Hi,

I have had a 5 year battle with getting my growing koi to leave the lilies
alone. I tried everything anyone suggested. Finally, I hit on an idea that
is working for me and I have healthy lilies that are flowering. With 9
lilies in the pond, we have flowers every day. Last night I saw my first
Wood's White Knight in 3 years. It's the 4th WWK, every other one got eaten
within a week of planting it, even with netting as a protection. What a
beauty.

What worked for me was to use an uprighted "milk" crate/file crate to
protect the lilies as they grow. Some lilies have a milk crate just placed
on top of their container. The lilies grow up through the bottom of the
crate. Some lilies were placed inside a crate. As the lilies grew, they
camouflaged the black crate and I swear, you can't even see them anymore.
The crates are between 1-2" below the water's surface.

Hope this helps some other folks, you all have been such a help to me over
the years.

--
Wendy* in N. California,
"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by
bolts of lightning." -- Calvin and Hobbes

Wendy,
First, thanks a lot. I echoed the part immediately below to get you
to elaborate a little. I want to understand a little better whether
you altered the crate at all, and if so, how.

What worked for me was to use an uprighted "milk" crate/file crate to
protect the lilies as they grow. Some lilies have a milk crate just placed
on top of their container.

How do you get the leaves to come out through the holes in the crate,
and not just jam up inside? The buds, I can imagine are on a
stiff-enough stem that it will find its way out of a hole, but for the
leaves, it seems like it could be a different story. That has always
been my question whenever anyone talks about putting mesh or anything
over their lilies. This could prevent me from having to dig a new
pond.
TIA,
Ann

btw, the email above doesn't work. I can't figure out how to update
it on Google w/o re-registering. Just answer on the group if that's
ok


"Wendy Kelly Budd" wrote in message ...
Hi,

I have had a 5 year battle with getting my growing koi to leave the lilies
alone. I tried everything anyone suggested. Finally, I hit on an idea that
is working for me and I have healthy lilies that are flowering. With 9
lilies in the pond, we have flowers every day. Last night I saw my first
Wood's White Knight in 3 years. It's the 4th WWK, every other one got eaten
within a week of planting it, even with netting as a protection. What a
beauty.

What worked for me was to use an uprighted "milk" crate/file crate to
protect the lilies as they grow. Some lilies have a milk crate just placed
on top of their container. The lilies grow up through the bottom of the
crate. Some lilies were placed inside a crate. As the lilies grew, they
camouflaged the black crate and I swear, you can't even see them anymore.
The crates are between 1-2" below the water's surface.

Hope this helps some other folks, you all have been such a help to me over
the years.

Hi Ann,

You're right about netting. I've used 3 different types of material for
netting, from stuff I got at the fabric store (looks like what went under
those puffy skirts), to vinyl screen material and finally bird netting. I
used cork and/or Styrofoam pieces sewn onto the netting to keep them afloat.
Each had their problems when algae built up and weighed down the netting.
Lots of maintenance keeping the algae off. None kept the koi out and I
spent alot of time helping trapped koi out of the netting. One of the koi
could get a lead role in Dumb & Dumber, she would always be in there! And
of course, she's the largest of the koi.

About the crates. Two of the crates have openings wide enough that the lily
has easily grown up inside, outside, out the sides, etc. Two lilies, the
Leopardess & Wood's White Knight, have such large leaves that I did cut out
the center. I started out with a 9" hole and just yesterday, took my
pruning clippers in and cut the crate to a 12" hole right at the area where
the crown is. The plastic cut easily. I didn't cut out the complete
bottom. Leaving an edge allows for a small rock in each of the four corners
to hold down the buoyant crate. Two crates protect smaller lilies, in 1
gallon containers, so I just placed them inside the crates, that put them
down about 14-16" from the surface. This whole setup was a bit of
maintenance on the first day. Getting the pvc stands at just the right
height to accommodate the container & the crate AND place the lily at the
desired depth. BUT, other than the cutting yesterday, it has been no
maintenance since the first day (2 months ago) and I have never had a koi go
inside. I guess because the crate wall is only 1-2" from the surface, the
koi would have to swim out of the water to get in.

Another nice benefit of these crates is no more gravel & lava rocks all over
the bottom of the pond. Originally, I used gravel to try to keep the koi
out of the lilies. When they threw it all over the pond (and clogged up the
bottom drain), I went to large lava rocks. Somehow, the koi kicked 2-2 1/2"
lava rocks out of the lily containers--all over the bottom of the pond. When
I went in the pond yesterday, with goggles on, I saw only a handful of
gravel. I like that.

Oh, I just remembered, most of the lilies are planted in dish washing
containers, so they are long & wide. The crates fit on top of them nicely.

--


Wendy* in N. California,
"If all misfortunes were laid in one common heap whence everyone must take
an equal portion, most people would be contented to take their own and
depart. " Socrates


"ann in houston" wrote in message
om...
Wendy,
First, thanks a lot. I echoed the part immediately below to get you
to elaborate a little. I want to understand a little better whether
you altered the crate at all, and if so, how.

What worked for me was to use an uprighted "milk" crate/file crate to
protect the lilies as they grow. Some lilies have a milk crate just
placed
on top of their container.

How do you get the leaves to come out through the holes in the crate,
and not just jam up inside? The buds, I can imagine are on a
stiff-enough stem that it will find its way out of a hole, but for the
leaves, it seems like it could be a different story. That has always
been my question whenever anyone talks about putting mesh or anything
over their lilies. This could prevent me from having to dig a new
pond.
TIA,
Ann

btw, the email above doesn't work. I can't figure out how to update
it on Google w/o re-registering. Just answer on the group if that's
ok


"Wendy Kelly Budd" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I have had a 5 year battle with getting my growing koi to leave the
lilies
alone. I tried everything anyone suggested. Finally, I hit on an idea
that
is working for me and I have healthy lilies that are flowering. With 9
lilies in the pond, we have flowers every day. Last night I saw my
first
Wood's White Knight in 3 years. It's the 4th WWK, every other one got
eaten
within a week of planting it, even with netting as a protection. What a
beauty.

What worked for me was to use an uprighted "milk" crate/file crate to
protect the lilies as they grow. Some lilies have a milk crate just
placed
on top of their container. The lilies grow up through the bottom of the
crate. Some lilies were placed inside a crate. As the lilies grew,
they
camouflaged the black crate and I swear, you can't even see them
anymore.
The crates are between 1-2" below the water's surface.

Hope this helps some other folks, you all have been such a help to me
over
the years.