Here's what the THREE lilies looked like at their "peak". I noticed a lot of the leaves turned yellow very quickly. This is pretty shameful for THREE lilies! Someone help!
I forgot to mention the lilies get about 4-5 hrs of sun a day.

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I have my lilies planted in baskets, dishpans, oilpans whatever I have handy all filled with gravel. I fertilize mine with aquatic plant tablets about 1 time a month during the growing season and had lots of blooms and pads. I also got some Jobe's tomatoe spikes last year and used them 1 time, but couldn't tell any difference in them and the plant tabs. Glenda

What a lovely pond you have. I know more experienced ponders say not to have rocks and gravel in the pond, but it certainly is lovely to look at.

Are the plants in a pot or just in the gravel at the bottom of the pond?? I can't see the pot the plants are in but it may be too small. Lilies need lots of room for their roots.
I'm also not a big fan of planting in gravel. Some people have success with it but I never did. The plants just did not do well.
Lilies are heavy feeders. They need regular fertilizer during their growing season.
You can buy some aquatic fertilizer tabs and use them in the pot.
You can repot the plants and use the pelleted slow release fertilizers (Osmocote) in the bottom of the pot. This will last you all season.
You can buy Jobes tomato spikes and push one or two spikes into the soil every 30-45 days. This is my fertilizer of choice for my lilies. I have the best success with it.
I tried the Osmocote with my lilies last year and I wasn't happy with how my lilies did so I'm going back to the tomato spikes this year.
Some folks also buy fruit tree spikes and break them into smaller pieces and stick them into the pot.

Glenda - What brand of aquatic tabs do you use? I did not see any at my local Home Depot/Lowes stores. Do you order it online?

Pashta - thanks! Yes, you are correct about the rock thing. I did not build my pond and it was built before I found the "GW pond experts" as I like to call them. If I had read all this stuff about rocks beforehand, I would have instructed the pond builders to omit the gravel/pebbles on the bottom, but I must admit I do like the natural look and my fish seem happy. I siphon/vacuum out my pond monthly to flush out the gravel of debris. It is MORE WORK, but luckily, I enjoy working with my pond, so it is all ok.

Lefd - The lilies are in the deepest part of the pond in gravel only - no pots. The lilies came with some soil around their roots, which the pond guys left in tact. The pond builders planted them for me. I am afraid of getting into the pond because of the critters. I do not like bugs and after seeing what all is in a pond under a microscope, I do not want to jump in. I guess I need to find a way to pull the lilies out to pot them and add fertilizer. Yikes.

I have to get into the pond a couple of times a year to access the deepest part. I wear waders to keep the critters off.

I bought my plant tabs at Lowe's and don't have the name due to the fact that I am out of town right now. I can ask my daughter to look at them and let you know later. They are outside in the garden center with the pond supplies, pumps and such. Glenda

Fertilizer is only one part of the equation. You might not be getting enough light for the type of lily you have. Check out the online catalogs for the best lilies that will grow in your area. Most of them will tell the min. amount of sun required. The depth that it is planted also makes a difference, some like shallower water. I have mine in pots with clay kitty litter and small rocks on top to keep my fish from disturbing them. This way I can adjust the height by setting the pot on a on another upside down pot or brick so it gets more sunlight. I have 9 different varieties and they all like something different.
Your pond looks great and I can see why you are always outside. Mine has 4"s of ice on it yet and it will be another month before I can go out and play in it.

Thanks for the kind words, Patrick! I have no idea what variety lilies I have as the pond builders gave me these three when they built my pond. They did not leave any info on them. I know that one of the lilies had a small, beautiful pink bloom at one time, but I know that doesn't tell you much. :( I will try to look for some semi-shade tolerant varieties if they exist. Maybe those will work out better for me.

Loretta

Try to buy local or swap plants with people in your area. I know they have hardy lilies that will do good in semi shade up here in Michigan. I use to have a pond that only got about 4hrs of sun filtered through trees and I was able to grow them just fine. Now my pond is in full sun all day and it's a lot easier to grow them. What season you are in and the water temperature also has a lot to do with how well they grow. Keeping the dead leaves and old flower heads pruned will keep more energy in the root and produce better leaves and flowers. I hope this helps.

Patrick

For the first two years of my pond, the plants grew extremely well. I had planted in pots with soil covered with pea gravel. The third year, they weren't growing so fast, especially the floating ones and they were not the lush green they were the year before. As well, the string algae was growing really well. I then went to Big Al's and bought a bottle of iron fertilizer (also contains some Boron) for ponds. The bottle cost about $12 and lasted 1.5 ponding years for my 1100 gallon pond. It really perked up my plants and the string algae didn't do so well afterwards.

The reason the algae grew well is that it doesn't need the iron and it sucked up the other nutrients (nitrogen, phosphate, potassium) that the more complex plants weren't using because their growth was stunted from lack of iron.

I have observed the same thing in my aquariums. If I fail to add the iron supplement (no other fertilizer needed thanks to fish poop), the algae grows well and the plants don't.

