How much water do tropical lilies need over them?

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

I'll try to make this long story short. I bought a tropical lily from a company that I have bought from for many years. They made 1 mistake in the past. This lily will only last one season in this zone.

The tropical lily is in a 300 gallon above-ground stock tank and it's taken up pretty much the entire space with it's leaves. It bloomed the other day. It is a gorgeous blossom........but not the one I ordered and wanted. I contacted the company and they are sending me the right one. Unfortunately, the only other stock tanks I have are only 100 gallon.

However.......I have a 300 gallon stock tank in-ground that was a lotus bog for a number of years, but for whatever the reason, has quit producing. It is filled with soil/mud and has about 8" of water over it. Could I plant this lily in there? I'm sure it's filled with tons of lotus roots, but I'm thinking the lily roots could work around that. My only concern is how shallow the water is. In the past, I've learned that when they're too shallow, they don't make many blossoms. I'm just wondering if it would be best to do that, or to put it into a 100 gallon stock tank and be incredibly crowded?

A friend asked why I couldn't put it in with the "wrong" lily.......but that would be just too much lily in one place.

Any suggestions?

And I apologize for lying about making this long story short. ;)

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
7 years ago
I think the lotus would kill it and 8 inches of water isnt really enough for a liliy. I would just get a large pot with no holes in the bottom, about 18 to 24 inches deep for the lily. I grow mine in pots or the large round laundry totes/tubs and they do fine. I pot them in a squat 2 gallon nursery pot, then sink that into the larger tub/pot. You can find containers at the dollar store to use instead of the 2 gal nursery pot as well.

In this photo, you can see there is a smaller dollar store tub inside the larger pot. This was a newly planted tropical lily. It will fill out nicely.
catherinet
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks sultry_jasmine. This variety of water lily gets pretty big. the last one of these I grew quickly outgrew it's 300 gallon stock tank....so I'm thinking it will not be happy at all in a 100 gallon stock tank....but that's really all I have now. I have another tropical lily in an in-ground 300 gallon stock tank, but it's not doing so great at this point, so I might move that one to the 100 gallon tank and put the larger one in there........although that one has a pump going. Not sure if lilies like water movement though. All this hassle, 'cause the company sent me the wrong one.........and I can't bring myself to throw it out of the larger tank for the replacement that's coming.

Here's a pic of how it's doing. Pretty beautiful!

Sorry for my ramblings........I'm feeling a bit neurotic these days. hahaha.
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sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Beautiful! They look really happy. I have also had the wrong lily sent to me before. It does throw a wrench into the plans lol. Then you still want the original one so need to get another water container set up etc.
catherinet
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks Sultry_Jasmine. I'm having regrets about putting the 2 big tropicals together. I didn't really have another big container. And I couldn't bring myself to get rid of the "wrong" one. The 300 gallon stocktank is getting really crowded. Oh well.......I'll just try to enjoy things as much as possible. What I need is a BIG pond. :)