I have read that the tablets are the best because they go right to the roots of the plant. Also frequent fertilizing promotes blooming from every 2 to 3 weeks. Some water lilies take 2 years of maturity before they will bloom. Many of the aqua fertilizers do not promote algae growth. Just read the bottles. For me my hyacinths are not blooming this year but are multipying quickly. I have 8 new hardy water lilies, of them only 2 are blooming. One is the Yellow Queen and the other is unknown with yellow blooms. Also I have read water lilies require at least 6 hours of sun. Also if they are directly in the sun, they can not get splashed by waterfall because the leaf pads can get sunburn. They tend to like calmer waters. For me, my hardy water lilies get part sun and part shade through out the day and I still get blooms.
Theresa

A good all around fertilizer is Osmocote, you can put it in the pot when you divide/repot in spring and it can carry you thru the summer season. My water lilies bloom heavy, my Colorado usually has 4-6 blooms at a time, Joey Tomacek is always in bloom. I fertilize the heck out of them! I use osmocote when I pot them up and once I have a few pads I start adding Jobes Tomato spikes, adding one every other week or so till they start blooming then I double it, 2 per pot every other week. They reward me.

Fertilizer tabs or spikes are great for the lilies, but if you want to fertilize your hyacinths you can always pull them out and soak them in a bucket of miracle grow solution. Mix it up per the directions and then just soak them in there for a few hours. I always rinse the roots before putting them back in the pond just in case. This works great unless you have a very large quanity of of them.

Sam

Just plain ol Muriate of potash and iron chelate. I use 1TB of each once a week, allthough im going to cut back on the iron a bit, it caused me an ugly algae bloom, but after 4 days, its under control again.

My plants are litterally going nuts! its like catnip for clones.

Yes, potash is good, particularly for the floaters. Osmocote is good and lasts all season when you repot. I like to use the Jobe's tomato spikes on the lilies. You can also use fruit tree spikes busted up into small pieces.

Songmom, I just noticed you were from Utah, im not sure what part of Utah you are from, but in the salt lake area, you can buy the muriate of potash at IFA, it comes in a huge 50lb bag for around 20.00. well worth it and will last you forever, or at least it should =)

They also sell 50lb bags of fish pellets for 17.00. I dont think ill ever run out of either.

LEFD05, you mentioned that you used Jobe's tomato spikes for the lilies. Can I assume that there isn't an increase in algae or any effect on fish? I was planning on using them for our lily.

Also, could you use any kind of spike? I have lots of the regular Jobe's spikes that I could use.

Wow, I never would have thought of using TOMATO spikes... wow! I have used other Jobe's spikes, for houseplants & for my Meyer Lemon tree. Why the tomato spikes, BTW?

So, Jbob2k, you live in UT, too? I'm in Ogden, and there's an IFA not too far from where I live. Thanks for the info!

Where can these be purchased, iron chelate and Muriate of potash? I would love to try them but do not know where to start looking. TIA

Jobe's Tomato Spikes are wonderful!

the best place to start looking for the muriate of potash and iron chealate (chelated iron) is your local farm supply store.

And so you dont get funny looks and get made fun of (like I did) potash is pronounced POT-ASH ran together not poe-tash

I did the same thing with poetash a couple of years ago
:-) Felt like a dork.
I am now concerned about the pronunciation of Chelate - per Merriam-Webster it is said like key-late. Would that be correct?

I tried everywhere I could think for Muriate of Potash all they sell here is Sulfate of Potash... go figure.

Do you all add Potash and Iron weekly??

