where do you get your dirt for your lilies?

[Holldoll]

I had been getting it from the pond store or from the pond section at Lowe's. Now that I have more lilies that are in bigger pots that's getting cost prohibitive.  Where do you get your dirt?

[PondmaninAL]

Last year, I dug it up in the back part of the property. The years before that, I bought the topsoil and composted manure at Lowe's or Home Depot. This year, I'm going to get it at Lowe's again.

[Rad Michelle]

I have a gopher who leaves me mounds of dirt. If and when I run out I use playground sand w osmacot... 4 dollars for a huge bag

[Johns]

Being in the North Carolina Piedmont, My land is red clay, just about the best planting medium for plants that you fertilize, then submerge in a pond*. When I dug my ponds, I made a big pile of soil at the back of my lot that I have used for 25 years to pot lilies, etc.  Of course, over the years, as I reduced my lily operation and began filling in unused ponds and converting them for growing more tomatoes, I had to purchase topsoil to fill them in so I would have better tomato soil than the red clay was.  I still have a pile of clay that should last me as long as I expect to be messing with potting lilies.

*As I have said many times over the years, encasing your fertilizer in a "ball" or clump of clay in the bottom of a pot in which you plant a lily or lotus and then submerge in to a pond allows the plant to access the fertilizer without it being released into the water column, which generally would result in an algea bloom.  The fertilizer is sealed inside the clay, which forms a bond at the molecular level with the nutrients, that are still available to the plant.

[landey1230]

I used topsoil for 2 years, but the koi would make a mess of it.  Now, I use the clay soil dug up from my last pond remodel.  Topsoil and clay dirt work well for me. 

[Aquaphy]

There are a couple places in my area that sell landscape materials like soil, mulch and gravel by the cubic yard. I would think that any decent size city would have a similar place. I get what they call loam which is a sandy clay. It is the perfect soil for water garden plants. It is heavy, has lots of clay and doesn't have any undesirable stuff that would float or foul the water. It is also cheap at $15.00 a cubic yard (in a mid-size pick-up I can only haul a half yard at a time due to the weight). Usually these places will sell smaller amounts if you bring your own container, like a five gallon bucket, which would probably only cost a couple dollars to fill.

[Kat]

I prefer our deep dark brown ground dirt but ran out last week & ended up using bagged top soil from Home Depot.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it will work out.  It did have some bits of mulch in it that floated to the top but the gravel on top of the pots kept most of it in.  Hoping to find someone giving away dirt on Craigslist from where they've needed to dig up the ground.

[PondmaninAL]

Kat, the floating stuff is why I had a barrel near my potting bench. I would dunk the potted plant before putting it in the pond.

[Kat]

Scott, that is a great suggestion 

[PondmaninAL]

Well Kat, I like to resolve problems when they arise and that was one that worked for me. I also got to the point of watering it down with a hose first to stop air from bubbling out when I dunked it in the barrel. Oh, I used the bottom half of a plastic barrel but for small pots, a 5-gallon bucket works well.

[Johns]

ALWAYS submerge your pots in a bucket or barrel and allow to soak through BEFORE placing them in the pond.  Not only will it save you from stuff floating out, but it will also stop any muddy water oozing out as water enters the pot.  Of course, for new plants, this step may include a sterilization process as well, in which case the entire plant must be submerged.

[Jerry]

Good tip Johns.  I am too impatient to wait!
I saved the clay soil when we dug the pond.  I had no idea how useful it was, just dumb luck.
I now have my own compost that goes in first!

[Desertponder]

I use bagged top soil that I get at Home Depot. Comes in a white bag with red lettering and its about 2 bucks a bag. I mix a little sand with it. Its just plain good dark dirt and doesn't have a great deal of material in it that floats.
The way I keep dirt from floating out after repotting is I make a really thick mud pie in the pot first. Then push the lily tuber into the mud and top with gravel. I rinse the top of the pot off a little bit with the spray nozzle and then lower slowly into the pond.

[marla]

I use dirt from the yard...has some clay in it.  Last year I repotted lots of lilies I divided, even though I soaked them and had pea gravel on them, I got ozzing, and I think the dirt settled lots or the goldfish fanned it all off, cause now they look to be filled to less then half the pot.

