What container do you plant lilies in?

[zydia]

I gotta get in gear and get my hardy lilies divided.
I have read people use oil drain pans, had my hubby pick me up a few and they seem rather shallow to me. What do you think?
What do you use?
Zydia

[MikeW]

I live in my oil drain pans. Could not find anything more perfect for lilies - unless someone will design and market a special lilly pot, then it will be $15, and not $1.98.

Lilly roots do not generally go that deep, hence ideal pots are wider than they are deep. Another benefit, makes them less prone to tipping.

Cheers,

Mike

[Desertponder]

I use oil drain pans. The ones that I buy are a little deeper than most of them and have a nice wide rim around them that make them easier to handle when setting them in the pond. They also have a "hang hole" punched in the rim so you can twist tie a name tag to it. They are a little more expensive than most oil pans but I really like them. Our one farm and feed store and Safeway are the only places here that I've found them.

Many other people use cheap dish pans from the dollar stores. They work pretty well too.

[karen J]

I'll plant a water lily in anything that holds water.  I've got a couple planted in galvanized wash bins that I never got around to planting properly, and they seem to be doing OK.

Oil pans are great. I get the cheap ones from Wal Mart. I do wish they were a little wider in diameter, but wonder if I'd have to replant them annually anyway. The size they are now keeps the lilies from getting to heavy.

I've got a couple of Lerio lily pots that are a larger diameter, but also a little deeper and they can get quite heavy. Kinda pricey, too.

I had Perry's Baby Red that I kept in a kitty litter box for years and years. The pot finally broke this year. I was actually sad. 

[Bonnie]

I had to pay $2.00 for pots this year and it about killed me!
I was too used to getting nice pots at the dollar store for $1.00.

I've been buying Dishpans at Walmart, even had to break down and buy RED ones.  As we know, they're soon green anyway.

I really wish I would have purchased extras last year when I found the perfect size at the Dollar store for a $1.
They had a rim around the top with a molded handle.. black too, not red!

[Rocmon]

So do you all not worry about the anaerobic yuk that grows in those sealed bottom pots?

Do you all just use garden soil, sand, gravel, or kitty litter, with osmocote or...?

I tried coconut hair stuff on the bottom half of aquatic soil this year in perforated pond pots, with poor results. The coconut hair stuff collapsed under the weight so the pots were only half full of soil. I used the Jobes fruit tree spikes as well, but need a better set-up next year.

Suggestions?

[Teresa]

I used dishpans too and the similar flat pans they give you in the hospital to give yourself a spong bath - got lots of those.

[PondmaninAL]

Good point that you brought up Rocmon. I read an article in Ponds USA and Water Garden magazine about using pots without holes and anaerobic bacteria. The person who wrote it suggested using a utility knife and making 1" slits near the bottom of the pot or whatever. I personally use regular old nursery pots because they are free.

Happy ponding,
Scott

[Ky Kim]

Lets see, I've used oil pans, dish pans, wash pans from the hospital.  I've used the pots for hanging baskets, just about anything and everything seems to grow just fine.  I use garden dirt, fruit tree spikes and pea gravel on top.   I have lots of blooms through the summer.

I had to edit this....last year I used fruit tree spikes, this year I used tomato spikes.  I was out in the greenhouse and saw them and realized I posted that wrong....

Kim

[Desertponder]

No, I don't put holes in my pans. I use this bagged top soil that I buy at Home Depot that is more clay soil and sand mix than the loamy black dirt. Tomato spikes for fertilizer.

[Sean]

I have not used pots with holes on purpose for over six years. Over 100 waterlilies in various containers without holes year after year and no ill affects. That is not to say that a few are in pots with holes because that's all I had at the time of planting.

As for fertilizer, I always say, anything is better than nothing. I cant say that any one way is the best but I have changed my planting media, fertilizer and pot shape and size various times over the years and have found that there is not a heck of a lot of difference if you just use a little common sense. Fertilize to increase growth and bloom during the start and peak of the season, taper off fertilizer as the fall and cooler temps approach. I doubt fertilizing in the fall will cause any problem since cooler water generally means less absorption by the plant anyway.
Feed waterlilies a fertilizer meant for blooming plants. As the duration and intensity of the sun increase and pond temperatures warm up, the plants will respond.

Cheers,
Sean

[zydia]

Well, they are done and all in oil pans, eleven total.
It was my first time dividing, and someone should have warned me how much thay stink, hope that is not a sign of a unhealthy pond.
I did not fertilize will do that is the spring.
Thanks for all the advice.

Zydia

[Jerry]

I was turned on to the Oil Pan by Johns, excellent!  the mesh baskets I felt were just nonsense.
Sean some fertilizer may be better than nothing, but i like this the best..

[Craig]

I think to a large degree, holes or no holes depends on the length of your growing season.  I can grow pretty much 12 mos a year and that requires pots from which the roots can escape....or frequent repotting, which ain't gonna happen.<g>

Pots without holes are big trouble if the plants get root bound and the root mass starts to deteriorate.

Craig

[Jerry]

I agree Craig, but i like dividing!

[zydia]

Jerry, you made me chuckle, I did not mind the dividing, but I froze my butt off, obviously you are much warmer then me. pond water is 55, but hose water is much colder. Temp is to be 34 tonight.
My perinnals, I like to divide in the fall so I do not shock them in the spring. I'm hoping that works with lilies. Hoping all I need in the spring is fertilizer.
I hope I will have lilies to trade come spring.
Zydia

[Esther]

Jerry, I couldn't resist. You like dividing. Do you like multiplying? Adding? Subtracting?

[Argos5]

Rectangular plastic mesh pots, Schultz aquatic soil and Jobes aquatic plant fertilizer spikes have worked well for me (plus lots of sun).