learn from my mistake--plants in the pond

[kc]

I bought a horsetail reed which I love and put it in a floating pond plant
bucket. I used the soil that came with the plant and some generic garden
soil I had on hand...never thinking that this plant could end up upside down
with all the soil floating around in my pond after a huge storm we had last
night.
Unfortunately, the soil had perlite in it (miniscule balls of styrofoam)
which are now floating all over the pond, stuck in the roots of the floating
plants, etc.
I'm trying to get it out the best I can with my net, but it's almost like
trying to net air--it goes right back through the holes...I'll probably be
seeing pieces years from now, and I'm just hoping the fish know better than
to eat it or have iron cast stomachs in case they do!Kirsten

[Roy]

Yep, one of the pitfalls of using lots of so called potting mixes etc
is the stuff has good soil for plantin gin ponds but the additive of
perlite makes it unsuitable. Have you tried the smaller mesh nets
typically used for aquariums........real cheap and they have them in
some 6 x 8 inch sizes. I use them to scoop out mulm etc out of varous
tanks I have around as well as surface junk like you mention, and they
work good.Even if the plant does not get turned over, the perlite is
still prone to getting in the pond.

If you want to try your hand at cleaning up a real mess in a large
pond of 1+ acre, you need to trey getting wood mulch out. I had wood
mulch in and around the planted section and the stream came up to the
point it backfilled into the pond and pond wa inundated with flood
waters. I had previously just put down 32 bags of shredded cypress
mulch about 2 weeks prior........what a mess..........U hgave since
replaced all wood type mulch with river gravel.......if that floats
away I quit!

On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 11:08:40 -0400, "kc" >
wrote:

>===<>I bought a horsetail reed which I love and put it in a floating pond plant
>===<>bucket. I used the soil that came with the plant and some generic garden
>===<>soil I had on hand...never thinking that this plant could end up upside down
>===<>with all the soil floating around in my pond after a huge storm we had last
>===<>night.
>===<> Unfortunately, the soil had perlite in it (miniscule balls of styrofoam)
>===<>which are now floating all over the pond, stuck in the roots of the floating
>===<>plants, etc.
>===<>I'm trying to get it out the best I can with my net, but it's almost like
>===<>trying to net air--it goes right back through the holes...I'll probably be
>===<>seeing pieces years from now, and I'm just hoping the fish know better than
>===<>to eat it or have iron cast stomachs in case they do!Kirsten
>===<>


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }<((((o> ~~~~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~~~~~ }<(((((o>

[Reel Mckoi]

