Lilies in the bag

[John O]

I need some advise here. The plants I ordered from Bloomz arrived today and I did what they said to do. I put the bag in the pot they provided into another pot not too far from the surface. I got a "Nymphaea Water Lily Nero" and a Mini cattail. The lily went into the bigger pond and the cattail in the smaller pond in a shelf box just below the surface. I assume they will need to be repotted later. Any tips about what I should do would be appreciated. I have not been very successful with lilies in the past.

 

[CountryEscape]

The name of your water lily makes it sound mini, so I looked it up. It's the "almost black" very deep red/burgandy lily. I'd say you will definitely need to drop that plant deeper than just below the surface. It's beneficial to bring the pot closer to the surface in the spring, to warm it up quicker, but not really necessary. All of my lily pots are sitting on shelves 12-24" below the surface, and do great. You just want to make sure the plant can grow up a ways before it grows sideways along the water surface, and not grow out of the water.
If you want to repot them, us the pure clay (unscenter) kitty litter (not the clumping kind). I only can find it anymore at Wal-Mart. Or, if you have good clay soil (did I just call clay soil "good"??? LOL) use that to replant the tuber in. Depending on the size of the pot they provided will depend on how long before you have to repot it. Lots on here use new/clean oil pans because they are shallow (4-6" deep) and round (14-16"), which is perfect for lilies. I use old 3.5-5 gallon buckets and cut off the bottom 4-6" and use that. In that size pan, I put one tuber, and by the end of the summer, it will pretty much fill the pot. Put some fertilizer in with it when you plant it (osmocote is good, or look on the lily tablet containers in the store, then find some granular fertilizer that comes as close as possible to the numbers - i.e. 28-4-6. You want the first number to be the highest for more blooms.)
Good luck!!!

 

[John O]

Thank you! I am going to make a "box" out of 3/4" PVC with a handle sticking up, and the lily pot in the center. With the handle sticking up maybe a foot and a half, I can easily draw the lily out of the pond. Our soil in Oregon is all clay and it is tough stuff, hence the other guy digging the hole for the pond. When you say you cut off the bottom of the bucket....what exactly do you mean?

Once my potted plant are on the bottom, they aren't really easy to retrieve. I have made shelves by suspending a long plant pot about a foot and a half down held in place by PVC hooked over the top of the pond and hidden with rock.

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh, sorry about my description. I cut the bottom 6" of the bucket off, and use just the bottom 6". So, it's a 6" deep pan the diameter of the bucket. I can get these buckets free at the local grocery store bakery. They throw them away, and you just ask and they will save them for you, lid and all if you want it. Free is free!!!
I have shelves in my ponds built that way just for lily and other plant pots. In the deep end, I use shelves (the plastic type that stack, cheap, get them at Wal-Mart or Menards) and turn them upside down and put the pots on them. That way no pots are more than 2' below surface. However deep you put them, that's how far the leaves will grow to reach the surface. To me, ideal is at least 12" from the surface.
That's a great idea to have the handle. I can reach most of my lily pots by leaning over the edge of the pond. The ones I cannot reach, or if they fall off the shelves, I use a hoe and being very careful, get the pot up on the hoe, and then pull it up and out. Since the pot is more weightless in the water, it's pretty easy to do this way.

 

[John O]

I designed the pond to have steep sides - 3 feet deep - to help thwart critters like nutria and herons.
I will check out the shelving at Wal-Mart. PVC is so great for making things. It's cheap and easy to work with and glue isn't normally required. In the past the 3 koi have ruined the lily plants but I may have contributed to that by poor planting. When we got the three koi back in 2002, I told my wife Barbara that I named them. (she is a Democrat and I am a Republican) I told her I named them "Bill, Hillary & Al" which piqued her a bit.

 

[CountryEscape]

The shelves that I really like best are cut out on the front, and you can stack them. I turn them upside down, and they then look like a garage with a door open. The fish love to go in there to hide, and during the winter, I swear my 20+ koi are all inside the two shelf units. They get covered with algae, and pretty much invisible. The only bad thing is they are plastic, and lightweight, and you have to weight them down to keep them down. But, once the plant is on the shelf, it stays put. So, it is multi-purpose - cave and shelf.
Try putting some fairly large rocks on top of the lily tubers. It helps keep them from floating out of the clay, and also helps keep the koi out. My koi have never bothered the lilies so far, but the oldest are 4 years old and about 18-20" long. Maybe they will in time .... I also feed them in the summer, so that may help, not sure. But, I think everyone feeds their fish. What fun to feed hungry mouths.
Oh, and love the names ....