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By Brett Fogle
Unfortunately, sunlight is not enough.
Your water lilies will grow, thrive, and bloom much better if you
get in the habit of fertilizing them regularly.
The good news is -- It's Easy!
you can either remove your water lily from the pond to fertilize
them, your sometimes you can even do it with the plants still in
the pond...
I prefer to remove them so I can inspect to see if they are
becoming overgrown, and possibly need dividing. This is really
the best way, and a good time to kill two birds with one stone.
So, first - remove the pot from the pond. Then drain out any
excess water, so you can see the surface of the soil and
Rhiozome..
Next, here's a trick I use to fertilize my lilies quickly and
easily...
Have a fairly wide tipped flathead screwdriver nearby, and then
use it to punch a clear path into the soil and through the
existing roots. Then give it a good twisting to hollow our your
hole.
You'd be surprised how hard it can be to push a fertilizer tab
down into a dense root pack - so try this next time and tell me
if it isn't 100% easier.
Now that you have your 'holes' dug - take 3-4 water lily
fertilizer tabs out (we like the Tetra Pond fertilizer tabs), and
push them down into the holes with your index finger..
That's it -- you're done!
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Then just cover up the holes and top off the plant with some
fresh dirt, as we discussed in our last article - and you're
ready to move onto the next one.
Once you've fertilized all your lilies, just slowly lower them
back into the pond..
Here's another trick I use - Don't just drop the pot back into
the pond, as trapped air bubbles can sometimes uproot the lily or
some soil..
This is espcecially true new pottings, as the soil has not been
properly 'set'. Here's what I do:
Lower the pot into the water, just enough to fill it with water,
then raise back up out of the water until you see all the air
bubbles disappear.
Do this a few more times, until you think you're removed all the
air bubbles from the pot - then slowly lower it down into the
pond.
There's nothing more frustrating than having a newly potted lily
(or any plant) suddenly lift up out of the pot, dumping dirt all
over the pond, and having to be repotted.. I'ts happened to me
more than once..
So that's it for now, in our next article, we'll talk about
trimming and pruning water lilies...
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Brett Fogle is the owner of MacArthur Water Gardens and several
other pond-related websites including
MacArthurWatergardens.com
and Pond-Filters-Online.com. He
also publishes a free monthly
newsletter called PondStuff! with a reader circulation of over
9,000. To sign up for the free newsletter and receive our FREE
'New Pond Owners Guide' visit MacArthur Water Gardens today!
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More articles on creating and maintaining beautiful garden ponds
See Also...
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5 Simple Steps To Dividing Your Hardy Water Lilies
If you missed the springtime window of opportunity to divide your hardy
water lilies, don't worry, it's not too late. Although springtime is
the best time, you've actually got the entire normal growing season to
get it done.
The reason for dividing your water lilies is that they eventually run
out of room in their existing pots and need more room for the roots to
spread out so the plant can flourish. Not only is this relatively easy
to do, but you end up with more plants as a bonus!
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Building Liner Ponds
Surprisingly enough, it is usually in mid-summer that many
gardeners begin to think about installing a small pond or
water garden. Ponds don't need to be weeded or watered, and
they can supply exuberant color in the form of water lilies
and bog plants.
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