How do I plant...

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

I've got a couple of pong plants yesterday
1) The lily - Thank you again Sherry!
2) The crinum - Thank you Robert!

I'm planning on adding them to my containers outside.
How do I plant them? What kind of pot? What substrate?

[JMLenke]

didnt robert just have the crinum sitting in substrate with the majority above the waterline?

[sherrymitchell]

Ghazanfar, I actually have extra pond clay here if you'd like some. Let me know. Otherwise, here's how I plant lilies:

The lily needs to be in a container without holes. Anything in the 10 to 12 inch size will work. I typically use wash tubs or tupperware type containers for smaller lilies, and big under-the-bed boxes from Walmart for the big ones.

On the bottom of the container spread some Osmocote time released fertilizer. OR you can put down a few lily fertilizer tablets. Three should do the trick. Lilies are heavy feeders and you need the nutrients to get them to bloom.

Use clay from the garden, aquatic soil, or even gravel in a pinch. Top the fertilizer with 6-8 inches of soil. Do not use peat, potting soil or anything light in weight. The peat will float and make a mess. The heavier the better. I've even used plain kitty litter (Walmart Red Bag -- it's pure clay) mixed with heavy garden compost with excellent results.

Plant the rhizome so that the crown is not buried. The crown needs to stick out a bit. Roots can be trimmed to fit the pot if necessary. I usually trim the thinner roots rather than sacrifice the thicker roots.

To keep the clay in place in the pot, I top the entire thing with large gravel. Pea gravel works too if you don't have big goldfish, who always want to rearrange things. Rinse the gravel before you put it on top of the clay.

Slowly, lower the pot into the pond (or container) so that any air pockets are filled. Any cloud from the soil will clear in a few hours. You'll probably get a few sticks and floating debris, but that can be netted out.

Then stand back and wait. Mother Nature takes care of the rest.

Once the lily pads are up, they will age and yellow in time. You can follow the stem down to the crown and clip it. Flowers will be beautiful for two or three days, then they will fold and sink under the surface. Clip those as well or they will get putrid and foul the water. Sometimes they produce seeds and you can harvest those from the spent flower under the water. You'll see the seeds inside the flower in a jelly-like mass.

Hardy lilies may not make it through the winter in a raised patio pond. I usually sink all my lilies to the bottom of the pond beneath the freeze-zone at the top. As I said, if you want a place to over-winter that lily Ghaz, let me know. We can sink it to the bottom of my pond.

Ghaz, I'd love to see a photo of that lily when it blooms for you. Have fun.

Lily Pics from last year:

[RTRJR]

The Crinums don't care. In the veggie filters they are in plain gravel (which cannot be vacuumed - one interlaced mass of roots). In bog pot I I use the same soil as for water lilies, pretty much enriched clay subsoil (as with the local Miracle Mud, organics are the enemy but the lily clay is not pre-processed, clay itself the ultimate CEC). In pots with drainage I use Miracle Grow Planter mix, which is largely peat-based).

Beware of shading other plants. These are vigorous plants. The also reproduce very effectively. Not unlike a bulbous form of Val. The flowers are great though. Far better outdoors where they can spread their fragrance around.

I think your house faces east? If so, for out front, in a mixed pot place the Crinum at the north-west to minimize shading the other during the AM lighting period.

HTH

[Ben Belton]

Plant the rhizome so that the crown is not buried.

Not burried below the soil or not burried below the water? I am thinking soil.

I'm working on one of these too. Your photos are awesome.

When Jay posted pictures of his container he said to make sure you get an all day blooming lily. None of the ones I have seen say all day or anything. How can I tell?

[RTRJR]

Hardy lilies are all day-bloomers. The tropicals come in both flavors.

The growing tip needs to be exposed above the substrate.

[sherrymitchell]

Sorry I wasn't more clear Ben. RTRJR is right. The growing tip gets planted so it is exposed above the soil. The whole container gets submerged in the pond/container. Mine are set at 24 to 34 inches deep in the pond. Some smaller, newer ones are within 10 inches of the surface.

[jerseyjay]

As a side note, I purchased my lilies from great nursery and had them prep it for me. All the other misc plants were purchased from local Lowes for about ~$5 each and I left them in the same soil / container they came in. Keep in mind that I added 1-2 root tablets into each plastic pot.

I came from Lowes today with 13 plastic pots . It is this time of the year in North Jersey

Enjoy Ghazanfar !

[Ben Belton]

OK, good info. I live in a more rural area than most of you, so Lowes and DIY are about it for many things.

Oh yeah, thanks Sherry for your post because I was planning on doing this since I saw Jay's post, and I was just going to put the lilies in Flourite or something. They would have never bloomed and I wouldn't have had a clue. I have an old bag of Florabase that I've been wanting to get rid of. I think it would be great for a lilly.

Thanks everyone.

[maddog10]

For the record, I feel better when Ghaz starts a thread off with "How do I plant....."