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Editor’s note: This is a condensed version of the hand out from the April meeting, the ’dividing’ part is not included here.
I prefer placing my plants in pots for many reasons. First and foremost, I will have two to four times the bloom out of my plants since I can raise them up into the warmer water strata and provide fertilizer easier to them. If not in pots, the plants will also grow in places I may not want them to grow into. Most of our water plants are very aggressive and keeping them separated can be difficult if not impossible.
Perhaps the biggest reason to place aquatic plants I pots is so that you can move these plants into a different environment when winter approaches. Hardy lilies and lotus are placed on the bottom of a 24 inch or deeper pond (Northern Iowa should have 30 inch deep ponds to overwinter). Tropical plants can be brought indoors. In ponds and containers that are not deep enough to overwinter plants, the pots can be either brought inside for hardy water lilies and lotus or buried in the garden for the marginals.
So, the following are recommended procedures for potting up your aquatic plants.
No holes pots are probably the best to use and are available from most water garden centers. If you use pots with holes in the bottom or mesh pots then landscape fabric or fiberglass window screen will need to line the pot. This prevents the planting media from "leaking" out. Make sure that any residual chemicals or fertilizers are rinsed off the pots.
Size of the pot to use is an important decision. Generally speaking, use as large of a pot as you can easily handle. Wide, shallow pots are preferred over tall, deep pots. Tall plants in narrow deep pots are sure to tip over on windy days when the plant matures. The taller the plant, the wider the pot.
Use black or, at least, very dark pots. Plastic pots are usually the lightest and should be the preferred plant pot.
There are a lot of different kinds of "stuff" to plant our plants in. I prefer to keep it simple and use bagged topsoil. You can start to complicate things by adding 1/4 to 1/3 sharp sand mixed into the soil. This is as complicated as I want to get. You do not have to add the sand -- straight topsoil works great. When sand is added, the plant roots and tubers have an easier time of penetrating the soil and the process of repotting is easier.
You can use kitty litter or various commercial planting mixes. However, I am convinced the best is the most simple.
You do not want compost in your topsoil. Some bagged topsoils have compost added. This will stain your water and your plants will not do as well. The decomposition of the compost robs the roots of your plants of oxygen.
Most aquatic plants like a lot of fertilizer added to the pots. If pots with holes in them are used then keep the fertilizer away from these holes. Otherwise, fertilizer will more readily leach out of the pots and into your water garden. It is hard to over fertilize but I suppose it can be done.
There are three basic types of fertilizer. There is a liquid for adding to your water garden or container water garden to improve the conditions for your floating plants. This is a must have if your pond is relatively clean.
There is time-release tablet type of aquatic fertilizer. I like using this along with regular aquatic fertilizer so that they are fertilized over the long term (all summer) as well as giving the plant an instant burst of energy. The regular type of aquatic fertilizer comes as a tablet or a granular. I like to use both forms depending on the application. I use granular when I am potting up but will use the tablet when I am adding fertilizer to a growing plant. Go by the directions on the package but err on the side of using too much.
Hardy water lilies need to be planted with the cut rhizome next to the pot and the growing tip facing toward the center of the pot. This gives the rhizome room to grow horizontally. Tropical water lilies need to be planted directly in the middle of the pot. Their crown grows to a bigger diameter.
All marginal plants should be placed in the center of the pot. They will grow outward.
Lotus "bananas" or tubers should include at least one and 1/2 banana and be gently buried very shallow in the dirt with a light layer of gravel over the top. Place the tubers so that they are towards the outside of the pot with growing tips growing in a circular fashion. The pots used for lotus should always be round in shape. The lotus grows around the pot in a circle and if there is a corner, the lotus will more easily jump the pot.
The growing tips of both water lilies and lotus are very tender and they are the future of your plant. If these tips are damaged, then you jeopardize the growth of your plant.
It is important that during the process of planting keep the parts of the plant that are always wet, moist. If these parts dry out then you can harm the plant. I like to use a spray bottle to keep them moist.
Add a layer of soil in the bottom of the pot and then add your time-release tabs. Add some more soil then add your regular aquatic fertilizer. Mix in and then add your next layer of soil. The fertilizer will be well below the plant roots. You do not want your plant's roots to be touching the fertilizer when planting. Those roots can burn.
After the plant has been planted and backfilled with topsoil then a gravel layer should be added. I prefer to use 3/4-inch river rock. Goldfish have a difficult time of digging into this big of rock. A lot of water gardeners use pea gravel for their topping.
This is okay but I will bet that a lot of it will be out of the pot by summers end. The goldfish eventually can mouth the pea gravel and get some of it out. I like to wash this gravel before it is added to the pot. If it is dirty then some dirt and debris will end up in your water.
Label the plants with its name. Once the name of the plant is gone, especially water lilies, the value goes down. A named water lily is a valuable plant. When it is time to repot, your extra divisions will be worth more to recipients of your divisions. Use a sharpie on plastic labels or plastic knifes. Write on both sides. Algae will grow on them but this can be scrapped off and the plant can be identified.
Place the plant in water as soon as you're done. Gently fill the pot with water. The bubbling of the air out of the soil can dislodge some of the dirt out of the pot and into your water.
Lotus should be placed so that 4 to 8 inches of water is over its crown. Water lilies can have from 4 inches to 2 feet of water over their crowns. The smaller varieties will need to be kept shallower. All marginal plants should have only 1 to 2 inches over their crowns. Make sure that your pot is completely submerged. You do not want this showing -- very tacky and unsightly.