Saturday, November 22, 2008
Pamela Tropical Water Lily
Pamela (blue tropical waterlily) was a fantastic bloomer this summer. I had it in an outdoor pond, where it was about 8" below the water level. It bloomed right up to the time that I took it out of the pond for the winter. I removed the lily from its large pot, trimmed off the majority of the root structure and all of the leaves and blossoms, and replanted the small root into a small pot. It is now in my hydroponics room under grow lights, and is starting to produce very tiny leaves. I'm excited that it is starting to grow again.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Winterizing the Tropicals
I have been working on winterizing my tropical water lilies for the past three weekends (there are quite a few) and it's been a huge task. This is the third year that I have been working diligently with tropicals rather than the hardies and the learning curve is still present.
I am sure that others have experienced this in other zones, but my question to you would be how do you handle it? Set dates for the draining of the ponds? Hiring temp workers/ conscripting family members? Diligently watching the weather channel and doing a blitzkrieg the night before frost? Its been a mix of the four, for the last three years, with my lilies. We generally have to have everything removed by Halloween, but the last few years I have had to put it off until the weekend before the frost hits. In my greenhouse, I generally have about two days after the first frost before the temperature drops to the point where I am seeing ice crystals inside the greenhouse.
The tropicals are receiving the brunt of my attention now, some are being treated to a the sand and distilled water method outlined by Rich Sacher on the Water Gardening International site here. Well worth a look, if you haven't checked this out already. In addition, I am also trying to winter some over inside my house using grow lights and an aquarium heater. I will post later on the results if this one, but it is a mixed effort, with a fully grown lily and about six plantlets grown from seed. I will post as I see my results.
I am sure that others have experienced this in other zones, but my question to you would be how do you handle it? Set dates for the draining of the ponds? Hiring temp workers/ conscripting family members? Diligently watching the weather channel and doing a blitzkrieg the night before frost? Its been a mix of the four, for the last three years, with my lilies. We generally have to have everything removed by Halloween, but the last few years I have had to put it off until the weekend before the frost hits. In my greenhouse, I generally have about two days after the first frost before the temperature drops to the point where I am seeing ice crystals inside the greenhouse.
The tropicals are receiving the brunt of my attention now, some are being treated to a the sand and distilled water method outlined by Rich Sacher on the Water Gardening International site here. Well worth a look, if you haven't checked this out already. In addition, I am also trying to winter some over inside my house using grow lights and an aquarium heater. I will post later on the results if this one, but it is a mixed effort, with a fully grown lily and about six plantlets grown from seed. I will post as I see my results.
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