We all enjoy the tropical waterlilies with their brilliant colors and large blooms but when the season ends and the water temps start to drop we wonder what we can do with them to winter them over.  Here’s a couple suggestions that may be successful in wintering over your tropical lilies.

 TROPICAL WATER LILIES

Tropical lilies are usually treated as an annual. They will continue to grow and produce blooms until the temperatures fall below 60 degrees. If you choose to try over-wintering your tropical water lily, moving the potted plant into a greenhouse is the most successful. Another method is to re-pot the lily in a 6” pot and place the lily in at least a 20 gallon or larger aquarium. Keep the water temperature at 70-75 degrees. You will need a fluorescent grow light to provide 10 to 12 hours of artificial sunlight per day. Do not fertilize the lily at this time, as you will not want to encourage any new growth, simply keep the plant alive until temperatures are warm enough in the Spring to move the lily back outside to the pond. There is one other option for you to try if you are determined to save your tropical lily for next season. Starving the plant in late summer (do not fertilize) will cause the lily to form tubers in the fall. Once the leaves have died off, remove the tuber that has formed under the crown. Wash it thoroughly and air-dry a few days. Remove any roots still attached, wash thoroughly again and place in a jar filled with distilled water or slightly moist sand. Store the container in a cool, dark place at approximately 50 to 60 degrees. Check regularly to make sure the sand is moist, or if storing in water, that the water has not turned foul or discolored. If it has, replace it with fresh distilled water.

The leaves are even beginning to fall with the wind blowing.  I guess we all know what is in store for us for the next couple months.

Another Red Scarf bud is starting to open in my pond.  I find I enjoy the pond plants even more towards the end of the season.  It’s such a pretty lotus bud.

I probably should get out my sweatshirts and sweaters now.  I love fall with its beautiful colors when the leaves begin to turn but don’t look forward to what comes after….snow.  There are a few things we can start doing to our ponds now since the days are numbered.  Here’s a list of some fall and winter pond plant care items for the hardy pond plants.  

HARDY WATER LILIES

With the lower temperatures during the fall season, you will notice a decrease in water lily blooms and the lily pads turning yellow as the water temperatures cool. It is important at this time to remove the dead leaves and spent blooms to avoid having the debris in the pond over winter. As winter approaches and water temperatures drop, the water lily will go dormant. Remove all dead lily pads and lower the potted lily to the deepest part of the pond or to a water depth of about two feet.

SUBMERGED PLANTS

As long as the submerged plants are below the ice, they will usually survive the winter. Any part of the plant that is allowed to freeze will turn to mush and add unwanted debris to the pond. It is wise to cut these plants back and sink below the surface.

HARDY BOG/MARGINAL PLANTS

Once your hardy marginal plants begin to brown, usually after the first hard frost, prune back excess foliage and discard any decaying material, so it does not compromise the water quality over the winter months.  Potted bog plants such as Pickeral and Thalia Dealbata should be placed at a sufficient depth to avoid freezing the crown of the plant. Plants such as Japanese Variegated Iris and Cardinal Flower should be removed from the pond and planted in the yard for the winter. When new growth begins in the Spring, they can be placed back in the pond for the summer. Most of the other hardy bog plants can be left as they are and will return the following spring.

Just remember, we need to play it safe and make sure the weather is going to cooperate and keep our new plants protected from the cold.  If we put water lettuce in too early, the leaves will turn from their nice green to white…..water temperatures too cold.  Water hyacinths turn brown……again too cold.  Play it safe with your newly purchased plants and if you think the weather is still too cold,  put them in a container and keep them indoors for a few days.  If it is warm during the day, go ahead and place them outside to get the sun.  I would rather play it safe and protect the plants, then to take a chance of them dying and having to replace them. We do our best to ship the plants when it is safe for you to put them in your pond. We watch the weather highs and lows across the nation and try to ship the plants accordingly. Unfortunately, those cold fronts coming down from Canada, make it somewhat difficult to second guess Mother Nature!

Next month hopefully we will all be sitting by our ponds thinking how nice everything looks and forget about the crazy spring we just had.

Here’s the article.

I’ve been wanting to write something on this subject for some time now. Finally, I have a bit of time to address the subject of water depth for bog plants and marginal plants. Simply put, bog plants like their “feet” wet. Translation….roots and soil moist at all times.  When the plants are first planted, this is especially important. Many of the bog plants will take deeper water as they mature and spread. But, when you first receive your bog plants, you will have better success if you place them where there is no more than a half inch or less of  water above the soil line.  Think of the marshes and swampy areas, you have passed while traveling down the road. These natural reservoirs, fill during the rainy season and will dry out during dry spells. The plants adjust to the varying water depth and grow and spread rapidly.  If you have a question on a particular plant, just ask and we will be happy to help you plant and grow beautiful marginal and bog plants.

