14 replies to this topic

[mattknepley]

Not sure of the specific name, but I believe that is the correct genus and cultivar name for this plant. Gifted to me by Michael Wolfe. Plan on picking up a couple N. odorata to mix with the three GA Peaches from Michael. Am hoping this helps with the algae situation this summer!

Thank you, Michael!

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[mattknepley]

A couple days later and it's even prettier!

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[littlen]

That's vury vury nice, Matt. What lives in the pond that those are providing shade for?

[mattknepley]

Thanks, Nick. They are sheltering a pair of Blackbanded Sunfish (both apparently males unfortunately), a handful of darters including Christmas, Sea Green, and Carolina; and a dozen of those whitefinned Yellowfins from my videos. I didn't intend on adding the Yellowfins, they were for the convention auction. But there was a wq scenario developing in their holding "tank", so into the pond they went. Surprises me how well the current-o-phile species adjust to the still-pond life. Will be after more whitefinned Yellowfins for NH soon. They'll have to take it all in for me; I'll be here in SC...

[littlen]

I assume the darters all do well in the pond also?  I've never had the pleasure of working with any of those guys.  I know the Christmas's's's's are your bread-n-butter down there.  The Sea Greens look pretty taunting also.

[mattknepley]

The darters did well, overall. I was not surprised that the Carolinas did, because my "honey hole" for those guys has very low current and tons of plants, like the pond. Wasn't too surprised to see the Christmases do ok either. The Sea Greens were unexpected though. Never seen them anywhere but in quick water. That all said, the numbers have gone down quite a bit as spring has worn on. Haven't seen a Carolina is a couple weeks, and only my bull Sea Green and a couple of the alpha-sized Christmases are around. Perhaps I'm not seeing them and they're in the weeds. The tank dynamic has really changed with the water lily pots and Yellowfins going in. I had a bunch of Jenny K's midge larvae in there all winter (very pleased with that) and once they died/hatched/got eated off maybe some of the darters got out competed. And maybe it was just "their time". Inside life is pretty easy and longevity is artificially long at times; maybe outside it's just a little too real...

[asukawashere]

How big is this pond that it needs more than three water lilies?

Pretty flower on that Georgia Peach, though. Not a cultivar I've tried.

[mattknepley]

It's only a 100g stock-tank pond. How many lilies would you suggest? I'm a total noob at lillies. Only one plant is flowering; the other two are putting up new leaves, but they are small. I'm fighting a serious hair algae battle and would like to cover as much of the pond surface as possible to combat it. I tried and somehow failed to make duckweed grow on it last year. Before I try Azolla or something else, I want to give hardy lilies a try. Other plants in the pond include a basketball-sized wad o' Java Moss, a healthy amount of some type of aquatic that came in with some fish, and four different carnivorous plants. Three of the cp's are in pots attached to the side, (Sarracenia minor, S. alata, and Drosera filiformis tracyi) and one is free-floating (S. psitticina).

[gzeiger]

A single Nuphar lily will outgrow a 100 gallon tank, although it may take a few years. Nymphaea I expect are similar, although I don't have direct experience.

[Michael Wolfe]

These easily have that ability, but if they are planted in a pot they tend to grow slower after a couple of years and bloom less.  I pretty much have to divide them and re-pot every two or three years... and that's how my friend Matt ends up with water lilies.  I divided the one big plant into eight individuals and was able to give away the other seven and keep the original... which was only a rhizome with no green grown and is slowly coming back.   

[mattknepley]

Hmmm, I may need another pond. Two of the lilies are still in the pots Michael gifted 'em to me in, but the largest I planted in the corner of kitty litter tray with the roots fanning out to the other side. I think you're supposed to do it that way to increase growth...

[gzeiger]

If you want to end up with a 4-inch diameter, 15-foot long rhizome, sure.

[mattknepley]

If you want to end up with a 4-inch diameter, 15-foot long rhizome, sure.

I'm gonna kick serious butt at the county fair, then!

[asukawashere]

I assure you, the absolute last thing you want to do with a lily is let it escape its container, and encouraging rapid growth is asking for trouble when it comes to lilies in containers or small ponds.

Years back, I let a lily (admittedly, it was a species—N. odorata—not a hybrid) go for three years in a 2500 gallon in-ground pond, and when we went to muck out the pond we had to go in with a hacksaw and chunk off basketball-sized pieces of rhizome so we could get the thing out. It took three days to get it all done because each chunk weighed a ton. I could have turned it into a few hundred plants easily if I'd wanted, but I decided it was such a pain that I chucked it into the compost heap and switched to smaller hybrids like the pygmaea group. Even "dwarf" water lilies can easily reach three feet in diameter in a single year's growth.

I generally recommend one lily per container pond. Anything more is overkill.

[Michael Wolfe]

Peachy colored water lily with Southern Studfish beneath (you cant really see them in the picture, but I could)

 

Just kinda thread-jacking my bud!  By the way, the  flower is from one of the larger pots, but all those little tiny pads are from the tuber that I cut seven full sized plants off of in the spring!

 

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