To Compost or Not to Compost

I am just finished making my new pond and an now considering starting to
move my plants into it. Currently they are potted in baskets with
aquatic compost. But this tends to leach out and gather on the bottom of
the pond. I was wondering if I can plant my plants just into pea single
and they will still do ok. I have several water lilies and some water
hawthorn.

thanks

Paul

use plastic water pots with no holes, use loam, top with gravel.
pea gravel doesnt usually work, of course bare root will work in a veggie filter tho.

water lilies dont do well in pea gravel, dont do all that well in veggie filters
either. Ingrid

Paul wrote:
I am just finished making my new pond and an now considering starting to
move my plants into it. Currently they are potted in baskets with
aquatic compost. But this tends to leach out and gather on the bottom of
the pond. I was wondering if I can plant my plants just into pea single
and they will still do ok. I have several water lilies and some water
hawthorn.

thanks

Paul



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That sounds good, Do they still try and jump pot?

Paul


wrote:
use plastic water pots with no holes, use loam, top with gravel.
pea gravel doesnt usually work, of course bare root will work in a veggie filter tho.

water lilies dont do well in pea gravel, dont do all that well in veggie filters
either. Ingrid

Paul wrote:
I am just finished making my new pond and an now considering starting to
move my plants into it. Currently they are potted in baskets with
aquatic compost. But this tends to leach out and gather on the bottom of
the pond. I was wondering if I can plant my plants just into pea single
and they will still do ok. I have several water lilies and some water
hawthorn.

thanks

Paul



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
sign up: http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?...s=Group+lookup
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan

Paul wrote:

That sounds good, Do they still try and jump pot?

As long as they're getting good sunlight and nutrients - which they tend to
get in garden ponds - they're going to jump pots. That's why I ended up
always planting bare root - it makes dividing really simple :-) I just
wire the tuber to a rock. Others have had too much trouble with fish
nibbling the plants for that, though.
--
derek

Geez Ingrid is everything you post wrong?

In "Encyclopedia of the water lily" by Charles O Masters
it's suggested you use manure, not loam as loam has very
close to zero nutriative value. You'll still need to augment
with fertilizer spikes.

Loam. Yeee-ow. (shakes head)

--
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1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home pages: http://rs79.vrx.net
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Richard Sexton wrote:

Geez Ingrid is everything you post wrong?

In "Encyclopedia of the water lily" by Charles O Masters
it's suggested you use manure, not loam as loam has very
close to zero nutriative value. You'll still need to augment
with fertilizer spikes.

Loam. Yeee-ow. (shakes head)

Just because it was in a book doesn't make it true, any more than if it's on
a .edu site :-)

I completely stopped potting lilies. The only reason for soil of any kind
is if you have fish that keep nibbling on their roots. Then minimally
nutrient rich is good. Clay works because it actually binds some of the
nutrients, so it doesn't release them into the water as manure does. The
only problem with pea gravel is not that it doesn't provide nutrients -
it's just an almighty pain to try dividing a lily whose roots have grown
around a couple of kilos of gravel! The only thing wrong with Ingrid's
suggestion, ime, is that topping the soil with gravel still ends up with
the roots all around the gravel. It's only there to keep the koi out of
the plant, and I'd use much larger stones (after all, koi can move pea
gravel, anyway).

Manure is a really, really, stupid thing to add to a pond with fish. Fish
provide plenty of their own manure. The last thing you ever want to do in
a fish pond, if you can help it, is to add fertilizer. You want the plants
to take up as much of the nutrients as possible, so that the algae doesn't
get it and so that the fish don't have ammonia/nitrite problems.

I fasten a 6" lily tuber to a rock in Spring and drop them to 4-5'. By
August, they get so large that the tuber is around 18" and the foliage is
so bouyant the rock's a foot off the pond bottom.
--
derek

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
Geez Ingrid is everything you post wrong?

In "Encyclopedia of the water lily" by Charles O Masters
it's suggested you use manure, not loam as loam has very
close to zero nutriative value. You'll still need to augment
with fertilizer spikes.

Loam. Yeee-ow. (shakes head)
=====================
I use rich topsoil that collects from my neighbor's pasture in the runoff
area on my property. It settles there free for the tanking. I add a broken
Jobe's Rose spike and they flower from mid spring to first good frost. :-)
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
*Note: There are two Koi-Lo's on rec.ponds.*
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:27:29 +0000 (UTC), (Richard
Sexton) wrote:

Geez Ingrid is everything you post wrong?

In "Encyclopedia of the water lily" by Charles O Masters
it's suggested you use manure,

Yeee-ow, you use manure, you get green pond. Been there, done that. My
ponds were ready for St. Pat's day that year. I'd only redone 2 pots,
pulled them out, used my unadulterated sandy soil, clear pond in 2 days,
thanks to a good filter. ~ jan ;o)


~ jan/WA
Zone 7a

"Paul" wrote in message
...
That sounds good, Do they still try and jump pot?
================
Yes! Most pond plants will spread rapidly and "jump their pots" in time.
Others drop so many seeds you'll see them coming up in other pots in your
pond.
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
*Note: There are two Koi-Lo's on the Aquaria groups.*
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

well I got some of those palm sized river rocks in there with gravel around, but yes,
eventually I find them reaching over the rim. And I have a large short black tub for
the one lily I have covers most of the pond. I think it is 24 inch diameter. this
Texas dawn is huge. http://weloveteaching.com/mypond/7-15-2003f.jpg
it covers most of 1/2 of the pond. it sits on a ledge.
Ingrid

Paul wrote:

That sounds good, Do they still try and jump pot?

Paul


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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http://weloveteaching.com/puregold/
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www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I receive no compensation for running the Puregold list or Puregold website.
I do not run nor receive any money from the ads at the old Puregold site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zone 5 next to Lake Michigan