how NOT to plant lilies

[*muffin*]

I read this *wonderful* idea of how to plant lilies...
it said use a basket (like a clothes one with holes) line it with burlap,, &
plant the lily... it said it would give more 'air' to the roots & soil, so
you wouldn't get that yucky black smelly planting mix..

wellllllllllll.
seemed good idea.

till I was walking into the pond the other day. ( in case you don't
remember, I cannot SEE the bottom of the pond.so had NO clue). & stepped
into MUCKY thick stuff..........hmmm. I bent over,, picked up the 'pot'...
the burlap was almost GONE there was almost no dirt left IN the
container........ all was left was a BIG clump of rhizomes....plus some dirt
& gravel... all the rest had slid to the bottom of the pond....
arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

ok, now what... NO bottom drain, ( wish I read THIS group before putting in
my pond......but my luck the thing would drain for some reason)..

not sure...... but ~'maybe'~ this is the reason my pond is murky??? would
this ever clear up on its own?? do I NEED to figure out how to +suck+ it
out??

*sniffle*

oh & hey... the black stuff, it was supposed to prevent??? weelllll once I
stirred it all up,, my pond took on a NICE dark color....
hmmmph.

plus I KNOW it will get worse,, as my son is coming back for avisit next
week to put 4 strands of rope lights on the bottom of my pond.
(lovely,....... probably won't even see them)

Muffin > veryyyy bummed out........

[Matt Helliwell]

*muffin* wrote:

> I read this *wonderful* idea of how to plant lilies...
> it said use a basket (like a clothes one with holes) line it with burlap,, &
> plant the lily... it said it would give more 'air' to the roots & soil, so
> you wouldn't get that yucky black smelly planting mix..
>
> wellllllllllll.
> seemed good idea.
>
> till I was walking into the pond the other day. ( in case you don't
> remember, I cannot SEE the bottom of the pond.so had NO clue). & stepped
> into MUCKY thick stuff..........hmmm. I bent over,, picked up the 'pot'...
> the burlap was almost GONE there was almost no dirt left IN the
> container........ all was left was a BIG clump of rhizomes....plus some dirt
> & gravel... all the rest had slid to the bottom of the pond....
> arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
>
> ok, now what... NO bottom drain, ( wish I read THIS group before putting in
> my pond......but my luck the thing would drain for some reason)..
>
> not sure...... but ~'maybe'~ this is the reason my pond is murky??? would
> this ever clear up on its own?? do I NEED to figure out how to +suck+ it
> out??

I've had a few pots tip over etc into the pond, it all seems to settle
out and sit on the bottom after a few days. Personally I'd leave the
stuff on the pond as it'll give extra places for insects and what have
you to hide and breed.

Somebody will be along in a minute to tell you you should just plant the
lily in a big bucket....

--
Matt Helliwell
www.helliwell.me.uk
matt at helliwell dot me dot uk

[RichToyBox]

Several have used quilt batting in a bucket filter to remove fine material.
Set the pump on the bottom, and as the soil settles, and koi play in it, the
pump will move it to the batting for straining. If you leave it in the
pond, the koi will play in it continuously, and you will never see down into
the water.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html


"*muffin*" > wrote in message
...
> I read this *wonderful* idea of how to plant lilies...
> it said use a basket (like a clothes one with holes) line it with burlap,,
&
> plant the lily... it said it would give more 'air' to the roots & soil, so
> you wouldn't get that yucky black smelly planting mix..
>
> wellllllllllll.
> seemed good idea.
>
> till I was walking into the pond the other day. ( in case you don't
> remember, I cannot SEE the bottom of the pond.so had NO clue). & stepped
> into MUCKY thick stuff..........hmmm. I bent over,, picked up the 'pot'...
> the burlap was almost GONE there was almost no dirt left IN the
> container........ all was left was a BIG clump of rhizomes....plus some
dirt
> & gravel... all the rest had slid to the bottom of the pond....
> arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
>
> ok, now what... NO bottom drain, ( wish I read THIS group before putting
in
> my pond......but my luck the thing would drain for some reason)..
>
> not sure...... but ~'maybe'~ this is the reason my pond is murky??? would
> this ever clear up on its own?? do I NEED to figure out how to +suck+ it
> out??
>
> *sniffle*
>
> oh & hey... the black stuff, it was supposed to prevent??? weelllll once I
> stirred it all up,, my pond took on a NICE dark color....
> hmmmph.
>
> plus I KNOW it will get worse,, as my son is coming back for avisit next
> week to put 4 strands of rope lights on the bottom of my pond.
> (lovely,....... probably won't even see them)
>
> Muffin > veryyyy bummed out........
>
>

[BenignVanilla]

I am not sure what to snip, so I am top posting. If you don't like it,
*phbpt*.

