I bought a house in November that included a small water lily pond. I cleaned it out this spring, scrubbing the algae off of with baking soda and repotting one of the two lily pots. So far I haven't fertilized (didn't know about that until I read one of the other posts). The larger pot of lilies was doing great. It shot out leaves like crazy, but now they're covered with brown spots and seem to be decaying. Is this normal? Do I just need to fertilize? I've used barley pellets to keep the algae down and packets of some mosquito packets to keep away the mosquito larvae. Could these be causing the problem? The pond is also loaded with tiny little bugs (the size of a pin-head). Could these be causing the problem? I obviously have no idea what I'm doing, so would really appreciate some advice. Thanks.
Answer:
Pick off the leaves that are dying. Get them all the way down to the base of the stem. The outer ring of water lily leaves decay and die and new leaves grow. It's just the way of lilies. Yes, do fertilize.
I suspect the little bug looking things could be mosquito larvae, but if they are aphids, use this spray.
Home gardeners should mix one tablespoon of dishwashing detergent with one cup of cooking oil. When pests strike, mix one to two and one half teaspoons of the detergent oil mix with one cup of water. The detergent causes the oil to emulsify in the water. It can be sprayed on the water lilies every ten days. Besides aphids, the mixture works against whiteflies and spider mites. It has been successfully tested on eggplants, carrots, lettuce, celery, watermelon, peppers and cucumbers. It tends to burn the leaves of squash, cauliflower and red cabbage.
To learn about water lilies and more, buy my book, "A Practical Guide to Building and Maintaining your Pond' here.
And join us at pondlady.comto ask and answer pond questions. We have fun there.
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