That's too bad that this one will go unnamed. I understand CraigP not wanting to name something that didn't live up to his standards.
Sean, what size pot is this in? Cedric asked a question about whether this is a mini or stunted, perhaps without realising that you often grow lilies in Dixie cups.
Karen I think I saw Sean's article (think it was his) on his dixie cups. It's a good idea. I often use small pots to put them in when they've just arrived, just to establish a bit of a root system before I plant them out. I use pure clay which seems extremely fertile, most don't need tabs after being planted out.
I was wondering, here in China/Hong-Kong waterlilies are traditionally grown in pure clay. The clay comes in extreme heavy bags from the mainland, its rice paddy clay, and contains dried rice stalks. Its cut and dried into cubes inch or so. When you pot up you just fill the pot with these cubes wedging in the plant. The cubes absorb water immediately but take a year or so to disintegrate into soft clay. Meantime the roots rapidly fill in all the spaces between the cubes, not just shooting to the edge of the pot and going round and round.
For a few years I resisted this method, thinking the plants weren't able to get the food immediately from the wet hard clay. But I soon got tired of the stinky rot from my own home mix that I had to replace every year and began experimenting. Never ignore local tried and tested is all I can say, because it works like a charm.
The cubes start feeling slimy after a few days in water and this surface sludge on the cubes is what feeds the plant and very efficiently while the cubes disintegrate, the water also never clouds. The other little miracle is the rice straw in the cubes, it can turn green water crystal clear in just a few days, not sure why or how. I know clay, especially paddy clay is extremely fertile but I was still amazed at how well it all works, and how well they grow. Should be marketed.
I would prefer the clay cubes a little smaller, but I suppose the wet clay in the field is quite difficult to cut. What ever they're using its very sharp it slices straight through the rice stalks and all, making a very neat little cube.
Tip from China.
