How to transplant water lilies and develop handy skills for working with aquatic plants is a handy skill to have under your belt. To do this the proper way, start by identifying and following down a healthy water lily plant stem to its roots, and then gently uproot it.
Shear away the running plant roots from the cluster of other tubers using a knife, until you disentangle it. Get further steps on how to transplant the water lily stem by reading this article.
JUMP TO TOPIC
- How to Transplanting Water Lilies
- 1. Obtain the Necessary Materials
- 2. Carefully Uproot the Water Lily
- 3. Prepare the Potting Conditions and Plant the Water Lily
- 4. Submerge the Water Lily in a Pond
- 5. Give Seasonal Care to Your Water Lily
- 6. Treat Your Water Lilies According to Their Type
- 7. Prune Your Water Lilies Accordingly
- 8. Give the Optimum Growing Conditions to Your Water Lilies
- 9. Protect Your Water Lilies From Pests
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
- References
How to Transplanting Water Lilies
To transplant water lilies, begin by removing a single water lily tuber from the colony of other stems. After that, submerge the roots in a bucket filled with water. Plant the tuber in potting soil in a suitable pot before submerging it in a water pond.
1. Obtain the Necessary Materials
Get a pair of rough-surfaced waterproof gloves to protect your hands, in addition to helping you grasp the submerged water lily with ease. Also, obtain enough potting soil to hold the plant in position when you transplant it.
Be sure to get pure clay, a mixture of sandy topsoil, and a commercial aquatic potting mix or aquatic plant soil. Pea gravel is another option, although it requires more control since it leaches fertilizers into the pond causing rapid growth of algae.
Your choice of pot should ideally be one that allows the water lily to grow freely and absorb adequate nutrients without constraint. Choose a pot that is big enough to contain massive root growth and abundant blooming leaves. The pot should be about 30 centimeters wide and two-thirds of the width deep for ordinary water lily plants. For dwarf varieties of the plant, you may use about half the size of the pot dimensions given.
Obtain a slow-release aquatic plant fertilizer with equal concentration of nitrogen, potassium, and calcium to ensure healthy water lily growth. You will also need a few handfuls of some small pebbles and gravel.
2. Carefully Uproot the Water Lily
Water lilies usually grow in clusters, so you need to first identify a healthy-looking plant stem to pull out of the water. Be sure to do this gently and carefully to avoid destroying other surrounding lilies. Loosen the roots of the tuber before pulling it out of the water and cutting it. Cut away any dead roots or stems, leaving only healthy tuber material for transplanting.
Place the tuber in a bucket of water from the same pond that you uprooted it from, or wrap it around with a wet cloth. Keep the plant in a cool place, away from direct sunlight.
3. Prepare the Potting Conditions and Plant the Water Lily
Take the water lily pot and create a foundation of pure clay soil measuring up to five centimeters deep. Next, make a layer of aquatic planting soil whose thickness is double that of the clay which is beneath it. Moisten these two layers with a little bit of water, while taking care to avoid excessive dampening.
Plant the water lily tuber within the layer of aquatic planting soil. Ensure that the nodes are facing upward, while the tuber itself is laid horizontally. Tamp the aquatic soil layer to keep the tuber in position.
Place some gravel and pebbles on top of the aquatic soil layer once you plant water lilies. This layer acts as a top covering that maintains the aquatic soil in place when the pot is submerged in water.
4. Submerge the Water Lily in a Pond
Submerge the pot in a water pond to a depth of between 30 and 45 centimeters. Make sure the exposed tip of the plant leaves a distance of just about 10 centimeters between itself and the water surface. Increase the depth gradually as the water lily grows.
To control the depth of the pot, we advise you to initially place it in a water pond over a few layers of bricks. As the plant stalks grow taller, you can regulate the depth of the pot by gradually removing some of the bricks.
Be informed that the initial depth to which the pot is submerged significantly impacts the growth of these pond plants. Greater depths may cause the water lily to spend much of its energy trying to access sunlight, thereby risking the possibility of the plant failing to make it above the water’s surface.
5. Give Seasonal Care to Your Water Lily
Water lily care is largely seasonal, with each period having its own requirements for the plant. The beautiful blooms that occur during summer are enhanced by adding fertilizer tablets to the aquatic soil layer biweekly.
During spring, you need to observe your water lilies for dead plant material and remove it. This is also the time for cutting and dividing water lilies. Spring is also ideal for planting water lilies in new pots.
If you experience freezing conditions in your location, remove the plant foliage when the frost begins. To keep the water lily dormant until spring, be sure to place it at the deeper ends of your pond where the water is unlikely to freeze.
