Changing Lilypad Leaves
As Fall approaches, you may notice that some of the water lily pads are changing color. They may be turning yellow or brown. This is totally normal. Hopefully they will give us some more beautiful blooms, but they are going to slow down as the water temperatures get lower.
This time of year we can stop fertilizing the water lilies. (let’s all just pretend like we fertilize our lilies monthly!) As the fertilization slows and the water temperatures drop, it signals to the plants that they should spend more time on saving energy and growing their tubers to make it through the winter.
Some leaves will have small areas that almost look like tears or cuts. This is generally from the occasional hail and sometimes the fish get crazy and a lily pad will get creased. These little places will turn brown.
Pads Turning Brown
As a leaf turns brown the stem will turn brown too. But it takes longer. Until the stem turns brown it will not be easy to remove. As long as there is still green in the pads, the plant is processing sunlight to feed the tuber. Don’t go cutting away lily pads! The more energy the plant can get before it goes dormant for the winter, the healthier it will be the following year.
Once the stems turn brown they get mushy and come right off.
The Water Lettuce is carrying on!
Aphids on the water lilies
Did you know that the 1st leaves that came out from the Water Lily will also be the first ones to turn brown? They will!
Have you ever noticed little black dots on the lily pads late in the season?
These are aphids.
They look like tiny black spots on the lily pads, They can cause leaves to turn yellow, however, it seems like the leaves are turning yellow right around that time anyway.
Lady bugs, dragon flies and even wasps will eat them. In my pond, they never eat enough!
What can you do?
They can be sprayed off with a hose. You can fill the pond a couple inches more than its current water level, causing the lily pads to go underwater. It drowns the aphids. But this only works if you can do it daily for several days and spray them off when you see them. I have not yet managed to be that consistent in having the time to do it.
What to do about them depends on your level of commitment to get rid of them. I hesitate when I read about products to spray on them. A balanced ecosystem can be thrown off by adding chemicals like bug spray!
Ready to learn more about Water Lilies? Click HERE!
Kristi's Tips
Keep your water lilies in pots by cutting overgrown tubers trying to get out of the pot in the spring. Once they get down into the rocks and muck they can become invasive and crowd the pond. If you think your pond is too small for lilies, remember that there are dwarf lilies that make smaller pads, smaller flowers and need water that is not as deep as regular water lilies. Try to place water lilies in such a way that there is still good water flow throughout the pond. If that doesn’t seem possible – don’t worry about it and enjoy the water lilies! It’s just my opinion but trimming them back is fine, water flow is important but water lilies are the main attraction! If the water lilies have piled up on each other and you have lily pads stacked on top of each other, some out of the water, then they do need to be thinned out. When I say thinned out, I mean they pot needs to come out and the some of the tuber needs to be removed.
* This blog was NOT written by AI. This was written by me. I am not a professional writer, I am a pond person. Therefore, if you see a typo, please forgive me (but don’t tell me, it will just make me feel bad)!
*No Water Lilies were harmed in the making of this content.