INCREASING WATER TEMPS

[Mackey]

Does anyone use any solar water heaters? In the cooler later season areas. Would increasing the water temp with a solar system give the pond a early start? I don't mean super heating the pond just something to get steady temps up a little for a possible earlier season. My pond is about 2400 gal. about 14X14 and half of the pond is about 36-40" deep. I normally will not see first bloom till late June first of July. Need some insightful input. Thanks

[PondmaninAL]

I thought about pumping water through a 20' section of 1" black pond tubing to try to warm up my lily tank faster.

[bunny56lbc]

I've never used them . I do however use plastic(6 mil) over my pond for the winter & in the Spring
I have some lily pads starting to hit the serface ...several of my liliys have pads on the way up...

bonnie

[Rad Michelle]

That's a large volume of water you would need a pretty decent heater to have any significants... You could always strt lilies in greenhouse like pond w that solar so by the time your waters warm they will already have strted growing

[Mackey]

Thanks for the three comments. Thought this would be a better topic. I was looking at a Solar pool heater its about 4' X 20' I think it would raise temps about 5%.

[turtlemike]

  That sounds like a pretty big heater to me. I think it would raise the Temp more than 5 degrees. but I don't know for sure but I do know that in a few minuets a black plastic waterline like Scot was talking about full of cool water to start will burn you. That's not a lot of surface area. You might find that you might get your water to hot with a big collector. of course you would need a small pump to circulate the water.

  I think that maybe lack of sun directly on your pond may be the real problem and if you have a lot of sun the water will warm and your lilies will bloom much better for many reasons.   Your pond is your best and cheapest solar collector it just needs to be in the sun like any solar collector.
 Overcrowding and low sun are the main reasons lilies wont bloom. 

[PondmaninAL]

 Overcrowding and low sun are the main reasons lilies wont bloom. 

Dang it, TMike! Now you've ruined my hopes for them blooming this year. Wait, does that go for both hardies and tropicals?

[turtlemike]

  By overcrowding I mainly mean underground or in the pot.

  I don't know much about crowded or shaded tropicals.

[PondmaninAL]

Well, I'll give you some information on a crowded tropical. One of those white night bloomers that I have, needed dividing last year but I never got to it. It was in a 2-gallon pot and kept sending up pads and blooms. Oh, that stock tank didn't get six hours of sunlight.

Now you have some evidence.

[Mackey]

Thanks again. The 36" to 40" depth I believe is why my pond temps stay low along with cooler nites at 2400ft elevation. But if I read what your saying correctly. The water temps do not affect lilly growth or bloom production? With no leaves on the trees now I get 7 hours of direct sun. So if water temps dont get plants started ( or keep them going longer) This is a mute subject. The heater shown is 2 feet X 20 feet

[Sean]

I beg to differ, water temps do affect growth and overall plant health in both hardy and tropical waterlilies.
I grow tropicals only and I use a large titanium electric heater.
Solar heaters would work very well for you.
You can make a solar heater inexpensively out of black PVC pipe or black pipe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDpZZuAezMI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oWXeOdZA6k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7SGzlnDscg&feature=related

[turtlemike]

   Your right Sean, my best, biggest most bloomingest hardies with the biggest flowers grow in very deep cold spring fed water in one of my cold valley ponds.  They start blooming at the same time as the same varieties on the hill in my hottest ponds and bloom just as late.the water in this pond is around 50 degrees at the height of summer and only a very few inches at the surface are warmer than that because the leaf coverage is so complete no sun enters the water to warm it. 
  Both ponds are in full sun.

[Mackey]

Thanks for the post These solar tube heaters was what I was thinking. but still confused one person likes warm water for bothe hardy and tropicals and someone else thinks it does not affect bloom, starting season or length of season. what to do? what to do? maybe I'll have to do some testing.

[turtlemike]

 

   Do experiment.  Be sure you understand that I was referring to hardies only when I was saying that my lilies bloom just as good or better in my coldest pond, low 50s, as in my hottest pond, upper 80s.

   Tropicals like it hot.

  I have odorata and odorata x mexicana plants in my cold pond.   Some in 7 ft. of cold dark water.

  Not enough sun and or over crowding of to many connected crowns and "tuberoids" is the main cause of low flowering of lilies. Next on the list would be excessively low fertility.  Moderately low fertility is fine for most lilies but some respond very well to increased fertility without making lots of leaves.  Fairy Skirt is one that likes it's fertilizer and without it won't have as strong of an outward curl to the sepals and petals.

  Many plant's will not show their true flower form if under fertilized or crowded.

  This big yellow has wide wavy petals with more rounded tips than the two flowers to the left from a younger more crowded less fertilized crown.