Muff...I have started repotting everything I have in pebbles and rocks. I
don't use soil anymore except for my lily and my lotus. The lotus is getting
moved to it's own pond next year, and the lily will probably get replanted
in pebbles.

As for the dirt...I found once my clay settled, the only critter that could
stir enough up to foul the water was me. The fish stir it a bit, but it
settles within minutes. My VF is very shallow, a foot or so. Much falls out
there, so a few times I have vacu-sucked the much from there. I am slowly
removing it all from the pond.

My best advice for settelage...here it comes...STOP MESSING WITH THE DAMN
POND!!!

BV.

"*muffin*" > wrote in message
...
> I read this *wonderful* idea of how to plant lilies...
> it said use a basket (like a clothes one with holes) line it with burlap,,
&
> plant the lily... it said it would give more 'air' to the roots & soil, so
> you wouldn't get that yucky black smelly planting mix..
>
> wellllllllllll.
> seemed good idea.
>
> till I was walking into the pond the other day. ( in case you don't
> remember, I cannot SEE the bottom of the pond.so had NO clue). & stepped
> into MUCKY thick stuff..........hmmm. I bent over,, picked up the 'pot'...
> the burlap was almost GONE there was almost no dirt left IN the
> container........ all was left was a BIG clump of rhizomes....plus some
dirt
> & gravel... all the rest had slid to the bottom of the pond....
> arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
>
> ok, now what... NO bottom drain, ( wish I read THIS group before putting
in
> my pond......but my luck the thing would drain for some reason)..
>
> not sure...... but ~'maybe'~ this is the reason my pond is murky??? would
> this ever clear up on its own?? do I NEED to figure out how to +suck+ it
> out??
>
> *sniffle*
>
> oh & hey... the black stuff, it was supposed to prevent??? weelllll once I
> stirred it all up,, my pond took on a NICE dark color....
> hmmmph.
>
> plus I KNOW it will get worse,, as my son is coming back for avisit next
> week to put 4 strands of rope lights on the bottom of my pond.
> (lovely,....... probably won't even see them)
>
> Muffin > veryyyy bummed out........
>
>

[GaneaRowenna]

I agree with BV. I also use rocks and pebbles. Everything seems to be doing
great. I even have one lily that just sits on the bottom of the pond.
ShawnAnne
High Desert, zone 6


>Muff...I have started repotting everything I have in pebbles and rocks. I
>don't use soil anymore except for my lily and my lotus. The lotus is getting
>moved to it's own pond next year, and the lily will probably get replanted
>in pebbles.
>
>As for the dirt...I found once my clay settled, the only critter that could
>stir enough up to foul the water was me. The fish stir it a bit, but it
>settles within minutes. My VF is very shallow, a foot or so. Much falls out
>there, so a few times I have vacu-sucked the much from there. I am slowly
>removing it all from the pond.
>
>My best advice for settelage...here it comes...STOP MESSING WITH THE DAMN
>POND!!!
>
>BV.
>
>"*muffin*" > wrote in message
...
>> I read this *wonderful* idea of how to plant lilies...
>> it said use a basket (like a clothes one with holes) line it with burlap,,
>&
>> plant the lily... it said it would give more 'air' to the roots & soil, so
>> you wouldn't get that yucky black smelly planting mix..
>>
>> wellllllllllll.
>> seemed good idea.
>>
>> till I was walking into the pond the other day. ( in case you don't
>> remember, I cannot SEE the bottom of the pond.so had NO clue). & stepped
>> into MUCKY thick stuff..........hmmm. I bent over,, picked up the 'pot'...
>> the burlap was almost GONE there was almost no dirt left IN the
>> container........ all was left was a BIG clump of rhizomes....plus some
>dirt
>> & gravel... all the rest had slid to the bottom of the pond....
>> arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
>>
>> ok, now what... NO bottom drain, ( wish I read THIS group before putting
>in
>> my pond......but my luck the thing would drain for some reason)..
>>
>> not sure...... but ~'maybe'~ this is the reason my pond is murky??? would
>> this ever clear up on its own?? do I NEED to figure out how to +suck+ it
>> out??
>>
>> *sniffle*
>>
>> oh & hey... the black stuff, it was supposed to prevent??? weelllll once I
>> stirred it all up,, my pond took on a NICE dark color....
>> hmmmph.
>>
>> plus I KNOW it will get worse,, as my son is coming back for avisit next
>> week to put 4 strands of rope lights on the bottom of my pond.
>> (lovely,....... probably won't even see them)
>>
>> Muffin > veryyyy bummed out........
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
>
>

