I have a Yellow Canary Helvola in my 50 gallon pond, and it usually
covers the surface in the summer, and the blossoms are beautiful. I
have been repotting it every year, but I have not done so this year
because it actually had several leaves all winter long. My questions
is should I re-pot it now, or do I even need to re-pot it at all? By
re-potting I mean the the place where I bought it sold my some clay
and said it should be done every year. And I placed river rock on the
top of the pot, should I do that? I read somewhere that that isn't a
good idea, I don't know why.

Thanks,
Gary

anybody?

anybody?

On 1 Apr 2004 07:59:22 -0800, (G-Hoch) wrote:

anybody?

Some say kitty litter with rocks on top, some say soil with rocks on
tops. I have kitty litter, soil AND rocks and they are doing great. 6
pads already this year.

On 1 Apr 2004 07:59:22 -0800, (G-Hoch) wrote:

anybody?

Some say kitty litter with rocks on top, some say soil with rocks on
tops. I have kitty litter, soil AND rocks and they are doing great. 6
pads already this year.

Repotting water lilies on a yearly basis is going to do more harm than
good. Lilies don't like their roots being disrupted at all... It sets
them back at least a month to redevelop feeder roots and start forming
new foliage. I'd say never repot ever, until either:

1) A rhisome is smothering the whole pot and domes up piles of foliage
which spoils its appearance and smothers it's own buds

2) Odorata type rhisomes get long leggedy and wander well out of the
pot

Helvola has a rhisome habit which clusters upwards, unless they are
growing into shallow water likely to freeze, I'd be inclined to let
Helvola thicken up for a couple of years, maybe snap off long crowns
that start to wander into open water, for new positions

The idea of stones on the top of the pot is to keep fish from
rummaging around with the lily pots soil, stones should be big enough
to stop fish pestering the soil, but not to cause such an obstacle to
the rhisome spreading across the pot...

Regards, andy
http://www.members.aol.com/abdavisnc/swglist.html

My questions
is should I re-pot it now, or do I even need to re-pot it at all? By
re-potting I mean the the place where I bought it sold my some clay
and said it should be done every year. And I placed river rock on the
top of the pot, should I do that? I read somewhere that that isn't a
good idea, I don't know why.

Thanks,
Gary

Repotting water lilies on a yearly basis is going to do more harm than
good. Lilies don't like their roots being disrupted at all... It sets
them back at least a month to redevelop feeder roots and start forming
new foliage. I'd say never repot ever, until either:

1) A rhisome is smothering the whole pot and domes up piles of foliage
which spoils its appearance and smothers it's own buds

2) Odorata type rhisomes get long leggedy and wander well out of the
pot

Helvola has a rhisome habit which clusters upwards, unless they are
growing into shallow water likely to freeze, I'd be inclined to let
Helvola thicken up for a couple of years, maybe snap off long crowns
that start to wander into open water, for new positions

The idea of stones on the top of the pot is to keep fish from
rummaging around with the lily pots soil, stones should be big enough
to stop fish pestering the soil, but not to cause such an obstacle to
the rhisome spreading across the pot...

Regards, andy
http://www.members.aol.com/abdavisnc/swglist.html

My questions
is should I re-pot it now, or do I even need to re-pot it at all? By
re-potting I mean the the place where I bought it sold my some clay
and said it should be done every year. And I placed river rock on the
top of the pot, should I do that? I read somewhere that that isn't a
good idea, I don't know why.

Thanks,
Gary

Doesn't need to repotted unless it is near or has hit the edge of the pot.

The lilies I have in the lily pond are in weed-fabric-lined rectanglar
baskets, sandy soil with strips of weed-fabric on top of that with a few
rocks to hold down the weed-fabric. In the koi ponds it's the same, only I
have a lot of rocks on top to keep the koi out of the sandy soil. I repot
if the main part of the plant has made it over half way across the pot in
one season, or I at least prune off babies that will hit the side of the
pot real soon.

~ jan (Do you know where your water quality is?)

Doesn't need to repotted unless it is near or has hit the edge of the pot.

The lilies I have in the lily pond are in weed-fabric-lined rectanglar
baskets, sandy soil with strips of weed-fabric on top of that with a few
rocks to hold down the weed-fabric. In the koi ponds it's the same, only I
have a lot of rocks on top to keep the koi out of the sandy soil. I repot
if the main part of the plant has made it over half way across the pot in
one season, or I at least prune off babies that will hit the side of the
pot real soon.

~ jan (Do you know where your water quality is?)

I remember reading this last year from you, regarding the feeder roots. So
with that in mind, I cut the rhizome back and moved the whole growing part,
dirt included, back to the edge of the basket. Hoping there would be less
distruption in the growing, what do you think?
~ jan

On 3 Apr 2004 19:43:28 -0800, (adavisus) wrote:

Repotting water lilies on a yearly basis is going to do more harm than
good. Lilies don't like their roots being disrupted at all... It sets
them back at least a month to redevelop feeder roots and start forming
new foliage. I'd say never repot ever, until either:

1) A rhisome is smothering the whole pot and domes up piles of foliage
which spoils its appearance and smothers it's own buds

2) Odorata type rhisomes get long leggedy and wander well out of the
pot

Helvola has a rhisome habit which clusters upwards, unless they are
growing into shallow water likely to freeze, I'd be inclined to let
Helvola thicken up for a couple of years, maybe snap off long crowns
that start to wander into open water, for new positions

The idea of stones on the top of the pot is to keep fish from
rummaging around with the lily pots soil, stones should be big enough
to stop fish pestering the soil, but not to cause such an obstacle to
the rhisome spreading across the pot...

Regards, andy
http://www.members.aol.com/abdavisnc/swglist.html

My questions
is should I re-pot it now, or do I even need to re-pot it at all? By
re-potting I mean the the place where I bought it sold my some clay
and said it should be done every year. And I placed river rock on the
top of the pot, should I do that? I read somewhere that that isn't a
good idea, I don't know why.

Thanks,
Gary