# Water Lily Bulbs?



## Eric580 (Dec 14, 2013)

Hello, I bought some water lily bulbs from Petsmart and they are floating in my ten gallon since they wouldn't stay under the gravel. How do I grow these? There is plenty of light and fertilizer. Thanks, Eric :fish-in-bowl:


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

You'll have to bury them and hope they sprout. I've grown water lilies from PetsMart from bulbs and half of the bulbs in the package didn't sprout, they just rotted away. As the bulbs soak up water, they'll stay buried a lot better.

Keep in mind, with lilies, that they will grow submersed for a little bit, but then they'll put pads up to the surface. This can be cool for beginners, but it chokes off the light from getting to anything else in the tank. If you trim the runners so they don't reach the surface, the plant will continue to grow submerged leaves.


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## Eric580 (Dec 14, 2013)

Thanks! Will it bloom if I trim the lily pads?


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

No, I believe it will not bloom unless it has perfect conditions - surface pads, high light, injected CO2, root fertilizer tabs, etc., but feel free to research for yourself. I've never had mine bloom.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Not sure, but don't think that all bloom. They won't bloom underwater so high light or CO2 shouldn't make much of a diff, although couldn't hurt. There may be some "tricks" to get them to bloom. I know many trim them often to sort of train the plant to keep it's leaves off of the surface. I was able to do this with mine. New leaves would only take about a day and a half to get to the surface, but when you trim them they stop that sprint.


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## Eric580 (Dec 14, 2013)

Thanks for the help! The bulbs arestarting to swell and are very firm (not mushy and moldy).


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