[Tom La Bron]

BV et al,

Remember me, I tried the rocks in the pot technique and my plants are not
doing worth a damn. The new filter I built this spring must be doing great,
because I would assume that the lilies are suppose to get their nutrient
from the water, but the new filter is doing such a great job there is
nothing left for the plants to use out of the water.

Draw your own conclusions, I don't think that I will have any plants to
divide and get rid for postage new spring, so I am either going back to my
clay garden soil or some of the aquatic soil which is not much more than
clay kitty litter.

I guess it all depends on your water chemistry.

Tom L.L.
==========================
"BenignVanilla" > wrote in message
...
> I am not sure what to snip, so I am top posting. If you don't like it,
> *phbpt*.
>
> Muff...I have started repotting everything I have in pebbles and rocks. I
> don't use soil anymore except for my lily and my lotus. The lotus is
getting
> moved to it's own pond next year, and the lily will probably get replanted
> in pebbles.
>
> As for the dirt...I found once my clay settled, the only critter that
could
> stir enough up to foul the water was me. The fish stir it a bit, but it
> settles within minutes. My VF is very shallow, a foot or so. Much falls
out
> there, so a few times I have vacu-sucked the much from there. I am slowly
> removing it all from the pond.
>
> My best advice for settelage...here it comes...STOP MESSING WITH THE DAMN
> POND!!!
>
> BV.
>
> "*muffin*" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I read this *wonderful* idea of how to plant lilies...
> > it said use a basket (like a clothes one with holes) line it with
burlap,,
> &
> > plant the lily... it said it would give more 'air' to the roots & soil,
so
> > you wouldn't get that yucky black smelly planting mix..
> >
> > wellllllllllll.
> > seemed good idea.
> >
> > till I was walking into the pond the other day. ( in case you don't
> > remember, I cannot SEE the bottom of the pond.so had NO clue). & stepped
> > into MUCKY thick stuff..........hmmm. I bent over,, picked up the
'pot'...
> > the burlap was almost GONE there was almost no dirt left IN the
> > container........ all was left was a BIG clump of rhizomes....plus some
> dirt
> > & gravel... all the rest had slid to the bottom of the pond....
> > arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
> >
> > ok, now what... NO bottom drain, ( wish I read THIS group before putting
> in
> > my pond......but my luck the thing would drain for some reason)..
> >
> > not sure...... but ~'maybe'~ this is the reason my pond is murky???
would
> > this ever clear up on its own?? do I NEED to figure out how to +suck+ it
> > out??
> >
> > *sniffle*
> >
> > oh & hey... the black stuff, it was supposed to prevent??? weelllll once
I
> > stirred it all up,, my pond took on a NICE dark color....
> > hmmmph.
> >
> > plus I KNOW it will get worse,, as my son is coming back for avisit next
> > week to put 4 strands of rope lights on the bottom of my pond.
> > (lovely,....... probably won't even see them)
> >
> > Muffin > veryyyy bummed out........
> >
> >
>
>

[bobkiely \(Remove NOSPAM\)]

Well dear muffin:
Maybe this will perk you up. When I planted the lily you sent me I put
planter mix in the bottom of a regular plastic pot (9-10" wide at the top
and maybe 12-14" high) and then put about 4 lbs. of lava rock on top of the
planter mix. Its in about 18" of water.

