What should i do to help these water lilies

[SFOAnna]

Hi all!

I live in zone 10a, California, north of San Francisco. I have a plastic tub small pond with two water lilies. They've gotten so weird, is there anything I should do to them, and when?

Sadly, last summer a dog or something disturbed/damaged the pond several times, and the lilies' leaves where severely damaged and never flowered last year. I think the problem is now over (new lock).

Thank you!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Well, I'm not exactly an expert on water lilies, but to me it looks like they need to be divided & put in larger pots. They seem to do best in shallower but wider containers so the tuber has room to grow & the roots can spread out (they run wide, not really deep) Make sure not to bury the growing tip (the end where the leaves are sprouting from) and then place them in water that's appropriately deep. There are lots of video tutorials on how to divide & plant them if you do a bit of googling.

 

[Mmathis]

Agree with @BKHpondcritters

 

[Lisak1]

Oh my gosh yes - divide, divide, divide! Or divide and conquer if you will!

And like @BKHpondcritters said - even though those are the pots they sell waterlilies in, they really do much better in flat, shallow pans. Many use dishpans or even oil pans, or you can buy the pots that are made for lilies and lotuses (they are the most expensive option, but I find they last forever). The tubers grow horizontally across the flat bottom of the correct kind of pot.