keeping tropicals all winter

[casey]

Sorry I am such an inactive member but it seems I am out of town a lot.  Then I come home and play catch up so I can leave again.  It's family duty so I can't really change things right now.

I sold an above-ground pool and now have room to fool with more lilies.  I live in Tucson, AZ which is too cold to just leave them in the pond.  I would like to make a rectangular, above ground, "pond" just for fooling with tropical lilies this winter.  I don't want to use kiddie pools because rectangular would work much better in my space.  I can heat it.  I can aerate it.  I can make a kind of cold frame top for it.  It would be in nearly full sun against a south facing block wall.... a nice toasty spot.  My questions are:

1)  Should I take them out of the pots they are now in?  It wold be easy and they would take up a lot less room.
2)  Would sand be a good medium for them in this "pond?"  When I bought some in FL a few winters ago they were big tanks like I want to build and they were in sand. 
3)  How deep should they be below the surface of the water?
4)  How warm should I keep the water?  I would be happy if they bloom but even happier if they just live.
5)  If I am right, they just keep growing up from the center.  When the tuber starts to get kind of tall and sticks way up out of the pot, can you do something to get rid of the bottom part that isn't blooming or anything?

I have read many of the "tutorials" but think I am answering questions that aren't answered there.  Any advice would be appreciated.

Casey in Tucson

[landey1230]

We did have a thread on this recently.  I'm in Buckeye AZ, which I believe is in zone 10a.  I plan on leaving my tropicals in my pond over the winter.  Tucson is no different from Buckeye.  However, I don't want to be responsible for any mishaps.  That's my cop-out.   

PS...GO ASU   

[casey]

I can tell you that leaving them in here does not work.  I tried that for 2 winters and lost 100% of my tropicals.  last year I did what I could outside in tubs and saved both my night bloomers and one viviparous tropical.  This year I want to do better now that I have more room.  Tucson is 8b-9a, according to the USDA hardiness map.  There are no town names on the map but it looks like Buckeye is maybe 9a-9b on that map.  If that's true I think it will be too cold in the water for you lilies.

Casey

[LeeAnne151]

Tucson is colder than Buckeye. It has a higher elevation despite being farther south.
 I know people do leave their tropicals in their ponds all winter in Phoenix with no problems but have no doubt that in Tucson you can't.

[PondmaninAL]

I'm in 9b and the tropicals will survive in the pond.

Happy ponding,
Scott

[greenthumbnails]

There was a thread with some info from other people who do overwinter their tropicals inside.  Its on the same thread that some of us in zones 9a-10b were discussing the topic in, but if you read it through you might from some extra info from others who live in colder climates....

Think it was called "Overwintering Tropicals...."

[casey]

Thank you everyone for your responses.  I went to the old thread and read it carefully.  It doesn't help me at all.  First, I know from several years that my tropicals won't survive in the pond.  Second, I don't have a basement or anyplace that stays 55 degrees in the winter.  Third, none of the questions I asked about a possible different way of overwintering tropicals was answered in the old thread or in this one.

Those of you who overwintering in your ponds must do something with your original tubers at some point.  If the original plant keeps growing for years, it must get very high/tall.... or does it make the little nut-like tubers eventually all by itself? 

Last year I was hugely successful with both my night bloomers (Texas Shell & Red Flare) because I found the nut-like tubers had formed before I even pulled them out of my pond in late October.  I took the tubers and planted them in dixie cups with sand, mostly following Sean's tutorials, and they grew, thrived and are blooming in my pond right now.  But I would really be interested in knowing what happens to a plant that just keeps growing for years from the same tuber and, as I asked in the first post of this thread, how deep the water should be in the temporary winter quarters, etc.

Casey

[landey1230]

Hmm.  Maybe I should rethink my winter plan.  I read somewhere, tubers form faster when you stop fertilizing.  Have you tried that? 

[casey]

Well, sort of I guess.  I had stopped fertilizing.  I was really just in the pond cleaning off dead leaves/pads when I saw the little leaves on what appeared to be new plants in the pots of the night bloomers.  But they were interesting in that there were not only tubers in the pot with the parent plant but also little plants already coming up..... it almost seemed from the roots like suckers.  They were probably coming up from little tubers but they were close to the surface of the kitty litter (that's what I plant in) and not buried much.  Anyway, it was obvious that they were new plantlets so I took them out, planted them, gave them air, light & heat all winter and they grew into regular plants this summer and are nice, big & blooming.  It's the day bloomers with which I have been "luckless."

I guess I just wish I knew if the same tuber can be kept as a plant for years, and how you do that, or if you have to start each year with a new tuber, or plantlet off a new tuber. 

[Kat]

Some nightbloomers are known to grow like "weeds", throwing a lot of tubers &/or sprouts.  They are among some of the easiest to tuber.  Other easy tubering lilies are Albert Greenberg, Rhonda Kay, Miami Rose, Barbara Barnett, Purple Indian Goddess, Red Indian Goddess, Colorata, Blue Star.  Maybe someone else will speak up on which are easy tubering for them.  Cutting back on the fertilizer, lowering the water level to stress the plant, small pot, & floating the plant are among the methods of trying to get tropicals to tuber.  Have you read the tutorials at Victoria Adventure?