I now have 8 new leaves with another one opening today and just this morning
a lily flower opened! I'm so jazzed about that... Remember the raccoon
knocked off the bud that you sent with the plant? I hope you can get your
situation resolved.
BK
"*muffin*" > wrote in message
...
> I read this *wonderful* idea of how to plant lilies...
> it said use a basket (like a clothes one with holes) line it with burlap,,
&
> plant the lily... it said it would give more 'air' to the roots & soil, so
> you wouldn't get that yucky black smelly planting mix..
>
> wellllllllllll.
> seemed good idea.
>
> till I was walking into the pond the other day. ( in case you don't
> remember, I cannot SEE the bottom of the pond.so had NO clue). & stepped
> into MUCKY thick stuff..........hmmm. I bent over,, picked up the 'pot'...
> the burlap was almost GONE there was almost no dirt left IN the
> container........ all was left was a BIG clump of rhizomes....plus some
dirt
> & gravel... all the rest had slid to the bottom of the pond....
> arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
>
> ok, now what... NO bottom drain, ( wish I read THIS group before putting
in
> my pond......but my luck the thing would drain for some reason)..
>
> not sure...... but ~'maybe'~ this is the reason my pond is murky??? would
> this ever clear up on its own?? do I NEED to figure out how to +suck+ it
> out??
>
> *sniffle*
>
> oh & hey... the black stuff, it was supposed to prevent??? weelllll once I
> stirred it all up,, my pond took on a NICE dark color....
> hmmmph.
>
> plus I KNOW it will get worse,, as my son is coming back for avisit next
> week to put 4 strands of rope lights on the bottom of my pond.
> (lovely,....... probably won't even see them)
>
> Muffin > veryyyy bummed out........
>
>

[[email protected]]

fill your 100 gallon quarantine stock tank up with pond water.. add aeration. drain
the pond until the fish are nearly flopping. net and move them into the stock tank.
continue draining the pond. use plastic shovels (that wont pierce the liner) and
sweep the mud and muck into shovels and get it out of the pond. use a bit of water
to continue cleaning the bottom. (this is how the pros cleaned our two ponds at my
mothers this last spring). then refill with warmer water if possible, or fill as
much as you can with water matched to previous temperature, move the fish back in and
use lily pots with no drainage and good loam. even the fert tablets jammed down wont
leach out. I pick hand sized flat river rocks on the surface and fill in with pea
gravel to keep the koi from mucking around in the dirt. Ingrid

"*muffin*" > wrote:

>I read this *wonderful* idea of how to plant lilies...
>it said use a basket (like a clothes one with holes) line it with burlap,, &
>plant the lily... it said it would give more 'air' to the roots & soil, so
>you wouldn't get that yucky black smelly planting mix..
>
>wellllllllllll.
>seemed good idea.
>
>till I was walking into the pond the other day. ( in case you don't
>remember, I cannot SEE the bottom of the pond.so had NO clue). & stepped
>into MUCKY thick stuff..........hmmm. I bent over,, picked up the 'pot'...
>the burlap was almost GONE there was almost no dirt left IN the
>container........ all was left was a BIG clump of rhizomes....plus some dirt
>& gravel... all the rest had slid to the bottom of the pond....
>arrghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
>
>ok, now what... NO bottom drain, ( wish I read THIS group before putting in
>my pond......but my luck the thing would drain for some reason)..
>
>not sure...... but ~'maybe'~ this is the reason my pond is murky??? would
>this ever clear up on its own?? do I NEED to figure out how to +suck+ it
>out??
>
>*sniffle*
>
>oh & hey... the black stuff, it was supposed to prevent??? weelllll once I
>stirred it all up,, my pond took on a NICE dark color....
>hmmmph.
>
>plus I KNOW it will get worse,, as my son is coming back for avisit next
>week to put 4 strands of rope lights on the bottom of my pond.
>(lovely,....... probably won't even see them)
>
>Muffin > veryyyy bummed out........
>



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[REBEL JOE]

I plant mine in water basket wth only stone no dirt and they grow great.
The only thing I put in pond is M. of potash.


http://community.webtv.net/rebeljoe/POND

[Sue Walsh]

"*muffin*"
> I read this *wonderful* idea of how to plant lilies...
> it said use a basket (like a clothes one with holes) line it with burlap,, &
> plant the lily... it said it would give more 'air' to the roots & soil, so
> you wouldn't get that yucky black smelly planting mix..

