Do I Have To Pot Pond Plants?

[hojh32]

Hi, up until now I have only had one main pond plant, a hardy water lily that has become pretty big over the last 3 years. I never potted it and it has had free range. I am contemplating dividing it although I am concerned that it won't flower if I do from the stress (there are probably 5 or 6 flower bulbs just hanging out but haven't bloomed yet). My pond is small and made from flexible pond liner (maybe 4x4 feetish) so this lily is taking up a large portion of the it (which is fine since it is only being used a frog pond). I will soon replace this pond with a much deeper one using a preformed liner. I was thinking of potting my lily at that point although I think I'd have to divide it since I'd have to find a huge pot otherwise.

1. What are the advantages/disadvantages of growing a potted plant versus unpotted. With pots is it just easier when you clean out the pond?

2. just got some blue iris, pickerel weed, and an elephant ear. They came already potted. I intend to keep them potted. When should you repot a plant, each year? or does it depend on type of plant?

My main goal again is for redoing my current frog pond with a preformed liner and now introducing some new plants. Any additional tips and advice is welcome!

Thanks!

[Robyn]

I have six hardy water lilies in my 1800 gallon pond. All are in 5 gallon pots which I repot every two years and fertilize monthly in the warm months. When my pond was new (1997 to maybe 2003), they put out a lot of flower blooms. Now, I'm luckky to get a few a year. I think part of that is that my fish are larger and tend to dislodge (rip out) a lot of the lily leaves. I've found that bareroot (loose lilies) don't do as well as those in pots. Lilies need support and fertilizer (often more than in the pond water). Since your pond is small, your lily seems to have done well loose in the pond. If you want to pot it up, you will need to cut it.

1. Advantages of a pot = easy to move, easy to clean the pond, easy to fertilize, easy to control growth
Disadvantages of a pot = restricts growth (can't grow larger than the pot), can be spilt by animals in the pond depending on the animals and weight of the pot

2. It depends on the type of plant. Unless those plants are in 2 gallon pots, I would repot them now.

See http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plants/plant2.htm#potting for how I do that.

Blue flag iris should be repotted every other fall. I do mine the first week of September.

Pickerel weed should be repotted every other spring. I just did mine.

Elephant ear is taro. It's a tropical plant that grows large. It needs at least a 2 gallon pot. Unless you live in a hot climate, it should come inside for the winter and be repotted the following spring back to the pond.

These guidelines are assuming that they are in a 2 gallon pot. A 1 gallon pot is NOT large enough for these plants. All three of your plants are capable to being pot busters which means that if not repotted soon enough, they will break the pot. Iris is also a pot jumper which will grow runners over the top.

Good luck!