It's still way too cold here to be splashing around in my pond, but last fall I noticed several of my plants - rush pickerel, water lilies and irises - are more than a little "too big for their (proverbial) britches". Any experienced ponders out there with tips on when/how to divide? (And for the newbies who are needing pond plants this spring, this is gonna leave me with waaaayyy too many plants, so stay tuned for future announcements of plants to trade..)
Dividing pond plants
go_vols,
I just separate mine anytime they seem to need it. I remove them from their pots wash off all the dirt, separate and re-pot. I've read some posts that say spring and fall is best but if they look and feel root bound I repot. Maybe we can trade some lilies in the spring. I should have Aurora, Lemon Chiffon and Perry's Baby Red starts.
T
April is the dividing time for me..by then, the water is warmer, the fish are stirring, and it's spring clean-up. I've also starting using hole-less pots or either line pots with a plastic bag...sure helps keep the pond cleaner. I should have starts to trade from Texas Dawn, Attraction, Holliander,Virginalis, pickeral weed and maybe parrots feather.
Jean
We do the same here, in April. Clean up the muck from the bottom; clean and divide the plants. For iris, umbrella palm, pickeral we hose them off and usually have to chop them with a machete. Those roots get huge and tough! We have several hardies, and hopefully we will have a few tropicals that survived the winter in the greenhouse.
It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it! :)
Becky G.
Becky, I'm glad to hear that unbrella palm will winter outside. I am in zone 7 and was afraid to take a chance...the thing is now over 7'tall and is in a pot of water in my foyer. It looks rather nice tho. I'll have to look for the machete because it has completely filled it's 3 gal. pot!
Jean
Oh, Jean! I kept the umbrella in the greenhouse. I don't think it would survive a zone 6 winter, and zone 7 isn't much milder. Sorry if that mislead you!
Ours has filled a three gallon pot, and we have smaller pots of it growing too. The big one weighs so much I can't lift it! I know a machete sounds brutal, but after trying to separate some of these plants with a knife I just wore myself out!
Becky G.
Minnie
Feb 15, 2001
Hi Go!
I just posted about pond plants for sase! Mine met a tragic end last summer. Once you have them they grow like weeds!
Hopefully we can "do business" come Spring.....if it ever gets here.
Minnie