how NOT to plant lilies

"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.

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

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