Tropical Waterlilies Planting and Growing Instructions

Written by: TWL “Dusty Culp”
Tropical water lilies come in colors of purple, blue, red, pink, peach, orange, white and yellow or a mixture of some or all the colors. Mainly all tropical’s are medium and large varieties but you can grow almost any tropical in a one gallon container to keep it small and if fertilized properly will bloom well. All tropical watelililes flowers come up well above the waters surface and the leaves rest on the waters surface. Tropical water lilies are classified as being Day blooming, night blooming, viviparous or non-viviparous. Be careful when deciding on the tropical water lily of your choice that you take in consideration day or night blooming. We have put a brief description by each lily. Stating the size, spread and proper water depth, plus whether it is night blooming, day blooming, etc.
Tropical Water Lilies are true to their name: They do not over winter well in very cold climates. If your pond freezes and stays frozen all day then its probably to cold to over winter them outside but tropical’s will grow just fine just about anywhere once temp get warm. Warm meaning water temp above 65 degrees Fahrenheit and days above 80. Water lilies on a whole like to have direct sunlight but if your temps get up into the high 90’s then water lilies will prefer to be in the shade. Almost all will tolerate 50% of shade even with average temp growing conditions which is 65 to 95 degrees. Tropical’s will out perform Hardy water lilies. They will bloom, grow and stay up twice as much and long compared to hardy watelilies.
TWL ships USPS (the regular Government Mail) Priority Mail is a 2 to 3 day service. We usually ship Monday-Wednesday so packages are not held up over the weekend. TWL takes great pride in the growing, picking, packing and shipping process. We grow all of our own plants and pick fresh daily, keeping the water lilies at room temperature (Warm in winter and Refrigerated in Summer Months). Every afternoon we hand deliver the water lilies in a refrigerated vehicle to the local post office for shipping. Keeping the plants fresh and cool. We ship the water lilies bare root. Usually we will place the waterlilies into a large zip lock bag(every bag is labeled with the variety name) and add a little moister for shipping. Then they will be put into a small shipping box, about the size of a shoe box or a little larger. Newspaper is utilized around the zip lock bag for insulation and for a cushion.
Once you receive your water lily, make sure you get it planted ASAP (especially if the weather is hot and the plant has broke dormancy). If you are not prepared to plant right away you can float the tropical water lilies in your pond or large bucket. If it’s in tuber form you have months to plant. If not in tuber dormant form, The more you leave them out of the water the more they will go into shock. If the temperatures are hot you need to keep them in the AC if not planted. Usually when the temps are hot the plant is well established and has broke dormancy. Never put your plant in direct sun without water. If hot enough the water lily may die or can be majorly damaged in the matter of minutes.
You can plant most Tropical waterlilies in almost any type of container you see fit. I would use a strong plastic one that will not crack or come apart. Make sure the container is at least 6” tall. Larger varieties need to go into a 2 to 10 gallon container. The smaller ones can be planted in as small as a ¾ to 1-gallon container. If the container has holes at the bottom, before putting your soil in, cover the holes with a couple of layers of newspaper. The newspaper will hold your dirt in place for about a month or two. By then the roots will hold the soil in place. Get your pot and put in your planting medium. Make sure to have at least 5” of dirt in your container. You can use almost any type of top-soil. Yard dirt, heavy loam, The best stuff to use is river bottom dirt that usually has a heavy clay base. “That stuff is packed full of nutrients” Don’t use potting soil, mulch, peat moss, cow-manure compost or humas. Fill the pot all the way up to 1” to 2” from the top. Wet the dirt with water soaking it completely. Plant the tropical waterlilies in the center of the pot. Make sure the crown is at soil level. You just want to plant the root down into the dirt enough so that the roots or tuber is barely covered. If you plant the waterlily any deeper than a couple of inches your water lily stands a good chance or dying. You can put pea-gravel or flat rocks on top of the dirt so that your fish want disturb the dirt once planted. Then simply place into desired spot in pond. Again the larger varieties will grow in 1.5’ to 2.5’ of water. The smaller ones like 6” to 1’. This measurement is taken from the top of your soil to the top of the water. You can elevate your container by using a cender block from your local hardware store. They only cost about $1.50 and they are a perfect elevator (they measure 8”x8”x16”) I would wait a week or two before I fertilize. Maker sure you use a slow release pond tab. Designed for aquatics. The rule of thumb is use one tab per gallon container. Fertilize every 3 to 4 weeks. Make sure you push the pill down into the container on the sides as far as your finger will reach. Cover your finger hole up after fertilizing. Make the roots find the tab. Don’t every put directly on main root system. If you don’t fertilize you just want have the desired results while they grow in a container. Do not fertilize when your plants are going dormant or are in the dormant state.
