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Getting the Right Soil
It is important to start with proper soil. The basic food for both Hardy and Tropical water lilies is good, firm garden loam which you should enrich in ways which we will discuss later. Starting with a poor soil, and trying to build it up with fertilizer, does not work well. In light or weak soil, regardless of how well fertilized, water lily growth will go into foliage.
Swamp muck, although may look black and rich enough to grow hair on an egg, will not do. Actually, there is very little nutritive material in muck. What there is will very likely be in the form of only partially decomposed vegetation. As decomposition is completed in the pool, gases are produced and the muck turns sour, fouling the water and creating an unhealthy environment for goldfish.
River mud cannot be used for the same reason. Leafmold, although containing plant food, will foul a pool as it decomposes. Heavy clays are very good for water lilies since they contain potash. However, clays cannot be used unless well mixed with lighter soil or sand. It is difficult for lily roots to penetrate solid clay and absorb food from it.
Repotting and Danger Signs
Most gardeners look upon Tropical water lilies as annuals. Gardeners let the flowers die in winter and order new plants in spring. A few take some of their Tropicals indoors at the end of the season and propagate them during the winter. In either case, Tropical water lilies must be set out anew in the pool each summer. Additionally, they must be set out, of course, in a fresh supply of soil and fertilizer.
Hardy water lilies may be left in the pool from one year to the next but gardeners must remember to occasionally repot. A Hardy lily planted in barely a cubic foot of soil and fertilizer may have to have its food supply replenished even after one season. If planted in something more capacious, say a container holding a cubic foot and a half or more of soil, a Hardy lily probably will do well for two or three seasons -- even longer -- without a change of soil. It is good to lift the Hardies up every three or four years whether they need it or not. It is also important to prune Tropical water lilies down a bit, as well as trim a few of the growing points from the rootstocks.