Here we go again.  I call it the Spring Tease.  Just when plants are beginning to sprout and the warm weather hits….big time….it teases us with a mention of snow!  The cold front here in Ohio and across the north has moved in for a few days.  If you have already put plants out in your ponds, be sure and bring them in or protect them.  

I was going to clean my pond last week, but with taking care of our customers and being busy taking your orders and sending orders I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.  I did see that I had some marsh marigolds blooming and bog bean.  It gets me anxious, wanting to put more plants out.  Good thing I held back.  I’ll just leave them be in the nursery where they are nice and warm.  Besides, I really need to clean my pond at home since I neglected to do that last year.  It’s pretty bad.  I think I need the Microbe-Lift Sludge Away.   I have alot of build up of sludge on the bottom of my pond.  Maybe then I’ll only need to change out half the water this year.  I did start putting the Microbe-Lift Spring and Summer in a couple weeks back and the water is crystal clear, but now you can really see the goop at the bottom.    For those that haven’t tried the Microbe-Lift Sludge Away it works great at speeding up the removal of sludge & muck naturally.
It is especially helpful for ponds that have a rock or gravel bottom, where vacuuming is impractical. Microbe-Lift SA/Sludge Away is formulated specifically for the removal of organic bottom solids that are slow to degrade but works faster at warm water temperatures, however, Microbe-Lift SA/Sludge Away may be used effectively at any temperature year-round.       

• Provides “rapid and natural sludge and muck removal”
• Microbe-Lift SA/Sludge Away is 80% faster than competitive products
• Binds phosphate
• Organic and microbial based
• Microbe-Lift SA/Sludge Away is safe for fish, plants, pets and the environment
• Helps improve pond clarity
• Microbe-Lift SA/Sludge Away contains 100% active ingredients
• Disperses quickly
• Microbe-Lift SA/Sludge Away is 100% Bio-degradable
• Recommended for use with all MICROBE-LIFT bacteria and enzyme products

Whenever this happens, those of us who wanted our plants shipped thinking its finally warm wonder, now what do I do with them.  Make sure you protect them by bringing them indoors until it warms up.  Remember most of the plants have been indoors in a greenhouse environment and shiver even when the temps are in the 60s.  But we need to make sure the water temperature have stabilized to 65 degrees before we put those floating plants out.  

The floating water plants in your pond need to have the water temperature reach 65 degrees.  They will show signs of yellowing leaves and black spots on their leaves if left  in water temps below that.  The water lettuce will wilt and turn white if too cold.   We tend to get anxious in the spring and sometimes put floaters in before the water is warm enough.  Even the lotus and waterlilies need the warmer weather to start growing.  But at least those were outside all winter and were pulled to ship out. 

Hopefully, like last year, this is a short spell and in a couple weeks things will turn around and we can once again start looking forward to enjoying our ponds.

Don’t be fooled by Mother Nature.  We need to make sure it is warm enough outside, and make sure our pond water is warm enough for the plants to survive.  Knowing your pond temperature is crucial, so begin by checking your pond water temperature at different times of the day.  The pond water is cooler in the morning and warmer in the afternoon but will cool down again in the evening.  Knowing what the consistant temperature of your pond water is important before adding the pond plants. 

The first plants most of us want to put in are those that will help us keep the pond clear, such as floating plants like water hyacinths and water lettuce.  Cold water will kill both of these in a matter of days if the water temperature is still too cold.  We need to make sure the water temperature is consistent and reaches 65 degrees and stays there morning, afternoon and evening before we add floating  plants. 

There are other things we must do first that will keep us busy, such as adding beneficial bacteria to help keep our pond clear.  The good bacteria, such as MicrobeLift PL neutralizes ammonia and nitrites, and will start to work when the water temperature are 50-55 degrees.  If  you add  bacteria, it will stay in the pond and start working when the pond water is warm enough.  It acts on its own and will stay un-activated until it knows to start working.  For those of us who use barley, now is the right time to start adding it.  This will also help retard the growth of string algae in the Spring months.

The list goes on and on.  While all of us are anxious to add the pond plants there are still several things to do prior to this.  I will be posting articles in the next few days with spring tips for our ponds.

Stay tuned!

Trying to winter them over indoors is difficult.   They need to be kept in an aquarium or  floated in anything that can hold water.  The problem is they lack adequate light intensity.  They seem to do well for awhile but by February when they start to grow the natural light is not bright enough to promote proper growth. The water temps need to be at least 70 degrees and they need at least 14 hours of sunlight or equivalent to four fluorescent bulbs held about 12 inches over the water.  

When you consider the amount of energy and electricity needed to keep tropical plants alive over the winter its probably cheaper to  just use them for mulch in your vegetable garden and buy new ones in the spring.