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Water lily planting instructions: Supplies needed: Plant container (nursery pot 1-5 gallon size works great.) Heavy Dark Top Soil Agriform Fertilizer Tablets (1 - 21 gram tablet per 1,2, or 3 gallon pot or 2 - 21 gramtablets per 5 or 10 gallon pot. If you have the 10 gram tablets, double the amount). Gravel - pea or larger size, rinsed (No Limestone). Planting instructions: 1. If using plant container with holes, cover bottom with a nest of newspaper. 2. Fill plant container about 1/4 full of soil. 3. Push in the fertilizer tablet as far down into soil as possible. 4. Add enough soil to fill plant container 1/2 full. 5. Position lily as follows: Tropical Lily: Place the plant in the center of the container. Hardy Lily: Place the cut (or dead) end of the plant next to one inside edge of the container, with growing edge of plant facing center of container. 6. Add enough soil around roots to fill container to about 3/4 full. Firmly pack soil. 7. It is VITAL to keep growing crown (new growths of plant) free of soil. 8. Thoroughly saturate soil with water. 9. Cover soil with 1/2" - 1" of rinsed gravel. MAKE SURE NOT TO COVER CROWN. 10. Lower potted lily into pond to a depth of 6"-18" of water over top of container. Make sure that at least 2-3 leaves float on water's surface. When lowering pot, do it slowly, making sure that all the soil is soaked to avoid air pockets that will cause the pot to float or soil to escape and dirty the water. 11. Allow 2-3 weeks adjustment for plant to revive from transplating stress. 12. Fertilize plant with Agriform Fertilizer, 21 gram, tablets once a month during the time that the pond water maintains 56 degrees Fahrenheit or above. Suggestions on which lilies work best in each pond situation: There is no one "rule-of-thumb" that would apply to everyone. Many factors are taken into consideration. Where is your pond located, how much surface area does the pond have, how many and what kind of fish are in the pond; as well as, what are your expectations for the pond. If your pond is the size of a whiskey barrel up to the size of a bathtub, the plants that would give you the best results would be the dwarf or small varieties. Some of these would include: Hardies: Aurora, Charlie's Choice, Little Sioux, Walter Pagels, Indiana, Perry's Baby Red, and Hermine. Tropicals would be more limited: Colorata, Dauben, Panama Pacific, and Tina. (Keep in mind that in many cases, small tropicals still get a little bigger than the small hardies). If your pond is larger than the size of a bathtub you have many more varieties to choose from. Some of my favorites would be: Hardies: Texas Dawn, Betsy Sakata, Virginia, Steven Strawn, Rembrandt, Radiant Red, Arc-En-Ciel, Pink Grapefruit, Barbara Dobbins, Clyde Ikins, Colorado, Hollandia, Red Spider, Tropicals: Night Bloomers: Red Flare, Emily Grant Hutchings and Juno. Day Bloomers: Albert Greenberg, Mrs. Martin E. Randig, Midnight, Yellow Dazzler, June Allison, Wood's Blue Goddess, White Delight, Green Smoke, Judge Hitchcock, and Jack Wood. (keep in mind that some tropicals, such as Green Smoke, Yellow Dazzler, Judge Hitchcock, and Midnight, are very slow growers, resulting in very little propagation, which sometimes results in a higher priced plant and sometimes very hard to find.) Once you've established which plants are your favorite in appearance, then you need to keep in mind which plants will do the best in your situation. The water gardening expert at your chosen retail store should be able to give you the best information about which plant will do the best in your pond's situation. Remember to follow these rules when giving information to the expert: the term "Full sun" in our area is considered 4 to 6 hours, so make sure to tell the expert how many hours of direct sun that your pond receives daily. Tell the expert how much surface area your pond has. He needs to know the length and width of a straight sided pond, or diameter of a circular pond. The more information about your pond that you can give him, the better. Also let your expert know how many, and what kind of fish you have in the pond. This may determine if you should or should not have lilies. Also, give him your expectations of the pond. He should help you choose plants that you are interested in, not just what he likes.
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Article written by Ruth Ann www.texaskoi.com
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