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Flowering water lilly

Onoma1

Onoma1

Member
Joined
12 Aug 2018
Messages
570
Location
West Yorkshire
I have had a Pygmaea Helvola (Dwarf water lily) in one of my aquariums since about 2019.

It's fed (capsules, liquid feed etc) has ample light and it's leaves are a deep green. It's not, however, been able to build a tubor and I cannot think of a way of giving it a dormancy period. It has about 10 leaves and covers an area about a 30cm by 30cms.

My concern is that I cannot get it to flower.

Given that one of the primary reasons that I bought this was because my wife loves the flowers, this is an issue.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get this to flower?
 
It doesn't need any dormancy in a temperate and subtropical climate they are all evergreen if it doesn't freeze... Depending on the light they grow exclusively in submerged form or in a floating emerged form. Indoors under natural light they will revert back and forth in both forms submerged in the winter and floating in the summer.

According to the bulb size they need some kind of maturity, rather young lilies with a small tuber don't flower immediately it takes them a few seasons to build up energy and grow a larger tuber. How fast this will depend on light intensity and nutrition.

If it doesn't receive natural daylight it might be difficult for it to flower, thus the statement ample light is a somewhat vague description. These plants are definitively depending on direct sunshine to flower abundantly...

I have managed to get 2 lilies to flower indoors one is in a naturally lit low-tech aquarium it receives 0 artificial light for the last few years it stands under a skylight in the roof as if it is an indoor pond. I planted it in a very young state in 2015
DSCF8265.jpg

and it took a few years to mature till 2020 for the first flower to appear.
www.ukaps.org

The Stove & Its Flowering Anubias.

Just been flicking through this again...almost forgotten what a great journal it is :) Thank you Tim!! :) This tank is still running strong.. Actualy the longer it takes the stronger it runs. And i'm trying to pimp it with emersed growth in planters. But i haven't updated on it for a while...
www.ukaps.org
After that, she flowers each summer again... :)

The second one was in a high-tech aquarium and according to factory specs it had over >7680 lumens of LED light and it flowered in November.
www.ukaps.org

I think i am in love..

Hi Marcel, WOW :woot::woot::woot: Its going to look exquisite ;)
www.ukaps.org
Tho! She also recieved some natural light from an east-facing window, most remarkable, lily flowers close at dusk and open again late in the next morning. This lily closed her flower when dusk fell outdoors around 5 o clock in the afternoon while the lights above it were still at 100% till 7 o clock in the evening. This says to me she ignored the LED lights, they seemingly are extremely light-sensitive and reacted more to the little natural light from the window than she did to the artificial light. So I'm not 100% sure if the almost 8000 artificial lumens I gave her were enough. But I've seen other lilies flower in aquariums without knowing the light specs.

I still have a 3th lily indoors that also receives natural light only for the past few years. She floats happily in the summer but yet didn't flower... But this is also still maturing from her baby state. :) I'm not sure if she ever will, only time will tell...

So my best guess in your case is since you bought an N. pygmaea helvola in a pond shop she is probably mature enough to flower and however ample you think the light is, it yet isn't enough. :) Ramp it up! If you are 100% sure the light is enough, then be patient... But i can't give you a definitive number.
 
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I’m really appreciating this thread since I’m about to redo a small tank and thinking about going all out to try and get a lily to thrive and flower. Will turn everything up to 11 and see what happens!

I know most plants are not too fussy about water parameters, but any thoughts? I can go moderately hard tap water or some variant of rain water.
 
Thanks everyone for the really helpful suggestions.
It's in Evolution Aqua Aquascaper 120 with a Chihiros WRGB 60cm light (4500 lumens) hanging about 5 cm above it. The tank is heavily planted with a sand and gravel cap underneath which are bags of John Innes. Its got co2 fitted, however, the plants seem to be growing well without it.

I have been trying different light levels, however, noticed that extended periods seemed to turn the leaves red. I assume this means that the plant was getting too much light. I settled on a eight hour period. I will see if I can reduce the intensity but increase the duration significantly. I will also up the nutrition and add co2 to keep it in balance.

If an improvement in conditions doesn't work then I will try the tough love approach and prune it back to force it into the reproduction when under stress mode!
Like @aec34 I am interested in the water conditions. I don't think the parameters matter much (these lily's thrive in soft and hard water across the UK) but wondered if temperature may be important?

I will keep you informed of progress...
 
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