Growing Daylilies Together

Forgive me if I'm posting this in the wrong forum. The garden projects seem to be more ornamental & since I've heard that a few nurseries have used 'pools' to water their dls, thought it would be best here.

I'm wanting to build mini pools for my dls that are in containers for them to wick up moisture when needed. I read of a nursery, I believe in GA, that did this & can't find where I read it. Living in central FL, I'm really concerned that I won't be able to keep up with the watering in the heat of summer. I would also like to take advantage of the rain & let it collect in these pools & have the dls wick it up as needed. We are on watering restrictions in my area.

Please help me figure out the pros & cons to building these. I'm mostly concerned if this will be too much water if we get those daily afternoon thunderstorms in summer. I know dls love water but will this be too much for me here? Will it cause crown rot with too much water & heat? Secondly, mosquito breeding grounds, will those mosquito dunks work in those pools? They advertise that it is safe for wildlife, people & pets so I would assume plants could fall into that realm.

Once I get past the pros & cons, I would like some ideas on how to go about building them. I'm simply thinking of using 2 x 6 box forms & finding old pool liners people are throwing away or selling on craigslist. ALL ideas are welcome & if you can reference me to someone that has done this would be great!

Check out Tommy Madox website
www.tomsdaylilies.com/flowers/Water%20beds%20feb%2027%202010.htm

I'm sure he would be willing to talk about his "waterbeds".

Thanks, Julia. I just sent him an email. It didn't occur to me until just now to see if he's a member of this site I'll check & maybe I can get him to respond here in case anyone else wants the info too.

lala, I am interested also. Please ask him two things. Does he use anything to kill the mosquito larvae, and does he ever have a problem with algae (does he use algaecide)

Just read a post from Tommy on the Robin and he uses the donuts. I use them in my pools where I keep extra waterlilies when I divide those from my ponds and hold them for sale. They do work. I have a corgi dog and some kitties that will sometimes drink from there and so will birds. It does not harm them to do so.

Thanks, Donna, it's always good to get the piece of mind that those dunks are safe. I did get some really good info from Tom via email, what a great guy!

There are so many pros to doing this there is no question it is going to happen. No overhead watering unless it rains (rust ), when it does rain it will accumulate & recycle , which will save money on the waterbill , AND time. Love it! Surprising this isn't more of a common practice?!

Now getting the design down. My situation is different than Tom's, I'm not a nursery. I'm currently living in a rental home so need to be very mindful of the owner's grass & property. I'm thinking of building little table boxes so I can get them off the ground. If I make them small enough to say hold 8-10 pots each, I think they would be fairly easy to move if needed. Tom says we only need to keep 1" of water in there so I really don't think weight will be too much of an issue as long as I can drain some of the water out when it rains too much. Tom also gave a great idea on how to set up the drain too.

I would love to hear more about how the daylily pools have worked out for those that have them. It's definitely something I would consider myself as I am TIRED of watering!

Becki