Water lilies don't always look as impressive as they do in botanical gardens and Japanese gardens. Even if they seem so simple and undemanding, they can suffer from a lack of trim. It is not uncommon for the flowers to even fail to bloom.
When and why should you cut water lilies?
Water lilies should be cut especially in spring (March to August) to remove yellowed, rotten or pest-infested leaves, to promote flowering, to protect other pond plants from overgrowth and to remove diseased parts of the plant.
Why should you cut water lilies?
For various reasons, a cut can be useful or necessary. Here are a few of them:
- Flowering stays away
- other plants in the pond are overgrown
- existing diseases
- strong pest attack
- remove frozen parts
What should definitely be removed
You should definitely cut away yellowed leaves. They not only look unsightly, but are also host to diseases. Rotten leaves should also be cut off. They also like to indicate illnesses. Such plant parts can be cut off all year round as soon as they are visible.
You should also remove leaves with strong traces of feeding that, to your taste, spoil the appearance, as well as dead parts of the plant. Old flowers are difficult to remove because they sink to the bottom immediately after flowering, where the fruits form.
The right period
Certain parts of the plant such as excess leaves, leaves with signs of feeding and dead parts are best cut off in spring. The time for this will come from March. The cut must be carried out by August at the latest. Cutting at a later date may cause damage.
Tighten water lilies regularly
Growing water lilies should be thinned out:
- Reason 1: Otherwise, flowering will decrease due to lack of space
- Reason 2: Other plants are displaced
- Reason 3: Rhizomes cover the base
- as soon as the leaves are on top of each other, crowded together or sticking out steeply
- Device: Pond scissors (€47.00 at Amazon) (has a long handle)
- if applicable Fish out plant parts with a landing net
Cut off diseased plant parts
Even if your water lily is ailing, reaching for scissors is not a mistake. This is often the aspect that can save the plant. If your water lily is sick, such as leaf spot, the affected parts of the plant are cut off with scissors and disposed of.
Tip
No matter how great the flowers look and smell, they are not suitable as cut flowers for the vase. They would die quickly because their flowering period is extremely short.
