lilies

[agoura2327]

I was topping off the pond before leaving town and forgot to turn off the hose. It ran for two days turned the pond toxic and killed all the fish.

I decided against putting any more fish in the pond, at least anytime soon but plan to populate the pond with lilies. I was unable to maintain many with all the fish in the pond as they nibbled on them and most died. I plan to keep the three foot depth in the event that I decide to put fish back into it someday.

My first question is what filtration medium to use now. I have a rather large Hayward filter presently filled with the plastic biologic filtration medium. It works great for maintaining fish friendly water quality but was never very good at water clarity.

Second question, does anyone have an opinion about growing lilies from seeds, and if so is there a preferred method for starting and planting, planting material container size and shape etc. Being in southern Cal I believe I can leave the lilies in year around and would like to have them in an adequate container size to minimize replanting if possible I have seen many web sites that have quite exotic looking lilies that sell seeds but do not have what one would consider to be a green thumb.

I am certain that there are many questions that I do not even know to ask so any help would be appreciated.

 

[Tula]

I'm really sorry about your fish I've no experience with growing lilies from seeds, the only ones I've seen are tuberous. Lotus can be grown from seeds and may be something you wish to try.

 

[ashirley]

I have grown lotus from seed and its super easy! Just be sure the seeds you purchase are scarified or be sure to do it yourself. Sorry about your fish

 

[Priscilla]

So sorry to hear about your fish (and your water bill!).

I am also interested in growing lilies by seeds but have not tried it yet. I am told you the lotus grows quite well from seeds.

 

[mrsclem]

Sorry to hear about your fish. Bought some lily seed this year just to try it. The seeds are TINY! Had about 50 seeds and after a month only one sprouted and it didn't last so back to dividing tubers. Lowes has all their pond plants 50% off right now.

 

[sissy]

With the lily seeds you have sand the pointy edge off and put in a warm sunny window in a clear glass .I have sprouted lots of them and even did some for a pond and nursery store out near Chatham VA .He gave me the seeds and I started them so he could sell them when they got older and he gave me plants for my pond in exchange

 

[agoura2327]

Yes, the fish. I had about 40 fish (could never get them to line up long enough to get an accurate count) between 7 and 22 inches. Decided that my life was so busy right now that I did not have time to properly care for fish, obviously, and killing lilies is far less traumatic.

Mrsclem, thank you, I did not even know that Lowes had pond plants. I will take a trip and see what they have. The reason I was thinking of seeds is that the three pond stores that are in a reasonable driving distance all have very bland plants and the pictures on line look far more exotic. Perhaps the bland ones are the only ones that will survive in So. Cal. My pond gets full sun from about 10 AM on and gets pretty warm in the summer. I do not know what effect that has on lilies. What little I know about botany leads me to conclude that the size of lily leaves would make them more suited to filtered sunlight.

Priscilla, Re: the water bill. We are on a level pay plan where they estimate a year in advance your water usage and divide that by 12 months to get your monthly bill. At the end of the cycle they read the meter and adjust up or down as necessary. It just happens that this is the month they adjust and we were so far ahead that our bill had a positive balance. Proof positive that not everything can go wrong.

 

[adavisus]

Waterlily (and the much bigger lotus seed) are often listed on ebay featuring some (false and misleading) exotic photo which will never grow

Fakers and crooks from places like Hong Kong (which legally obstructs any prosecution from international folk) list asiatic lotus as exotic blue lotus to defraud gullible Americans etc.

Ebay has no scruples condoning and enabling crooks, weeds for cash sellers, no end of junk plants being sold with misleading descriptions, fakes, duds, forgeries etc. Besides being an all round high fee, high fraud source of nasty pit traps fo sellers and buyers in general

Tropical water lily seed stores well dry, is less than 1mm in size usually, likely to be some native night bloom plant with poor growing habit, lanky big, hohum buds, dumps seed and tubers a lot when it does get going. Something you would never choose to buy if you did know

Hardy waterlily seed is typically 2mm or so in size, best gathered and sown fresh, does not store dry at all well

Seed from species plants usually grows true, seed from bee pollinations can turn out to be anything, a genetic one arm bandit in effect

Seed from folk that do have interesting collections of hybrids are likely to throw interesting new hybrids....

David Curtright at pondplants.com has his ear to the ground and knows folk who may be amenable to offering KOSHA seed. With KOSHA description. He is over your way, a long time member of many waterlily circles, hibridisers in the fraternity. Though being the busiest time of season its possible his inbox is filling faster than replies can be done...

Regards, andy
http://www.pinterest.com/adavisus/pondering/

 

[agoura2327]

Andy,

Thank you very much for the detailed information, as I said going in I probably do not even know what questions to ask.

I completely understand your comments about e bay, I have been very careful over the years but have still been burned on occasion.

I have seen pondplants on the internet and have looked at his website. If he is that reputable I may just deal with him exclusively and avoid the drama. I probably will not be bothering him in the near future as I have three critical projects on my desk right now. I was thinking in terms of making some kind of grow box with proper growing lights and maybe having plants that I could put in the pond next spring. In the mean time I will pick up something I can throw in the pond to make it look a little less barren.

Again, Thanks to all
Dwight

 

[adavisus]

A bowl of water will do to start waterlily seed.

If you do throw something in the pond, try to make it is something you like for years, rather than something which destroys it

If you do catch David, ask him, 'oi, wheres that gigantea neorosa'



Regards, andy
https://www.gardenpondforum.com/media/albums/adavisus.438/

 

[j.w]

So very sorry about the loss of all your fish. What a shame and perhaps a timer on the hose would help if you ever decide to get fish again.