To Compost or Not to Compost

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

Koi-Lo wrote:

"Altum" wrote in message
. com...
I have a light fish load in my barrel pond, so I have to add potassium
nitrate for mine. If you add a bit of potassium phosphate, they'll
all flower. Sometimes they look a touch chlorotic and then I add some
hydroponic iron/trace element fertilizer.
=======================
Do you know a good online place to buy hydroponic fertilizers? I can't
find anywhere local that sells the stuff.

Thanks.

http://www.gregwatson.com. Plantex CSM+B is great stuff and he carries
the bulk potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate.

--
Put the word aquaria in the subject to reply.
Did you read the FAQ? http://faq.thekrib.com

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:16:24 -0500, CanadianCowboy©
wrote:

I didn't add any fertilizer to the pond for the hyacinth. It was my
first year last year with these plants. Should I give them any
treatment other than throwing them in.

Thanks in advance !

Before throwing any fertilizer in, check your pH. If the pH is too high or
low, you can throw all the fert. you want in, and the plant will still fail
to thrive. ~ jan


~ jan/WA
Zone 7a

~ janj wrote:
On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:16:24 -0500, CanadianCowboy©
wrote:

I didn't add any fertilizer to the pond for the hyacinth. It was my
first year last year with these plants. Should I give them any
treatment other than throwing them in.

Thanks in advance !

Before throwing any fertilizer in, check your pH. If the pH is too high or
low, you can throw all the fert. you want in, and the plant will still fail
to thrive. ~ jan


~ jan/WA
Zone 7a

Do you know "off hand" what the PH level should be ?
What is the most economical way of testing ?
What can I do to raise or lower it ?

Thanks !

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

Absolutely gorgeous picture. The water, the weathered the wood, the
greenery/flowers, really cool. Reminds me of being on a dock (weathered
wood) on the lake I grew up by. I was involved with "fish"ing then too.
~ jan


~ jan/WA
Zone 7a

Before throwing any fertilizer in, check your pH. If the pH is too high or
low, you can throw all the fert. you want in, and the plant will still fail
to thrive. ~ jan

Do you know "off hand" what the PH level should be ?
What is the most economical way of testing ?
What can I do to raise or lower it ?

For most aquatic plants that we hobbyist use, 6.8 - 8.4. As far as a test
kit, I like the Hagen/Nutrafin Wide Range test. It tests from 4.5-9.0. One
should have on hand a KH test also. Without a good KH reading your pH will
jump all over the place.

Fixing a pH problem is on a case by case basis, but to raise pH, baking
soda works great, plus it adds buffering. To lower pH is a touchier subject
and I won't address it at this time, questions need to be asked an answered
before preceding with lowering one's pH. ~ jan )


~ jan/WA
Zone 7a

"Altum" wrote in message
m...

http://www.gregwatson.com. Plantex CSM+B is great stuff and he carries
the bulk potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate.
=================
Thanks. It's the *micronutrients* I can't locate such as water soluble
iron, manganese, boron, cobalt etc. that plants need. I'll check this place
out.
--
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

Richard Sexton wrote:

In article ,
Derek Broughton wrote:
otoh, I've had success with lilies in pea gravel (and bare root). I'd
agree on the veggie filter though - there's usually too much flow for
them to be happy.

How do you fertilize them bare root? That sounds like a good way to go
for my little barrels.

You don't. I probably wouldn't do that in a little barrel either.
Bare-root planting is for ponds with healthy fish populations. The fish
produce the fertilizer, and the plants get it more easily if they're not
in soil.

State of the art 1904 thinking. Innes would agree with you. But we've
come a long way since then and proper plant nutrition needs much much more
tha fish waste. They will *grow* to be sure, but they will grow much much
better with proper food.

Oh, crap (literally). I had a not very heavily populated 5000 gallon pond.
My deep lilies would, every year, develop sufficient foliage to lift the
tubers a foot or two off the bottom of the pond. We're talking about 18"
or longer tubers, with 100sq.ft. of pads, and dozens of blooms. If I could
have made them grow better with "food" I'd have to have been nuts to do it!

Do you actually have a pond Richard? I _know_ you're an aquarium expert,
but I seriously doubt your pond experience. Compost is NOT a good idea for
a planted _fish_ pond.
--
derek

wrote:

for koi, I do use those big palm sized river rock to keep the kids out of
the pot. I only repot every 3 years, and altho it is messy I dont have a
problem with the roots
wrapped around the gravel. I set up the new tub with good loam been
sitting in water for a few hours, just plunge the root down into the muck
then bring it back up to the
correct height. plug in the fert tabs and cover with rocks and gravel.

my comment about pea gravel is what I been told by Marilyn Buscher
http://home.wi.rr.com/windyoaks/ who wholesales to the Illinois and
Wisconsin. She
has tried almost everything out there to make dividing, transplant and
transport easier.

Well, I know people do it, and I guess others haven't had as much trouble as
I did, but I can't see how dividing anything can be easier than dividing
bare-root lilies :-) Richard's comment that "they will grow much much
better with proper food" definitely applies when you're a commercial grower
- then you want to fertilize and divide as often as possible. Me, I stick
to bare-root because they do well enough that I have to divide annually.
--
derek

"Derek Broughton" wrote in message
...
Well, I know people do it, and I guess others haven't had as much trouble
as
I did, but I can't see how dividing anything can be easier than dividing
bare-root lilies :-) Richard's comment that "they will grow much much
better with proper food" definitely applies when you're a commercial
grower
- then you want to fertilize and divide as often as possible. Me, I stick
to bare-root because they do well enough that I have to divide annually.
=================
The year I tried to grow mine bare-root and a few in just pea gravel they
didn't thrive at all. They grew small leaves and there were no flowers. I
went back to using rich topsoil and Jobe's fertilizer spikes. They grow
leaves as large as dinner plates and flower for several months.
--
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