Muffin,
I took the lily you sent me and had it planted (it was so big, and my
being new at this, I wasn't sure how to handle it), anyway the pro's
pottted it into a regular 5 gallon black landscape pot with bottom
holes. They put 4 layers of newspaper over bottom holes and used a
potting mixture made of 1/2 plain bagged top soil & 1/2 half builders
sand. (He said by the time the paper breaks down the roots will hold
the mix from going out of the small holes). Put a small layer of this
mix in bottom of pot and added the fert pellets near the bottom
covered with some more soil mix and planted the lily. On top they
added a 1/2" layer of sand to keep soil mix in the pot. No stones,
because it makes adding additional fert pellets very difficult later
on. this seems to work beautifly as they have huge terrific lilies in
there demo ponds. As to the mix if you have dirt you could mix it 1/2
with sand. Here we have all sand so we need to buy topsoil. I added
two criscross plastic coated wire handles to this pot for ease of
handling. Just another way to pot lilies, there are many that work.

BTW...I had potted all my lilies into dishpans with no bottom holes,
using Aqua soil, topped with stones. VERY EXPENSIVE, very heavy,
stones made it difficult to add fert pellets when refertlizing
(especially since I couldn't see down more than 6" in my pond, so I
couldn't see the pots). Also like you said it makes smelly mix. I
will be redoing all of mine with the above method next spring.

Sue W

[BenignVanilla]

"Tom La Bron" > wrote in message
...
> BV et al,
>
> Remember me, I tried the rocks in the pot technique and my plants are not
> doing worth a damn. The new filter I built this spring must be doing
great,
> because I would assume that the lilies are suppose to get their nutrient
> from the water, but the new filter is doing such a great job there is
> nothing left for the plants to use out of the water.
>
> Draw your own conclusions, I don't think that I will have any plants to
> divide and get rid for postage new spring, so I am either going back to my
> clay garden soil or some of the aquatic soil which is not much more than
> clay kitty litter.
>
> I guess it all depends on your water chemistry.
>
<snip>

Seems like the only constant that is universal in ponding is, "There are no
constants in ponding." *laugh* MY plants are going crazy potted in stones. A
couple of my non-pond plants, like the $2 grasses I got from the supermarket
have massive roots jutting into the pond, and they are just stuffed between
two boulders.

BV.

[~ jan JJsPond.us]

On Fri, 08 Aug 2003 21:50:12 -0500, mad > wrote:

>get k30a or jan--i forget which it was--to tell you about the manure she put
>in her lilies and the green water that was created...
>mad

Oh yeah, that was I, if you want to get rid of your murky green water, just
add a little manure to the potting soil. You'll have the brightest green
pond... you'll have to wear shades. ;o)

Only in my case I started with a perfectly clear pond and using soil from
the garden that DS had already dug steer manure into. I thought my filter
could handle it.... and truthfully it did, at night. In the wee hours the
open cell foam actually sieved the suspended algae out, but come sun up I
was back to BRIGHT green. Removed pots, replaced soil to stuff that didn't
have manure, added lots of BZT and within a few days had it clear again.
~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

[Kevin Carbis]

Muffin,

sorry for your troubles. In my previous problem I had a similar
problem due to racoons tossing the lillies while fishing. Like you I
didn't have a bottom drain in the pond. I attached one of those tetra
retrofit bottom drains to a pump and sucked all the muck out that way.
Once I was finished, I attached the bottom drain to a piece of
flexible black PVC and installed it permanently in the pond. I still
had the Racoons but at least the bottom drain was in to pick up the
muck. The retrofit bottom drain is no where near as nice as a built
in bottom drain ( I have two in my new pond ) but if you can hide the
piping they work quite well.

Good luck,
Kevin