Water Lily Mortality

[Wanda]

Sorry about the flood of messages. This should be the last.

I have four water lillies of different varieties in my pond. All but two
still have leaves & these aren't looking too healthy with brown spots over
much of the leaves.

My pond is around 8ft in diameter, on average 25cm deep. It's 50-70% shaded
throughout much of the day with the most light exposure being during morning
hours.

After placing the lillies in the position where they would receive the least
direct light I moved them to a spot where they would receive the most due to
the leaves dying off. Before the leaves started dying I did notice some
brown spotting on the leaves. I read somewhere this was due to a lack of
nutrients so added some non-phospherous fertiliser. This caused an algae
bloom & didn't seem to help the lillies at all.

Animal life in the pond include 4 standard goldfish, one lionhead goldfish,
a handfull of minnows, four mystery snails & a couple of unknown snails.

[Charles]

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 06:08:37 GMT, "Wanda" >
wrote:

>Sorry about the flood of messages. This should be the last.
>
>I have four water lillies of different varieties in my pond. All but two
>still have leaves & these aren't looking too healthy with brown spots over
>much of the leaves.
>
> My pond is around 8ft in diameter, on average 25cm deep. It's 50-70% shaded
>throughout much of the day with the most light exposure being during morning
>hours.
>
>After placing the lillies in the position where they would receive the least
>direct light I moved them to a spot where they would receive the most due to
>the leaves dying off. Before the leaves started dying I did notice some
>brown spotting on the leaves. I read somewhere this was due to a lack of
>nutrients so added some non-phospherous fertiliser. This caused an algae
>bloom & didn't seem to help the lillies at all.
>
>Animal life in the pond include 4 standard goldfish, one lionhead goldfish,
>a handfull of minnows, four mystery snails & a couple of unknown snails.
>
>

This would be normal this time of year in the northern hemisphere, but
it looks to me like you are posting from Australia.

Normally water lilies like as much sun as they can get, full sun is
best.

For fertilizer there are pellets, tablets, and such that are inserted
into the soil at the base of the lily, it is best not to put the
firtilizer directly in the water, as you have found out. the lily
doesn't feed much from the water column, algae does.

some lilies do have brown spots on the leaves naturally, but the leaf
should appear healthy, be firm. I wonder if you might not have a
disease in the plants. My water lily books don't mention any
diseases, here is a site that looks good:

http://www.crocus.co.uk/feature/waterliliesgrowing/

[Koi-lo]

"Wanda" > wrote in message
...
> Sorry about the flood of messages. This should be the last.
>
> I have four water lillies of different varieties in my pond. All but two
> still have leaves & these aren't looking too healthy with brown spots over
> much of the leaves.

I'm not an Aussie so am not familiar with your climate. Can the lily being
going into it's winter dormancy phase? What did you fertilize it last?
Does it need a repotting? Are there worms under the leaves or between the
membrane of the leaves?

> My pond is around 8ft in diameter, on average 25cm deep. It's 50-70%
> shaded
> throughout much of the day with the most light exposure being during
> morning
> hours.

Lilies like as much sun as you can give them.

> After placing the lillies in the position where they would receive the
> least
> direct light I moved them to a spot where they would receive the most due
> to
> the leaves dying off. Before the leaves started dying I did notice some
> brown spotting on the leaves. I read somewhere this was due to a lack of
> nutrients so added some non-phospherous fertiliser. This caused an algae
> bloom & didn't seem to help the lillies at all.

What kind of fertilizer did you use? Spikes? A liquid in the water?
Lilies NEED phosphorous to bloom, among other things. Mine thrive with Rose
bush type fertilizer sticks (Jobe's here in the US) broken into 3rds and
pushed down deep into the soil of their pots.

> Animal life in the pond include 4 standard goldfish, one lionhead
> goldfish,
> a handfull of minnows, four mystery snails & a couple of unknown snails.

