Water lillies indoors

[Sonny Disposition]

Has anyone tried growing water lillies indoors? I'm trying out some Home Depot water lillies in a low tech non CO2 tank as a means of keeping NH4 levels down.

My thinking is that they'll be particularly effective, as the leaf surface comes into contact with atmospheric CO2, thereby allowing them to make greater use of ammonia in the water.

The water lilly is in a 65 gallon high, under a 65 watt compact fluorescent. So far it's growing like gangbusters, and has put up 4 new shoots. They haven't broken the surface yet, but it's only a matter of time.

Has anyone else tried water lillies in one of their tanks?

Thanks.

[DelawareJim]

I've grown both hardy and tropicals in my 110 (48l x 18d x 30h). They get huge and eventually take over the tank. What they don't crowd out they'll shade out. I eventually had to cut the crown out of the substrate before it took over the whole tank in a single root mass; a la Amazon sword plant.

Basically, a lily that can grow to a 5 foot spread in a pond will try to grow to a 5 foot spread in your tank.

Cheers.
Jim

[RTRJR]

Yup, used to do it routinely when we were in Silver Spring.

In thosedays, tubes were all NO, but the water lilies (mostly viviporous dwarfs being wintered over indoors). did quite well for me with ~40W/square foot. All the plants were potted in clay with gravel top-dressing and water lily ferts (tablets or pieces of tablets) in the clay. All are gross feeders.

CO2 is completely trivial for these plants once they are floating and I did not supplement ever for these- the submerse foliage dies once the floaters are present and block out all the light anyway. Prune the oldest leaves away as the water becomes covered.

You need 6-8" minimum above the tank to accommodate the flowers, and depending on the variety, you may need more.. All the ones I did indoors were the smaller-flowered forms, but as they were almost all tropicals, they do tend to elevated blooms.

The aquatic also called "banana " plants can be handled the same way - they have very nice white frilled flowers and the undersides of the floating leaves are gorgeous - far better looking than most water lilies for viewing from below.

Don't try to keep any other pants alive in the tank. Most fish however love them, especially bubblenest spawners.

[sherrymitchell]

The one time I tried it, the rhizome turned to mush and died. I don't think my lighting was strong enough, and I don't think I had a big enough rhizome. It was just a tiny piece in a 5 gallon betta tank.

Regular pond lilies will grow roots in every square inch of your tank, but there are smaller, dwarf varieties of lily you can grow. Also, you can contain the roots in a pot of some sort. Like RTRJR said, they are heavy feeders.

BTW, I will have red (more of a dark pink) and yellow water lily rhizomes for sale at the PVAS auction this Sunday. I just divided three HUGE pots and have many to sell.

[RTRJR]

Sherry - one way to avoid that rot situation is to let it float until there are some roots and leaves, or pin it loosely to the surface of a shallow (sandwich-sized) container of soil or clay propped up within millimeters of the water surface. Getting the new tiny foliage into whatever light is available gives it energy to develop the root system. Submerse foliage is as expensive to the plant as floating, without anything like the payback.

[Sonny Disposition]

Thanks, all.

You folks are really helpful and knowledgeable. Over at the NANFA list, they didn't even know what a compact flourescent was.

Some of you mentioned smaller lillies--can you recommend a small variety that will be less likely to take over the tank?

Thanks!

[JMLenke]

Thanks, all.

You folks are really helpful and knowledgeable. Over at the NANFA list, they didn't even know what a compact flourescent was.

Some of you mentioned smaller lillies--can you recommend a small variety that will be less likely to take over the tank?

Thanks!

Dont mention Tek lights ot T5 then..

[RTRJR]

"Small" is relative in aquatics. Any water lily i have grown can fill a 4-square foot surface. there are smaller hardy lilies, but they have to rest and regrow, so need more management than I was willing to give them. this time of year they may be available mail order but unlikely locally I would think.

Small hardy types I have liked that fit in 3' circle tubs buried in the ground outdoors:

Helvola - dwarf yellow, starts slow for me but then goes multi-flowered outdoors.

Pygmaea Rubra - slightly less foliage and bit shyer (word?) blooming, but good color.

There are doubless more available now than when I was growing such.

Those are much smaller than the tropicals.

HTH

[DelawareJim]

Check with Lilypons or Maryland Aquatic Nursery. "Dwarf" or "miniature" varieties are being bred now specifically for container gardening. Helvola is a classic dwarf yellow. Indiana is a nice copper/orange variable variety that stays pretty small but is still large by aquarium standards.

www.lilypons.com

www.marylandaquatic.com

Unfortunately neither site is particularly user friendly for selecting plants.

Cheers.
Jim

[sherrymitchell]

Helvola is probably the smallest of the smalls.... It's pretty easy and widely available. I believe lilypons carries it regularly. Another great resource is:

www.springdalewatergardens.com