Waterlilies in natural ponds

[piscesmoon]

We have 3 natural ponds..maybe 2 acres total..2 of them are cypress ponds and one I just call a farm pond. The Cypress ponds are clearer and the farm pond is usually a hot mess lol. Cypress help filter water. The first largest cypress pond has a natural spring so when we get a lot of rain, it flows over to the farm pond through a little channel.

I want to put some waterlilies out there. There is shallower areas around the bank. The center of the cypress ponds are about 10ft deep. The farm pond is deeper but not sure by how much.

There are ducks and turtles out there so I'm guessing I would probably have to plant a pot then wrap it in chicken wire somewhere shallower?

I have a lot of experience growing water lilies and lotus in patio preformed ponds and large pots etc. We bought this property a few yrs ago and I have no experience with natural ponds or how to plant stuff in it without wildlife destroying it lol.

 

[Lisak1]

We have natural ponds in our neighborhood that are full of fish, ducks and geese. The water lilies we've planted in them grow just fine. The trick is to get them started and then let nature take Her course.

We used net bags - like you would buy oranges or onions in from the store - and put big clumps of lily tuber inside each one, added a few rocks and then tied it closed. We threw those in the pond in an area where we hoped the depth was correct - some lilies prefer it deeper than others. Our ponds are full of silt on the bottom so those bags sunk very quickly. That was a plus as they were able to get a good start before the animals could after them.

I would say we had about a 50% success rate with the tubers sprouting - not too bad for a "toss and hope for the best" operation!

Let me add - these are HOA owned man-made retention ponds. I wouldn't do this in a pond in the "wild". But there's little concern about upsetting the ecosystem here as these ponds don't connect to any other waterways and we essentially manage the ecosystem by stocking the fish, cutting back the cattails and other pond weeds, dredging the ponds, etc.

(We currently have an HOA president who insists on treating the ponds for "weeds" which only adds to the dead organic material on the bottom of the pond which then leads to more dredging... anyway. I digress! ) In your own ponds I would say give it a try!

 

[j.w]

We have natural ponds in our neighborhood that are full of fish, ducks and geese. The water lilies we've planted in them grow just fine. The trick is to get them started and then let nature take Her course.

We used net bags - like you would buy oranges or onions in from the store - and put big clumps of lily tuber inside each one, added a few rocks and then tied it closed. We threw those in the pond in an area where we hoped the depth was correct - some lilies prefer it deeper than others. Our ponds are full of silt on the bottom so those bags sunk very quickly. That was a plus as they were able to get a good start before the animals could after them.

I would say we had about a 50% success rate with the tubers sprouting - not too bad for a "toss and hope for the best" operation!

Let me add - these are HOA owned man-made retention ponds. I wouldn't do this in a pond in the "wild". But there's little concern about upsetting the ecosystem here as these ponds don't connect to any other waterways and we essentially manage the ecosystem by stocking the fish, cutting back the cattails and other pond weeds, dredging the ponds, etc.

(We currently have an HOA president who insists on treating the ponds for "weeds" which only adds to the dead organic material on the bottom of the pond which then leads to more dredging... anyway. I digress! ) In your own ponds I would say give it a try!

Good way to do it! Does the weed killer kill any lilies?

 

[KeeperOfThePond]

We have 3 natural ponds..maybe 2 acres total..2 of them are cypress ponds and one I just call a farm pond. The Cypress ponds are clearer and the farm pond is usually a hot mess lol. Cypress help filter water. The first largest cypress pond has a natural spring so when we get a lot of rain, it flows over to the farm pond through a little channel.

I want to put some waterlilies out there. There is shallower areas around the bank. The center of the cypress ponds are about 10ft deep. The farm pond is deeper but not sure by how much.

There are ducks and turtles out there so I'm guessing I would probably have to plant a pot then wrap it in chicken wire somewhere shallower?

I have a lot of experience growing water lilies and lotus in patio preformed ponds and large pots etc. We bought this property a few yrs ago and I have no experience with natural ponds or how to plant stuff in it without wildlife destroying it lol.

This is the first year my water lilies have been damaged (healthy pads and stems detached and floating). I'm fairly certain it is due to the snapping turtle that visits my pond every spring. It started out 3 yrs ago 50 cent piece size. Last year it was fist-size. This year 7-9 inches in diameter and, I believe big enough to do damage. I though it was cute the past 2 yrs. Now I'm wondering what I'm going to do when a full-sized snapping turtle shows up next spring. I worry about my curious dogs getting bit.

 

[addy1]

I got some fishing hooks, put food on them, my 10 inch snapper took the bait, I pulled him out, removed hook from beak, took to our river turned loose. Never been back

 

[JMJ]

I got some fishing hooks, put food on them, my 10 inch snapper took the bait, I pulled him out, removed hook from beak, took to our river turned loose. Never been back

You left out one of the steps we use down here with ”problem snappers”, incorporation into traditional creole and cajun dishes like soups and saucepicantés . I don’t think a lot of folks realize that both common and alligator snappers are omnivores that eat a considerable amount of plant matter. I had a coworker tell me about a study done on alligator snappe stomach contents that surprised the scientists doing the study that partially digested acorns tend to be the most commonly found thing in their stomachs.

 

[KeeperOfThePond]

I got some fishing hooks, put food on them, my 10 inch snapper took the bait, I pulled him out, removed hook from beak, took to our river turned loose. Never been back

Thank you. Was it hard getting the hook out? I don't want to injure it.

 

[LHB]

This is the first year my water lilies have been damaged (healthy pads and stems detached and floating). I'm fairly certain it is due to the snapping turtle that visits my pond every spring. It started out 3 yrs ago 50 cent piece size. Last year it was fist-size. This year 7-9 inches in diameter and, I believe big enough to do damage. I though it was cute the past 2 yrs. Now I'm wondering what I'm going to do when a full-sized snapping turtle shows up next spring. I worry about my curious dogs getting bit.

I have a 40 pound snapper who has never gone for my big fish, my dog or my grandkids. She simply swims away when people or pets approach. My husband used to trap her and take her back to the Chesapeake bay but by the next month she'd be back in the pond again. I think she lives on frogs and snakes. She's now too big to fit in the trap. This rock is about 4 feet long.