how to flower my waterlilies?

by malavika
(Bangalore, India)

I have yellow waterlilies growing for about 3 years now.
Unfortunately they have not flowered yet. Everytime I give a fertiliser feed, repot, spray with growth mix available in the local market, the number of leaves increase 2-3 times and also the size of the leaves increase.
What should I do to get my waterlilies flower? I stay in Bangalore, India.

Doug says - I'm assuming this is a tropical lily and you have it in full sunshine. Excessive growth in any plant at the expense of flowering usually means excessive nitrogen feeding. Nitrogen is like gasoline in a car - you give a car a lot of gas, it goes quickly but you can't steer it as easily. Give a plant a lot of nitrogen, it goes quickly but doesn't flower well.

Tropical lilies are indeed big feeders but if this were mine, I'd be backing off the feeding a bit. Make sure the soil is a good heavy clay, don'transplant or spray and feed once a season to get it into bloom.

Good luck