I have tried kitty litter and dont like it. I have also tried aquatic soil and dont like it either. I use good old fashioned cheap potting soil that does not have any fertilizer in it. When I pot the lily, I put three fertilizer tabs down near the bottom of the pot. I use a pot that does not have any holes. If it does have holes, I use landscaping fabric or newspaper down in the bottom. I fertiilize my lilies once a month. I take a tab or two, and push them way down in the soil and cover them up well so they dont leak out into my pond. Works for me.
wrote in message ...
last year I aquired a hardy water lily tuber and just tossed it into my
pond. It did get some very small lily pads, no flowers. Yesterday I
noticed that it has 3 new leaves emerging. I would like to pot it up. I
have read in this group that some people use kitty litter. Is there any
particular brand I should buy or would any kitty litter do ? Also, when
should I fertilize the lily ?
Thanks in advance,
Lucy




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Top off the pot with play sand or blasting sand (fine aquarium) gravel
to prevent organic material from floating and create a sort of
diffusion barrier to reduce phosphorus leaching into the water column,
and you are all set.

"Lisa Tetzlaff" wrote:

I have tried kitty litter and dont like it. I have also tried aquatic soil and dont like it either. I use good old fashioned cheap potting soil that does not have any fertilizer in it. When I pot the lily, I put three fertilizer tabs down near the bottom
of the pot. I use a pot that does not have any holes. If it does have holes, I use landscaping fabric or newspaper down in the bottom. I fertiilize my lilies once a month. I take a tab or two, and push them way down in the soil and cover them up well so th
ey dont leak out into my pond. Works for me.
wrote in message ...
last year I aquired a hardy water lily tuber and just tossed it into my
pond. It did get some very small lily pads, no flowers. Yesterday I
noticed that it has 3 new leaves emerging. I would like to pot it up. I
have read in this group that some people use kitty litter. Is there any
particular brand I should buy or would any kitty litter do ? Also, when
should I fertilize the lily ?
Thanks in advance,
Lucy




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Ours are doing fine in 1-2" rocks.

--
______________________________________________
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley
Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per child) at: jogathon.net
______________________________________________
wrote in message ...
last year I aquired a hardy water lily tuber and just tossed it into my
pond. It did get some very small lily pads, no flowers. Yesterday I
noticed that it has 3 new leaves emerging. I would like to pot it up. I
have read in this group that some people use kitty litter. Is there any
particular brand I should buy or would any kitty litter do ? Also, when
should I fertilize the lily ?
Thanks in advance,
Lucy




------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(UK East Anglia)
Lucy,
I just pot my lilies up in aquatic compost with grit on the top to keep the
soil from floating away (standard method for pond plants).
I use the plastic basket type of planter.
They have always grown well without fertilizer - so well I divided one into
two seperate pots last year because it had grown outside the original pot.
Why do you need fertilizer?
My pond is 10 foot by 7 foot 4 inches max (has one corner lopped off) and
has plants, wildlife, goldfish and no filter.
Plants grow, the water is clear, the fish breed.
I run a small fountain in the summer for extra air and the nice sound.
Perhaps I am just lucky with my location, but when I read of adding salt,
potash, filtering, UV treatment etc. I wonder how fish managed before we
came along :-)
HTH
Dave R
wrote in message
...
last year I aquired a hardy water lily tuber and just tossed it into my
pond. It did get some very small lily pads, no flowers. Yesterday I
noticed that it has 3 new leaves emerging. I would like to pot it up. I
have read in this group that some people use kitty litter. Is there any
particular brand I should buy or would any kitty litter do ? Also, when
should I fertilize the lily ?
Thanks in advance,
Lucy

wrote in message ...
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Wish me luck,
Lucy

potting, dividing waterlilies....


First, lift the basket to where you can see clearly how the plant has
developed.

Along the rhisome will probably be numbers of crowns starting to side
branch, the well developed ones can be snapped or cut off where they
have formed a good set of roots, these are probably the best crowns to
use for trades and will settle on a new position best... young
undamaged side crowns transplant best.

When all the best side crowns are picked off, you have a number of
large rhisomes with a main crown, and immature side crowns left... cut
the main crown off say 6" back from the crown, taking care to not
damage the 'feeder' roots on the crown. If the feeder roots stay
intact the crown will transfer well.

Feeder roots, the straight unbranched roots found developing at the
crown, unlike the 'tether' roots which are much longer and many
branched, the tether roots can be trimmed off, ....its the feeder
roots that do most of the work on a water lily.... kept intact a
waterlily can go to another pond and hardly notice it has been moved.
This is one of the big failings of many 'box' waterlilies, they have
lost their feeder roots...

To improve the chances of a rhisome thriving, you can seal the cuts
that are caused on the rhisome by blasting the open rhisome flesh with
a blow torch, cauterising, sealing the exposed cells... this will seal
the rhisome from rotting off... If it ends up in a pond infected with
water lily crown rot, at least it stands some chance to thrive and
strengthen up before the dreaded crown rot gets going on it

You can end up with a number of 'parts' when dividing water lilies....

1) good crowns and side crowns which can go for trades and potting to
new positions.
Make sure you send me one or two of these pieces at this stage, lol
.....for erm, quality testing

2) old rhisomes which when lifted lost some roots are spare but do
have immature side crowns can be floated in a 'bin' position to give
the rhisome a chance to develop side crowns in the future, old
rhisomes when floated are weighted down in shallow water can be a very
useful source of young crowns, for years, they can be easily kept
where bleach and fungicides can be applied occasionally to eliminate
disease... in a small area you can create a steady stream of side
crowns to start on small pots for growing ont hat way...

The big crowns need all their mature foliage trimmed off, the tether
roots are best trimmed too as they will only rot off, so you are left
with the crown, immature new leaves, and a good set of feeder roots
only. The cut can be cauterised, I tend to rub sulphur over the cut
and burn and seal that usually.

To pot up a good big crown, scoop a cavity for the feeder roots and
make sure they aren't exposed to fish grazing. A soil of a heavy loam
and clay mix is fine, soft and rich, easy for feeder roots to
penetrate (gravel, stone and sand is not going to help the feeder
roots)

Add no fertilisers or manure to the mix as that's likely to burn the
fragile feeder roots...

Press the rhisome to the soil surface only, maybe weigh it down with
some stones to hold it down, make sure light can get to the rhisome...
Place 2" stones across the soil surface so fish cant pester the soil
in the lily tub. Place the rhisome so it has the maximum space to
travel across the lily tub before it ambles into open water.... once a
good set of roots are established on a pot, a lily can cope quite well
growing off into open water later, very convenient to crop, when they
grow out of the pot...

A water lily grown and cropped like that is going to be in a vastly
better condition than anything going cheap in a box from a retailer.


Regards, Andy