasons! even enjoy the snow, there is not that much in maryland most of the time, the flowers are beautiful.

Enjoy the bay, the ocean being close, the GREEN! lol. But saying that the desert is beautiful, wide open, and phoenix is surrounded by mountains. I lived there for many many years.

 

[fishin4cars]

Once again a good post fishin and koiguy, my lilies are in clay the walmart cheap kitty litter is just clay, no additives. My bog is all pea gravel, but all the dirt etc from the pond gets washed through the pea gravel, those plants are growing fine.

I have tablets to fertilize the lilies with, I will go with your one per plant per month and see how they do. They are just starting to grow leaves, ice is covering the small ponds this am again lol, the big pond is ice free. They were all just tubors with a few leaves at the end of last season, but I did not get them until around september from someone cleaning out their pond.

koiguy, I think I will put some in pea gravel, some in clay and see who does the best lol

Addy, Do you have availability to natural river sand? I was trying to do comparisons with Kitty clay, pea gravel, river sand, and water plant substrate to see which did best. I learned a lesson I already knew but didn't listen to, Koi grow, Koi dig, Koi wreck plants! Lilies the worse of all! The reason I ask, I visited a Garden center that raised their own lilies and they use river sand. They do fertilize and I'm serious when I say I've taken pictures of some of their lilies with 7-10 flowers on one single bulb. I bought my Night bloomer from them four years ago and last year the koi dug up most of the sand. I moved it to the plant pond this year but I'm having to use water plant substrate as I still had some left and I can't get the sand unless I drive north or go buy it. It worked great for me while I had it and I'm probably going to get some more and replant when I do but for now I'm certain that the kitty litter will keep it alive which is the most important thing at this point.

 

[fishin4cars]

I looked at Addy's pond build, what do you think the bottom pond would look like with one of these in the middle? lol
Common Name: Giant Water Lily, Amazon Water Lily
Scientific Name: Victoria Amazonica
Height: Water Level
Span: 3 m diameter each leaf
Growth Rate: very fast, as fast as 6 inches a day
Sun Tolerance: Full Sun
ABP Index: 3.5 (Aesthetics 4, Solidarity 3)

'Giant' water lilies, can't describe how big these lilies can be. Some could be as big as 3 m diameter and carry a weight of 45kg spread evenly. The beauty of this plant is not only in the size of the leaf but also the beautiful patterned veins underneath that support the leaf's weight. Put a few of these leaves together and you have a mesmerizing 'unreal' sight of green giant lily pads.

 

[koiguy1969]

fishin'.........take a look...
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/victoria-lillies-south-america-t4621.html

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