--

Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
Troll Information:
http://members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm
Reading Headers:
http://www.technomom.com/writing/headers.shtml
~~~ }<((((o> ~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~ }<(((((o>

[Wanda]

"Koi-lo" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Wanda" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Sorry about the flood of messages. This should be the last.
>>
>> I have four water lillies of different varieties in my pond. All but two
>> still have leaves & these aren't looking too healthy with brown spots
>> over
>> much of the leaves.
>
> I'm not an Aussie so am not familiar with your climate. Can the lily
> being going into it's winter dormancy phase?

No we're actually in the height of our summer, although this summer has been
unusually mild with temperatures that we would usually see in spring.

> What did you fertilize it last?

a few days ago with some pond specific liquid fertiliser into the water,
after which an algae bloom began. I have fish & hornwort (floating member of
wort family) to deal with or compete with algae.

> Does it need a repotting?

there aren't any roots coming out of the pot & the plant is still fairly
small so I doubt it.

> Are there worms under the leaves or between the membrane of the leaves?

No.
>> My pond is around 8ft in diameter, on average 25cm deep. It's 50-70%
>> shaded
>> throughout much of the day with the most light exposure being during
>> morning
>> hours.
>
> Lilies like as much sun as you can give them.
>
>> After placing the lillies in the position where they would receive the
>> least
>> direct light I moved them to a spot where they would receive the most due
>> to
>> the leaves dying off. Before the leaves started dying I did notice some
>> brown spotting on the leaves. I read somewhere this was due to a lack of
>> nutrients so added some non-phospherous fertiliser. This caused an algae
>> bloom & didn't seem to help the lillies at all.
>
> What kind of fertilizer did you use? Spikes? A liquid in the water?
> Lilies NEED phosphorous to bloom, among other things. Mine thrive with
> Rose bush type fertilizer sticks (Jobe's here in the US) broken into 3rds
> and pushed down deep into the soil of their pots.
>
>> Animal life in the pond include 4 standard goldfish, one lionhead
>> goldfish,
>> a handfull of minnows, four mystery snails & a couple of unknown snails.
>
> --
>
> Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
> Aquariums since 1952
> My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
> http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
> Troll Information:
> http://members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm
> Reading Headers:
> http://www.technomom.com/writing/headers.shtml
> ~~~ }<((((o> ~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~ }<(((((o>
>
>
>

[CanadianCray]

My lily plants do that all year long. One leaf dies & another comes up. Most
leaves only last for a week or two & then are replaced.

"Wanda" > wrote in message
...
> Sorry about the flood of messages. This should be the last.
>
> I have four water lillies of different varieties in my pond. All but two
> still have leaves & these aren't looking too healthy with brown spots over
> much of the leaves.
>
> My pond is around 8ft in diameter, on average 25cm deep. It's 50-70%
> shaded
> throughout much of the day with the most light exposure being during
> morning
> hours.
>
> After placing the lillies in the position where they would receive the
> least
> direct light I moved them to a spot where they would receive the most due
> to
> the leaves dying off. Before the leaves started dying I did notice some
> brown spotting on the leaves. I read somewhere this was due to a lack of
> nutrients so added some non-phospherous fertiliser. This caused an algae
> bloom & didn't seem to help the lillies at all.
>
> Animal life in the pond include 4 standard goldfish, one lionhead
> goldfish,
> a handfull of minnows, four mystery snails & a couple of unknown snails.
>
>
>

[Koi-lo]

"Wanda" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Koi-lo" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> "Wanda" > wrote in message
>> ...
>
>> What did you fertilize it last?
>
> a few days ago with some pond specific liquid fertiliser into the water,
> after which an algae bloom began. I have fish & hornwort (floating member
> of wort family) to deal with or compete with algae.

Liquid fertilizer is almost useless to a water lily. It can cause algae
blooms, especially if it's a "complete" fertilizer.

>> Does it need a repotting?
>
> there aren't any roots coming out of the pot & the plant is still fairly
> small so I doubt it.

You may want to try the fertilizer spikes or tabs and put them IN THE SOIL.
Push them as far down as you can and push soil or gravel over the hole you
just made in the soil with your finger.

--

Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Troll Information:
http://tinyurl.com/9zbh
Reading Headers:
http://tinyurl.com/amm9s
~~~ }<((((o> ~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~ }<(((((o>