6. Treat Your Water Lilies According to Their Type
Your water lilies are more likely to have different optimal requirements, based on their type. Warmer seasonal climates that are synonymous with the tropics are ideal for tropical lilies. These plants tend to be larger and are best preserved during winter by placing them in a container filled with very damp soil. Add two fertilizing tablets to tropical lilies each month from the start of winter to the beginning of spring to keep them healthy.
Hardy water lilies thrive better during the winter since they can survive freezing pond conditions. Keep the potting soil for hardy water lilies healthy by adding two fertilizing tablets every month for each plant, from the start of summer to the end of winter.
7. Prune Your Water Lilies Accordingly
If your water lilies grow and become clustered around each other, remove the rhizomes and separate them with a knife. Evenly space them so that each rhizome has its own space to maneuver, independent of the next one.
You may also carry out this procedure if your water lily plant becomes excessively large with roots that visibly stretch across the pond. In the case of two adjacent plants from the same rhizome appearing to compete with each other, use a knife to separate them, and then remove the weaker one of the two.
8. Give the Optimum Growing Conditions to Your Water Lilies
Maintain the leaves of water lily plants free from turbulent disturbances by keeping the water in the pond calm. Remove the plant from locations that are beneath features that continuously splash its leaves, such as fountains and waterfalls to much calmer ones.
Tannins from the lilies themselves protect them from the plants’ predators by making them inedible. They also regulate plant growth. External tannins from other plants, however, can have the reverse effect, stunting the lily’s growth and hinder nutrient uptake, and may even cause plant death in some cases.
To control the concentration of tannins, be sure to regularly remove debris from your ponds. You can also add activated carbon or beneficial bacteria for controlling tannins. These materials help to protect the pond from the discoloring effect of tannins by absorbing and digesting them, leaving the water much clearer.
9. Protect Your Water Lilies From Pests
The common pests affecting water lilies are caddisflies and aphids. Caddisfly eggs in pond water develop into larvae that affect the lily stems by making them look as if their buds have been cut off from them.
You can control caddisflies in your pond by introducing small fish to eat these insects. If the caddisfly larvae have grown too big, you can light up your pond at night when the insects usually become visible and manually pull them out of the water.
To control aphids, you can apply vegetable or olive oil to the water lily leaves. Use a fine net to remove the dead aphids from the pond. We do not recommend applying chemicals to control aphids as these will also poison the fish in your ponds.
Frequently Asked Questions
– How Much Sunlight Works for Transplanted Water Lilies?
The sunlight that works for transplanted water lilies is as follows: Expose your plants to direct sunlight for at least six hours each day to ensure unhindered upward growth. The ideal temperature requirements are around 50 degrees Fahrenheit during winter and about 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the growing period.
Water lilies require abundant sunlight after transplanting them for the buds to develop upward.
– What Causes Lilies to Remain Submerged in Water?
Lilies remain submerged in water as a sign of stunted growth due to either poor nutrients, lack of adequate sunlight, or inappropriate temperature conditions in the water pond. To correct stunted growth in water lilies, simply adjust the growing conditions to the right temperature and sunlight conditions.
Remember to add the suitable soil nutrients in their proper quantities at the right time. It is best to remove all the affected plant material and replant the lily all over again under the right conditions.
– What are the Ecological Benefits of Water Lilies to the Environment?
The ecological benefits of water lilies in the environment are that they provide cover from excessive heat from the sun. This helps to protect most aquatic organisms by cooling their habitat temperature down. The covering also hinders the growth of pond algae, which require abundant heat and light.
– What are the Effects of Water Lilies on Your Health if You Eat Them?
The effects of water lilies on your health if you eat them include treating liver, kidney, and heart conditions. You can prepare meals using the plant’s seeds, rhizomes, or flowers without any health complications. You may even peel the plant’s rhizomes and eat the water lily raw.
Conclusion
You can now decorate your water pond with the beautiful water lilies on your own without any problems. If you keep the following tips in mind, you will find this easy to do:
- Uproot the rhizomes of wholesome water lilies from their habitat using a pair of gloves without harming neighboring stems, then carefully wrap the plant in a towel or place it in a container filled with water.
- Fill a flowering pot with layers of clay and aquatic soil before planting the water lily, and then add a layer of gravel and pebbles to prevent the soil from being washed away.
- Lower the pot carefully to a depth of about 45 centimeters and leave a small distance between the budding flower tips and the water surface.
- Ensure that the pond where you place the flowerpot receives abundant sunlight throughout the day.
- Introduce small fish that feed on caddisflies to your water pond to protect the plant from these insects, while using olive or vegetable oil to control aphids.
Transplant the water lily with very little effort and enjoy yourself as you do. Try it today and watch your home surroundings transform beautifully!