I use jobes plant spikes for my potted plants combined with the iron supplement and by August, I can barely see water because of all the plants.

kalevi, I'm not familiar with the iron fertilizer. Is it liquid or tablets? How do you apply it to your pond? I have heard of people using it and thought that I would like to try it on my plants this year, to see if it helped mine. Glenda

Kalevi: In addition to Glenda's questions, how often do you apply the iron?

Thanks, Loretta

The stuff is called "Flourish iron" by a company called Seachem. It is a 1% soluble iron liquid. I use about 1/4 a bottle in May, an other 1/4 in June, and 1/4 in July. The last goes in the next May. I just spray it in after using a syringe to measure it out.

They say add 1 capful (5ml) for each 50 gallons or in my case, 22 capfuls = 110 ml for 1100 gallons. Bottle is 500ml and so lasts for about 4+ doses. I'm pretty heavily planted and this seems enough as my plants grow like crazy.

I know there was a post here about 2 years ago about some powder fertilizer additive that contains iron that is probably cheaper than what I have if you have a large (many 1000s of gallons).

I use Fertilome Liquid Iron. This isn't intended for pond use, but I have been using it for five or six years with good results. It contains 3.55%iron, .16% zinc, .15% manganese, and .05% copper. It doesn't contain boron or molybdenum, so I also add some Lily Miller IronSafe every so often. The IronSafe isn't intended for pond use either. I used to use Ironite but somebody convinced me that it contains lead and shouldn't be used in ponds.

Both the Liquid Iron and IronSafe are inexpensive and easy to use. Both seem to solve those mysterious chlorotic plant symptoms. Everyone that has floating plants will eventually encounter chlorosis. Adding one of these iron containing supplements usually clears it up in a couple of days.

Thank you for the helpful iron info. I plan on trying it next month to give my lilies a boost!

Loretta

I, too thank you for the info on the iron. Am going to start looking for it to put in my pond. Glenda

I've had my pond for 10 years now and I use fruit tree spikes, broken into chunks that have been pushed down into the dirt. (Actually I use plain unscented kitty litter for all of my plants and top the pots off with rocks)
I fertilize about once a month but stop when the plants start to get too big for the pond.

To prevent alot of algae, you should have some submerged plants--I use Anacharis (10 bunches) Submerged plants use the nutrients that algae thrive on.

When I initially plant, I use plain clay kitty litter. I put Osmocote fertilizer in the bottom then the litter and plant and then top off with black aqaurium gravel. After the osmocote wears off, I use the plant spikes pushed deep in the pot.
There are quite a few ways to fertilize. Try several and see what works best for you.

I have also used the once a year fertilizers. But they are expensive and I think more fertilizer is released at first and not as much later in the season. I prefer the monthly applications, but am anxious to try the iron also. Glenda

I want to make a distinction that may be a little fuzzy here. Fertilizing plants that are potted in clay is a little different than fertilizers for plants that are floating or maybe planted in gravel.

If a plant is planted in clay soil, like lilies usually are, they can be given a complete fertilizer that contains everything including phosphate. The fertilizer is available to the plant but doesn't leach into the water because the clay contains it. Lilies like lots of phosphate to bloom well, but the phosphate would promote algae if it got into the water column.

Fertilizing floating or gravel planted plants requires some care. They can be fertilized by adding the fertilizers directly to the water. If you put it in the gravel it is going to end up in the water anyway. Adding potash, nitrate, and micronutrients to the water is fine, but adding phosphate to the water is asking for algae trouble. The problem is plants like lilies really need the phosphate.

I think your lilies will do better if you put them in clay and give them lots of complete fertilizer. You can also add nitrate, potash, and micronutrients to the water to feed the floating and submerged plants. They will scavenge enough phosphates from the fish waste products to grow well. This will give you healthy plants AND clear water.

Larry - Thank you for the very good info. I was wondering about the water only (for floating plants) vs potted (with clay) fertilizing methods and you nailed it. My concern was NOT allowing the algae-causing nutrients to leak into the water (since I only use gravel now). I did not know the clay would contain it. I will need to pot up my lilies with clay and add the fertilizer inside to keep it contained, like you suggested. I will also add a little iron to the water for extra kick and see how this works for me this spring. I'll post new pics once I see a change. I'm feeling pretty good about this!

Floating plants and the non-potted submerged plants need a fertilizer in the water, usually iron is enough as fish waste gives them the nitrogen and phosphates. Potted plants need fertilizer too and in my case, I use Jobes tomato spikes about once a month.

Always Outside,
I LOVE your pond! I'm not a big rock/stone person either, but your's is so lovely and natural looking. How big around is it?

Thanks, Catherinet! It's approximately 8 x 10 with a 10 foot stream. Here are some pics I took last night. I'm getting real ansy about spring coming up, so I thought I'd take a few pictures of "BEFORE" to compare to later on this year. I plan on going crazy with new plants this year and creating a mini amazon. :) I planted some creeping fig behind the pond to disguise that brick wall. Next year, it should look real lush and more natural.

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Some of the 1-2 inch fry in the deepest part of the pond. I couldn't get a good picture of them because they're still afraid of me and won't come to the surface when I walk up.