More and more people are planting their plants in pockets at the bottom of their pond. You may have to put some soil in your pocket or wait for a few months so your pond can create some muck for nutrients. Then plant your plant. Then cover dirt or muck and plant roots with small rocks. Make sure you have some fish to make some home made fertilizer or you may have to push in fertilizer tabs every month or so. Sometimes large Koi will get a taste for aquatic plants. Once they do they’ll eat you out of house and home. Gold fish usually will never eat the water lilies.
If you are planting Tropical water lilies in an earthen pond, you can plant them in a container or simply plant them directly into your pond. I would suggest planting them directly into your pond. If you do this there is no need to fertilize, repot or separate in the spring. All that you would have to do is “literally watch them grow”. Make sure when you plant them to simply push the root system into the muddy mucky bottom of your pond, just enough to hold the plant down, with the top of the crown facing up. If they are not anchored properly they will float and go somewhere you may not desire them to be. With some ponds you may have to use a little shovel or large knife to break the bottom enough to plant. If your earthen pond has no nutrients at all, you may have to put in some fertilizer tabs. Once established in an earthen pond Tropical Water Lilies will bloom year round for me and it freezes here about 40 times of year but hardly ever has ice on ponds all day.
Once Tropical water lilies are established the leaves and flowers will attract bugs so you may need to spray or dust with some type of bug killer. I would use very light applications frequently about every 2 weeks. This process should not hurt your animal life in the pond if used moderately.
The main way Tropical Waterlilies reproduce (and stay true to there name) is by producing tubers or by making babies off there viviparous leaves. Viviparous tropical water lilies will produce new plants off there leaves once the plant is well established. Some Viviparous tropicals will produce many babies and some not so much. It really depends on the variety. I have one viviparous Tropical planted in an earth bottom tank that produces about 200 babies every year. The other way tropicals reproduce is by making tubers. Tropical water lily tubers are black and are about the size of a marble to a golf ball. The plant will make tubers sometimes on there own but not many. Usually you have to starve the tropical to make the tubers. I do so by growing them in small containers feeding them frequently during the growing season then stop feeding them in the fall. I have found this is the best method of producing tubers. One tuber will make 2 to 10 plants a year if you play with it. Tropical tubers are worth more than the actual plant because it will not die and it will produce many offspring.
I would suggest repotting every year, using fresh virgin soil. If you are in a warmer climate, All you have to do is wait until your temps warms up. In the Spring, Once you stop having those hard freezes its time to repot. Just take your lily out of its pot. You can dump it up side down and wash away all the dirt. You’ll see the tuber. If your lucky, possible more than one. Plant the new mother plant just as if you have received one in the mail. If you live in colder climates, stop fertilizing a few weeks before it starts freezing. Then I would wait until there is a hard freeze, at this time the tropical will go dormant. Once dormant pull the pot out, dump over and wash away the dirt with water hose. You should find a tuber, once washed off well, then I would place tuber in zip lock bag. I would try to get out as much air as possible. Put some moist sand in bag and store in a cool dark place. A closet would work just fine. Packed this way the tuber will last for several months sometimes years. Plant tubers once all freezes are over in the spring.