clay/dirt bottom?

What about using clay/sand in the bottom of the pond over the liner
and planting pond plants directly in the mud. No pots and lots of
places for water creatures to live. It would be muddy water after a
rain, but it should settle back down and be clear...right? I couldn't
have a lot of water movement or it would never be clear. 1/2 of the
pond (deep end) could be just liner and the other 1/2 of the pond
could have clay. This way I could have some filtration and movement
at the deep end with out stiring up the shallower end too much. Any
thoughts on this?

Thanks for letting me think out loud

Tracey

You might be able to do that with washed sand or gravel and still see
the fish. Goldfish and koi are bottom feeders and will stir the
bottom if it will move. Mine take anything smaller than egg size
stones out of the lily pots, so they can dig the dirt out of the pots.
Lily pot dirt changes the color of the water.

Regards,

Hal


On 29 Nov 2003 18:34:19 -0800, (Tracey) wrote:

What about using clay/sand in the bottom of the pond over the liner
and planting pond plants directly in the mud. No pots and lots of
places for water creatures to live. It would be muddy water after a
rain, but it should settle back down and be clear...right? I couldn't
have a lot of water movement or it would never be clear. 1/2 of the
pond (deep end) could be just liner and the other 1/2 of the pond
could have clay. This way I could have some filtration and movement
at the deep end with out stiring up the shallower end too much. Any
thoughts on this?

If you don't want to deal with pots, just anchor the plants with a cement
block or rock. Bad bacterias love clay/sand on the bottoms of a pond. The
reason why many of us recommend pots/baskets (even plants anchored by rocks
in the pot/basket) is because these pond plants grow like weeds. To give
you an idea after 3 months my pond looked like it had been there a very
long time. It is much easier to divide a plant out of the water, and in my
case, up on a work table. ~ jan

See my ponds thru the seasons and/or my filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

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

On 29 Nov 2003 18:34:19 -0800, (Tracey) wrote:

What about using clay/sand in the bottom of the pond over the liner
and planting pond plants directly in the mud. No pots and lots of
places for water creatures to live. It would be muddy water after a
rain, but it should settle back down and be clear...right? I couldn't
have a lot of water movement or it would never be clear. 1/2 of the
pond (deep end) could be just liner and the other 1/2 of the pond
could have clay. This way I could have some filtration and movement
at the deep end with out stiring up the shallower end too much. Any
thoughts on this?

Thanks for letting me think out loud

Tracey

I wanted to make the edges of the pond natural looking (plants on the
edge growing into the water). As for fish stiring things up...I was
thinking of going fishless

~ jan JJsPond.us wrote in message . ..
If you don't want to deal with pots, just anchor the plants with a cement
block or rock. Bad bacterias love clay/sand on the bottoms of a pond. The
reason why many of us recommend pots/baskets (even plants anchored by rocks
in the pot/basket) is because these pond plants grow like weeds. To give
you an idea after 3 months my pond looked like it had been there a very
long time. It is much easier to divide a plant out of the water, and in my
case, up on a work table. ~ jan

See my ponds thru the seasons and/or my filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

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

On 29 Nov 2003 18:34:19 -0800, (Tracey) wrote:

What about using clay/sand in the bottom of the pond over the liner
and planting pond plants directly in the mud. No pots and lots of
places for water creatures to live. It would be muddy water after a
rain, but it should settle back down and be clear...right? I couldn't
have a lot of water movement or it would never be clear. 1/2 of the
pond (deep end) could be just liner and the other 1/2 of the pond
could have clay. This way I could have some filtration and movement
at the deep end with out stiring up the shallower end too much. Any
thoughts on this?

Thanks for letting me think out loud

Tracey

I still wouldn't plant them in dirt/clay at all. Just wedge them amongst
the rocks. Plenty of dirt will blow in on its own. (Well at least it does
here, wetter areas would get less. ;o) ~ jan

On 2 Dec 2003 16:09:32 -0800, (Tracey) wrote:

I wanted to make the edges of the pond natural looking (plants on the
edge growing into the water). As for fish stiring things up...I was
thinking of going fishless

~ jan JJsPond.us wrote in message . ..
If you don't want to deal with pots, just anchor the plants with a cement
block or rock. Bad bacterias love clay/sand on the bottoms of a pond. The
reason why many of us recommend pots/baskets (even plants anchored by rocks
in the pot/basket) is because these pond plants grow like weeds. To give
you an idea after 3 months my pond looked like it had been there a very
long time. It is much easier to divide a plant out of the water, and in my
case, up on a work table. ~ jan

See my ponds thru the seasons and/or my filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

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

On 29 Nov 2003 18:34:19 -0800, (Tracey) wrote:

What about using clay/sand in the bottom of the pond over the liner
and planting pond plants directly in the mud. No pots and lots of
places for water creatures to live. It would be muddy water after a
rain, but it should settle back down and be clear...right? I couldn't
have a lot of water movement or it would never be clear. 1/2 of the
pond (deep end) could be just liner and the other 1/2 of the pond
could have clay. This way I could have some filtration and movement
at the deep end with out stiring up the shallower end too much. Any
thoughts on this?

Thanks for letting me think out loud

Tracey

See my ponds thru the seasons and/or my filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

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