[bunny56lbc]

I dig it out of my back yard ,  red clay dirt..the best there is ! 

bonnie

[Holldoll]

Thanks everyone! Our dirt here is clay but it seems to be too full of other crap to use it in the pond. I do know someone that is digging a basement for their house so I bet they have some good dirt to use. 

Thanks! I'm repotting everything this weekend!

[Desertponder]

I was at Walmart the other day and I noticed they had the same top soil that I use for $1.00 less than HD has it. I picked up 3 bags. It was $1.58 per bag at Walmart and its called Earthgro.
I'm going to be doing some repotting this weekend too.

[perplexed ponder]

Someone may have said it already, but I use COMPOSTED cow manure (as Joyce taught me!) with the Osmocote (pink cap) on the bottom. I dont' ahve to fertilize the rest of the season.

[tweetybaby2005]

I used to get kitty litter (clay) from WM for my lilies.  Then my DH got a 40 lb bag of oil-dri and only used half to absorbed spilled engine oil so I tried that on top of regular potting mix.  It worked really well for me and helped reduce the floating debris.  This year, I repotted a couple of the lilies and only used oil-dri.  Not sure it it will work or not but guess I'll find out.  I did put osmocote under it and I have about 6 inches of oil-dri on top of the fertilizer.  I wish it is easier to find the Jobe tomato spikes but no luck so far.  I have to check out the local Ace Hardware store to see if they carry it.

Kuan

[Julles]

There is a big difference between top soil from Home Depot (which has a lot of sand in it, and fine particles of dirt) and clay from your backyard (which is, well, thick gooey clay).

So people here are potting in completely different medias.  I assume all of you are growing healthy, productive lilies.

Can someone clarify WHICH is better for potting lilies? 

[Holldoll]

I bought the top soil from HD and it all just floats away! Are you putting gravel on top of it?  I think I might try kitty litter.

[Zoe]

I use the aquatic soil that is like litter.  I have no problem with blooms and when I repot I just rinse the soil off and reuse. I like it because of the ease of reuse and also because it does not get so smelly like real soil does. This is just my opinion. I have done it both ways and I like this better.


Zoe

[PondmaninAL]

I bought the top soil from HD and it all just floats away! Are you putting gravel on top of it?  I think I might try kitty litter.

Holly, if the topsoil is dry, it will float away. Mine is usually moist and I pack it in a bit. I do put gravel on top if I'm putting it in with fish.

[Holldoll]

Zoe - aquatic soil is too expensive for me right now. I used to use it but now I have to buy too many bags of it. 

Scott, I'll try getting it wet first.  I was using it dry. I didn't put gravel on top of these pots I just did because it was in a stock tank that I'm incubating wakin eggs.

[Kat]

Holly--your HD in your location might be using a different distributor of the top soil, using more additives.  As the others have suggested, dunk the potted plant in a seperate tub to get everything wet, floaters, & silt rinsed off.  Be sure to use gravel on top regardless if there will be fish or not as that helps hold the soil & plants in the pot until they get established.  Noticed a bag of Black Cow topsoil at Lowes that I might try instead of the HD.

Shanna--I'll have to check the  Earthgro out.  Thanks for the tip.

[tootsie]

I dig clay from the sides of my pond to plant the waterlilies. I cut out newspaper and make small square envelopes filling them osmocote. I tuck the small squares into the sides of the   pot. So far the Koi have left them alone 

[LeeAnne151]

I use clay garden soil but am running out of places in the yard to dig it since we've been amending all the beds with compost for so many years.

I grow many of my marginals in pea gravel in mesh pots. I use the clay for waterlilies and iris.

[Desertponder]

I bought the top soil from HD and it all just floats away! Are you putting gravel on top of it?  I think I might try kitty litter.

You have to have the soil wet before you put it in your pond. You can do it one of two ways. Set the planted pot into a separate tub of water overnight so the soil soaks up the water or, the way I prefer to do it is as you are potting, mix water with soil and make a super thick stiff mud with the soil. It needs to be so thick that you can barely mix it with a garden hand spade. Fill your pot with mud, put your plant in the mud, top with gravel and then I rinse off the top of the pot with a shower of the hose and then SLOWLY lower it into the pond. Very little dirt escapes that way.