Re: lily pads

[David Marshburn <marshbur at cs_unc.edu>]

On Tue, 21 Jan 2003, Aquatic Plants Digest wrote:

> 	This spring I am going to plant some lilly pads in a pond I am
> building. Every source I find on planting lilly pads in ponds makes
> reference to your typical koi pond that is 18-36 inches deep. They state to
> slowly move the plant deeper and deeper into the water as it grows. Plus
> they have them in pots with garden soil. How the heck do you plant lilly
> pads in a BIG pond when the area is 5-8 feet deep? I know they survive
> because they have them in all of my local ponds.

You might try just planting them at the deep part and letting them grow.
Water lilies have a mechanism by which they grow out their stalks to the
level of the water (in fact, they grow them out to 10-20% greater length
than needed to cover the distance between the buried rhizome and the
floating leaf).  I don't recall if this mechanism is active in older
leaves or only in leaves that are just growing in.  Maybe if you plant
your water lilies just after they've opened a new leaf, you can be safe
either way.

Two more points (which you may already know):  water lilies require quiet
water, out of the wind (the long stalks get tangled and damaged,
otherwise).  Also, water lilies spread mainly by vegetative reproduction
(growing out the rhizome and sending up more leaves/stalks; this is
probably why potting is suggested).

Good luck!  Let us know how it goes!

cheers,
-david, who is glad to be taking an aquatic plants course