By Bob Temper

A couple of years ago the SLWGS received a complimentary Thermoplanter from Black River Nursery LLC. It was offered to the membership in an auction. Being a person that is willing to try something new I outbid Joan Woelfel for it.  The next year as soon as tropicals became available in the area, Elaine and I picked out a Mrs. G. C. Hitchcock night blooming water lily for the grand experiment.  Following the simple directions, we replanted the lily in the Thermoplanter, attached the membrane cover, placed it in the center of the pond and plugged it in. 

The idea behind the planter is that if the pot and soil were warm ( a micro climate) the plant would grow in a pond with colder water temperatures thus expanding the growing season by as much as six weeks.  The Thermoplanter only uses 70 watts of electricity and it is thermostatically controlled so it only costs a few bucks a month to operate. 

It took a while for the replanted lily to adjust and then it just took off.  From the day (maybe I should say night for a night bloomer) of the first bloom until late fall we had at least one bloom every day.  The 6 to 8 inch vivid pink flowers open in the late evening and stay open until almost noon the next day. Needless to say we were quite happy with the flower and figured the Thermoplanter had something to do with the success. 

Toward the end of the season I talked with Mark Prescott, the developer of Thermoplanter about the performance of the unit.  He told me that if I wanted to I could probably over winter the tropical lily in my pond.  I should simply cut the foliage off at the crown after it had stopped blooming and leave the planter at the bottom of my pond.  Of course I had to leave it plugged in until the next spring.  I was supposed to repot it early in the spring, selecting  the best looking nodule to replant in the Thermoplanter.

I followed the directions in preparation for the winter.  The pond and raceway froze over for the better part of two weeks in late January so I figured there was slim probability that the tropical lily would make it.    I never really gave much thought about when I should be trying to replant the lily and all of a sudden I noticed numerous sprouts of new leaves. By the end of April when John Nies cleaned the pond, there were healthy leaves on the pond surface.   I figured it was too late to replant so I left it go.  This year we have had from two to five blooming flowers every day all summer.  We try to fertilize our lilies, both the hardy and tropical, every two weeks during the summer to stimulate flowering. 

This year I know there is no way for the tropical not to be replanted for next year.  The root development in the Thermoplanter is so thick I have trouble finding a place to insert the fertilizer tablets.

Our pond is roughly 21’X 14’.  There are numerous hardy lilies in traditional plantings in the pond.  It is safe to say that the foliage from that one Mrs. G.C. Hitchcock tropical lily covers at least 50% of the pond surface.  The attractive, spiky leaves which grow to 12” in diameter stretch out a good 6’ from the Thermoplanter.   We have been very happy with our experiment and the fish seem to be quite content as well.

I do not know if the Thermoplanter is carried in any of the local shops. The web site for Black River Nursey, LLC is www.thermoplanter.com and the contact is Mark Prescott at markp@thermplanter.com , 518-733-6395.

The Thermoplanter is available on the internet at www.lilypons.com. or 1-800-999-LILY.  When you get to their website type in Thermoplanter in the search area at the top right side of the page. The cost was listed at $ 49 at last viewing.