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Also, while I'm not advising on a medium for aquatic aroids, I
can confidently report one of the best media for Nymphaea or
Lotus is the heavy red clay soil of the US Southeast. Also, the
muck in the pond is called muck and made up of more than the
fish waste ... the roots of my plants love it as well when it has
accumulated enough :-) .
We cover the top of the clay soil in the pots with gravel. The aroids
along the margins thrive in this.
Have you tried these water gardening techniques and have you
read any of the information from Lilypons?
I would love to hear.
Alison
In a message dated 10/15/2009 12:30:00 A.M. Central Daylight Time, criswick@spiceisle.com writes:
I have had very varied success with Nymphaeas. The books say large containers with no holes and NO animal manure; only good topsoil. Then you have to keep giving fertilizer (the Nymphaea fertilizer is EXPENSIVE) or the plants start decreasing in size.
But I observed that a yellow nymphaea which had grown over the edge of the pot, had sent roots spreading in all directions in the gunk on the concrete floor of the pond (largely fish excrement). And the lily went wild! Huge leaves and flowers.
So I started putting nymphaeas in fairly wide, but very shallow plastic containers, reasoning that the roots like the aeration on the surface of the soil medium. I use cat litter trays or shallow “wash pans” (pre-washing machine). In the bottom I put 4 inches of well-rotted pig manure, topped by 4 inches of loam. I plant the nymphaea in the centre and cover the loam with sand. Then I gently submerge the container in the 18 inch deep pond, but not keeping the crown 6 to 8 inches below the water surface, as the books tell you to do.
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