Water lily pruning question

[Zoe]

OK so I think I have this hobby down pretty good. I noticed my blooms were beginning to slow down a bit. We got busy the last three weeks and I had not pruned  my pads during that time. My lilies began to bloom again. Have I been pruning too many leaves off my lilies? Pads are huge and abundant.

Cindy

[SueSTx]

Sean has said that tropicals can bloom with 5 to 7 pads per plant.

I guess is maybe the heat or they ran out of fertilizer

But, I'm by far an expert...maybe one of those will drop in in a bit.

[Timgod]

Yes they can bloom with 5 or more pads.
The more pads the better in all cases.
Once they turn yellow and begin to degrade though you get to a point of loss of return so when they turn yellow or ratty just cut them off.
I see you are in Texas. With our heat, they metabolize through fertilizer faster.
Hardies like to go to sleep in July or August anyway unless you re-feed them here.
If they are tropicals, they should really perk up in hot weather although extreme water temps can adversely affect the flowers.

Tim

[Sean]

Sounds to me like they need more fertilizer as well. If you can give them a formulation that is very high in Phosphorous, "the middle number" of NPK or find super phosphate or triple super phosphate, they will really respond well.

Cheers,
Sean

[Kat]

I know my tropicals have used up all their fertilizer early this season due to the higher than usual temps we had.  If I want them to bloom & fill out bigger I'll need to add some tabs or make some Osmocote/Colorburst packets.

[Zoe]

Thanks for the replies. I think it is a combo of both the leaves and the fertilizer. Kat I did use your method with all of the lilies this year. I also did give them a boost of the same fertilzer earlier this month.  I appreciate the information from all.

Cindy