lillies

wife has just bought some lillies for the pond but the instructions say to
remove the fish etc and that the plants are not suitable for koi carp. why
is this?

also i am loath to put the plants in the pond as it is currently host to a
load of frogspawn, can i start the lillies off in a bucket then transfer the
plant basket to the pond at a later date?

Koi are prone to nibbling on lilys or any other water plant, so they
may eat off the new shoots and turn the pots over and make a mess,
however koi and lilys seem to be one of those things that your damed
if you do and damed if you don't. True koi keepers interested in fish
rarely if ever keep plants and fish together. Water gardeners are
known to keep em both together and just bite the bullet at upturned
pots etc and plant affictionadoes tend to keep only plants.....

There is many ways to keep lilys in a koi pond and keep them
relatively safe from being turned over or eaten. It is possible to
start em in a bucket and then place them in the pond later
on.....Frogspawn is not going to hurt a thing with lilys, and they
seem to go hand in hand as well.

You can place large pebbles on the potted lilys soil or a mesh
netting around the pot, thus keeping koi from picking and rooting in
the dirt in the pot. Plants help to utilize nitrogen and other
nutrients in the water and knock back on algae growth.

Personal opinion here, Koi / Goldies and most any other fish go hand
in hand with aquatic plants and any so called problems are usually
easy to work around.


On Sun, 01 Apr 2007 17:27:23 GMT, "STEPHEN WHITE"
wrote:

wife has just bought some lillies for the pond but the instructions say to
remove the fish etc and that the plants are not suitable for koi carp. why
is this?

also i am loath to put the plants in the pond as it is currently host to a
load of frogspawn, can i start the lillies off in a bucket then transfer the
plant basket to the pond at a later date?




-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

koi will uproot the lily looking for worms and such in the mud. however, if the fish
are fed well they wont. it helps to put river rocks (smooth flat large rocks) on the
top of the mud and infill with smaller pea gravel. my koi only go after leaves that
are over the hill and beginning to rot becoming hosts to little bugs. I dont toss
the food on top of my lily since the koi will launch themselves up onto the leaves to
get the food. if you go down to the second picture from the bottom you will see my
one big lily in the pond http://weloveteaching.com/mypond/changes/changes2.htm
there are 22 koi in that pond .... and that lily that this last summer got so huge I
did have to pull it out, cut it up and repot it. Ingrid

"STEPHEN WHITE" wrote:

wife has just bought some lillies for the pond but the instructions say to
remove the fish etc and that the plants are not suitable for koi carp. why
is this?

also i am loath to put the plants in the pond as it is currently host to a
load of frogspawn, can i start the lillies off in a bucket then transfer the
plant basket to the pond at a later date?




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List at
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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

On Apr 1, 1:27 pm, "STEPHEN WHITE" wrote:
wife has just bought some lillies for thepondbut the instructions say to
remove the fish etc and that the plants are not suitable forkoicarp. why
is this?

also i am loath to put the plants in thepondas it is currently host to a
load of frogspawn, can i start the lillies off in a bucket then transfer the
plant basket to thepondat a later date?


Koi are herbervours so they will eat your lilies like a tastey salad.
I have tried a method that works if done right. where you place your
plant get big rocks big enough that koi will not move them (about 12")
or so. once you cover the plants roots with soil place about 4 or
five of those surrounding the immidiate circle of the lilie. its not
to say your lilie will not have a tough time growing. its best to
have it full grown but if you have lots of koi they will attack the
plant, but with the rocks they wont really be able to get to your root
and kill the plant.

koi are not herbivores, they are mostly carnivores with the short intestines typical
of carnivores ... they are like filter feeding (baleen) whales, they like the itsy
bitsy zooplankton. they do eat green stuff while going after the plankton. my koi
do not attack and eat my water lily leaves.

they will root in the soil to get at the worms in the mud. which is why rocks on top
works. Ingrid


Koi are herbervours so they will eat your lilies like a tastey salad.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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