"kc" > wrote in message
...
> I bought a horsetail reed which I love and put it in a floating pond plant
> bucket. I used the soil that came with the plant and some generic garden
> soil I had on hand...never thinking that this plant could end up upside
down
> with all the soil floating around in my pond after a huge storm we had
last
> night.
> Unfortunately, the soil had perlite in it (miniscule balls of styrofoam)
> which are now floating all over the pond, stuck in the roots of the
floating
> plants, etc.
> I'm trying to get it out the best I can with my net, but it's almost like
> trying to net air--it goes right back through the holes...I'll probably be
> seeing pieces years from now, and I'm just hoping the fish know better
than
> to eat it or have iron cast stomachs in case they do!Kirsten
====================================
You will have to use one of those very FINE nets to remove it. Pond stores
and some pet shops sell them.
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
My Pond Page http://tinyurl.com/cuq5b
~~~ }<((((o> ~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~ }<(((((o>

[~ janj JJsPond.us]

>>===<>I bought a horsetail reed which I love and put it in a floating pond plant
>>===<>bucket. this plant end up upside down with all the soil floating around in my pond
>>===<> Unfortunately, the soil had perlite in it !Kirsten

Kirsten, can you over ~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~flow the pond? If
so, use a sprayer (or leaf blower) on the other side to direct the perlite
to the low spot. ~ jan

[matrix j]

[~ janj JJsPond.us]

On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 15:15:23 -0700, ~ janj JJsPond.us
> wrote:

>>>===<>I bought a horsetail reed which I love and put it in a floating pond plant
>>>===<>bucket. this plant end up upside down with all the soil floating around in my pond
>>>===<> Unfortunately, the soil had perlite in it !Kirsten
>
>Kirsten, can you overflow the pond? If
>so, use a sprayer (or leaf blower) on the other side to direct the perlite
>to the low spot. ~ jan
>
Well that goes to show don't leave your cursor in the middle of post or
your sig. line might end up there. Sheesh ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

[kc]

Well, I think I'm going to have to combine Roy's and Jan's advice. I went
a got a finer gauge net at Petsmart and that's helping, but this stuff is
stuck in the roots of all my water plants, in between the rocks on the side
of the pond, etc....Jan if I "overflow" the pond do I have to remove the
fish or....
Kirsten
"Roy" > wrote in message
...
> Yep, one of the pitfalls of using lots of so called potting mixes etc
> is the stuff has good soil for plantin gin ponds but the additive of
> perlite makes it unsuitable. Have you tried the smaller mesh nets
> typically used for aquariums........real cheap and they have them in
> some 6 x 8 inch sizes. I use them to scoop out mulm etc out of varous
> tanks I have around as well as surface junk like you mention, and they
> work good.Even if the plant does not get turned over, the perlite is
> still prone to getting in the pond.
>
> If you want to try your hand at cleaning up a real mess in a large
> pond of 1+ acre, you need to trey getting wood mulch out. I had wood
> mulch in and around the planted section and the stream came up to the
> point it backfilled into the pond and pond wa inundated with flood
> waters. I had previously just put down 32 bags of shredded cypress
> mulch about 2 weeks prior........what a mess..........U hgave since
> replaced all wood type mulch with river gravel.......if that floats
> away I quit!
>
> On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 11:08:40 -0400, "kc" >
> wrote:
>
>>===<>I bought a horsetail reed which I love and put it in a floating pond
>>plant
>>===<>bucket. I used the soil that came with the plant and some generic
>>garden
>>===<>soil I had on hand...never thinking that this plant could end up
>>upside down
>>===<>with all the soil floating around in my pond after a huge storm we
>>had last
>>===<>night.
>>===<> Unfortunately, the soil had perlite in it (miniscule balls of
>>styrofoam)
>>===<>which are now floating all over the pond, stuck in the roots of the
>>floating
>>===<>plants, etc.
>>===<>I'm trying to get it out the best I can with my net, but it's almost
>>like
>>===<>trying to net air--it goes right back through the holes...I'll
>>probably be
>>===<>seeing pieces years from now, and I'm just hoping the fish know
>>better than
>>===<>to eat it or have iron cast stomachs in case they do!Kirsten
>>===<>
>
>
> ==============================================
> Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
> "The original frugal ponder"
> ~~~~ }<((((o> ~~~~~~ }<{{{{o> ~~~~~~~ }<(((((o>

[~ janj JJsPond.us]

>On Sat, 2 Jul 2005 11:53:36 -0400, "kc" > wrote:

>Well, I think I'm going to have to combine Roy's and Jan's advice. I went
>a got a finer gauge net at Petsmart and that's helping, but this stuff is
>stuck in the roots of all my water plants, in between the rocks on the side
>of the pond, etc....Jan if I "overflow" the pond do I have to remove the
>fish or....
>Kirsten

You shouldn't need to remove the fish, YMMV due to pond design. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

[Herb]

Go to Wal-Mart (or anny other store like that if you're a WM hater) and
buy a swimming pool leaf skimmer from the pool department. You can get
a skimmer with a 5 foot pole or get a skimmer "head" and a telescoping
pole if you need that much. You can dip out the perlite, leaves, even
sort of scoop at the bottom of the pond if you need to. They are quite
inexpensive, and work great. YMMV but it even scoops out lumps of
string algae that have broken loose from the sides of my little pond.
Good luck,
Herb


> Unfortunately, the soil had perlite in it (miniscule balls
> of styrofoam)