I have a tiny 5 gallon container garden. I have one 4" dwarf papyrus, two small water hyacinths, and today I added a very tiny pygmy waterlily. This is probably overkill. I have a small spitter in there too. The waterlily is in a 4" pot. One tomato spike in each of the pots every two weeks? Plus soaking the water hyacinth in Miraclegrow? Is that right? It's getting about 5 hours full sun a day.

no one ever answered if tomato spikes or miracle grow will harm fish. SO i thought that id try to ask again eh.
SHane

For the past 17 plus years we've had our pond, we've used Pond Care Aquatic Liquid Plant Food. You mix it in a bucket and pour it in the pond. Does not cause algae, hurt fish, frogs, snails or any sort of aquatic life. When I divide and repot lilies in the spring, I do put a plant tab in each pot.

Jan

Hmmm, I usually answer posts but I guess I missed this last summer.

Do not use Miracle Grow directly in your pond! It is good to use it in buckets, tubs, etc. and put your floaters in for a few days. Wash it off thoroughly and return the plants to the pond.

Tomato Spikes do not harm fish. They work well on liliies because they have a higher phospherous content which helps promote blooming. I use one per lily every month during growing season. Some ponders use fruit tree spikes busted into smaller pieces. I admit that I have even used the Jobes spikes for houseplants. They seem to work particularly well on the marginal/bog plants.

Osmocote is good to use when you repot. Especially good for those ponders whose lilies are in deep large ponds and difficult to fertilize on a regular basis. Place it in the bottom of the pot and then fill with your dirt, etc. It will last all season

I am wondering if Osmocote/Osmocote Plus is a safe pond plant fertilizer for fish and cats? Cats drink from pond. At the moment I do NOT have fish, but when I get my algae problem under control, I was thinking of getting some.

Thanks
Patti
Eugene, Oregon

IMHO, a lot of ponders use Jobe's tomato spikes because the proportions 8-24-8 (nitrogen-phosphate-potash) are exactly the same as in Jobe's fertilizer spikes for aguatic plants and are probably more readily available than the aquatic plant spikes. Makes sense to me anyway.
Linda

I guess I'm the only silly one still using pond fertilizer tabs. Just haven't tried the tomato spikes because I wasn't sure how much to use. The Ag-Safe brand is cheap online, and they also sell once-a-year spikes. I am trying them for the first time this year. My lotuses are currently budding like crazy. I like that these contain trace nutrients as well as the big 3. (Jobes tomato spikes might contain them also; I haven't checked.)

I've also been experimenting with potassium nitrate (stump remover) and liquid iron (which contains other trace minerals as well). I figure these are for the foliage and underwater plants that I am using to keep the water pure for the fish and to compete with algae. I am careful to check nitrate levels the day after applying the potassium nitrate, and they have not been readable, let alone high.

Sharon

Any comments on miracle grow indoor plant spikes (6-12-6)?
I've put a spike in the lillys and in the rocks where plants are planted. I've noticed is the lily pads turning brown, I have some flowers that have bloomne and looks like a couple more in a few days. The impatiens, morning glories(growing but no blooms,yet), and twotypes of mint, all dong well. The WH are getting huge, but no blooms.
The irsi are okay, the pickeral rush varies between yelloish leaves to green leaves and has bloomed to some extent. They were doing this prior to the spikes - the spikes have only been in about 10 days.
Thanks

LOL I cna't imagine fertilizing water hyacinths....geesh I can't keep up with their growth as it is...threw away about 3 bushels away this week! You can almost watch them grow.

PJ

Where is the cheapest place to get AG Safe online?
Thanks
Patti

Just an FYI, but Job's also makes a fertilizer stake made specifically for pond plants.

Yep, it's pronounce kee-late.

I have some potash from a few years ago and was wondering if it would still be any good?

Just try it and see. Use it on a plant that you have more than one of and seperate it from the other. That way, you can compare the differences.

Happy ponding,
Scott

tootseug, I'm from Eugene too..
Darla

I thought I would revive this post from last year as I'm looking for a fertilizer for my lilies. So I'm going to try Jobe's tomato spikes. Seems a lot less expensive than pond tabs, and I can use them on my tomatoes too. (No more extra $ to fool around with!)

Bumping this up and wondering if you add fertilizer around this time of yr???