Water lilies do not 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 missing cut. It is not uncommon for there to be no flowering at all.

As beautiful as water lilies are, sometimes their growth needs to be restrained

Why should you cut water lilies?

A cut can be useful or even necessary for various reasons. Here are a few of them:

  • no flowering
  • other plants in the pond are overgrown
  • existing diseases
  • severe pest damage
  • remove frozen parts

Which should definitely be removed

You should definitely cut away yellowed leaves. Not only do they look ugly, they are also harbors for diseases. Rotten leaves should also be cut off. They also like to point to diseases. Such plant parts can be cut off all year round as soon as they are visible.

You should also remove leaves with strong signs of damage, which you think spoil the look, as well as dead plant parts. Old flowers are difficult to remove as they sink to the bottom immediately after flowering, where fruit develops.

The right period

Certain parts of the plant, such as excess leaves, leaves with signs of eating and dead leaves, are best cut off in the spring. March is the time for that. The pruning should be done by August at the latest. A cut at a later point in time can possibly lead to damage.

Thin out water lilies regularly

Proliferating water lilies should be pruned:

  • Reason 1: Otherwise, flowering will slow down due to lack of space
  • Reason 2: Other growths are displaced
  • Reason 3: Rhizomes cover the ground
  • as soon as the leaves lie on top of each other, are crowded together or protrude steeply
  • Device: pond scissors (has a long handle)
  • If necessary, fish out plant parts with a net

Cut off diseased plant parts

Even if your water lily is ailing, using scissors is not a mistake. This is often the aspect that can still save the plant. If your water lily is ill, such as leaf spot disease, the affected parts of the plant are cut off with scissors and disposed of.

tips

Even if the flowers look and smell great - they are not suitable as cut flowers for the vase. They would die quickly because their heyday is extremely short.

Category:

Vegetable garden