Last weekend, I searched for and found tablet fertilizer for my pond plants. The sticker shock almost knocked me over - $15 for 60 tablets. I went ahead and bought a packet of them to get my plants off to a good start this year, but that seemed terribly expensive, especially when I started calculating the cost over the entire growing season. The packet directions indicate I should use 1-2 tablets every two weeks per pot during the next 3-4 months (while the water temps are above 70). Yikes! That could easily translate into $50+ to fertilize my pond plants this season.
Does anyone have sources for less expensive tablets? Or any alternatives to tablets; I saw where someone was using Osmocote in the cannas they are growing in their pond. I have fish, so I want to be sure to use fertilizer that won't harm them.
Fertilizing pond plants?
Doesn't that get yur goat! Its the same with filter foam & accessories. A little sponge strip that goes into my filter cost $9. It's ridiculous! - the companies know there isn't much alternative & people will pay the inflated prices.
Hey Ho fellow ponders! Go_vols check the three numbers (something like 10-15-10) on the package and then compare them with tree spikes for fruit/nut trees. I believe they are about the same. We buy a box of a dozen fruit/nut tree spikes for about $4 or so; break them up into quarter size pieces, and into the pots they go! I know someone else who uses Osmocote when repotting. I wish I could remember who told us about the fruit/nut tree spikes so I could give them credit, but alas the memory is the first to go.........anyway, we have used these for three years, and the lilies and marginals bloom nicely. I think last summer we used two boxes, and it was still less than $10.
As for the filter material...........Whew! Put "water garden" on anything, and the price triples!
Have fun pondering! :)
Becky G.
Becky, that's a GREAT idea....when I was searching for pond plant tablets (and it was a prolonged, agonizing search, let me tell ya), I stood and stared at the fertilizer stakes, but it never occurred to me to break them up. I will do that when I run out of the tablets, for sure. Thanks!!!!
PoppySue, the former owners of our home (and the original ponders) left us a nice supply of pond filters (now I realize how generous that was!) but he also left us some a/c filter screen, the blue, thickish screen, not the flimsy fiberglass stuff.......and it looked like he had cut it into sections the right size and shape for some of the filters. Might be worth checking into, as you could get several pads out of one sheet of filter.
I agree about the "specialty" pricing on pond supplies, I guess since everybody wants a water garden of some sort, the guys who make this stuff are charging whatever the market will bear......the cost of a new pump is enough to send me into convulsions!!!!
go_vols I found some "tabs" at wal-mart last year for just a couple bucks, can't remeber exactly but it was a lot less than what you paid.
Hi folks,
I'm new to this forum. I'm used to the "Pond Forum". Anyway, I find that Jobes plant spikes work fine. I buy the ones for flowering plants. They're about 2" long and about as big around as a pencil. I have a piece of stainless steel tubing about 4' long and a piece of wooden dowel about 6" longer that fits into the tubing. Insert a spike into the end of the tubing, drive it down into the soil and then push it out of the tube with the dowel. Works great and you don't have to get in a mess or disturb your pond.
Happy ponding. We also have a website.
http://www3.nf.sympatico.ca/craighiscock/
This message was edited Thursday, Jun 14th 10:01 PM
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It does seems that everything for the water garden is sooooooooooooooo expensive. We had to buy new filters for the bio-filter this year - $180.00 for 6 stupid sponges. Anyway, I only fertilize my lilies twice a season, once in March and again in August and they bloom non-stop. I get them from That Pet. You can call them for a catalog at 1-888-thatpet (842-8738) or visit online and request a free catalog. www.thatpetplace.com
vic,
I don't replace the sponges in my bio-filter...just hose 'em down in the spring. I keep them in bags to make it easier. This way, I don't kill all the beneficial bacteria that has accumulated over time. I have been doing it this way for four years now. The fish are fat and healthy and the water is super clear. The moths in my wallet would have a FIT if I paid what retailer's want to replace as much sponge as it would take to fill my filter! (pond is 3800 gal.) Oh, and then I would have to buy a bottle of bacteria...way to expensive!
What a lot of people dont know is that by adding a bio fiter and pump to there pond there are actually generating food for plants, ponds that have fish in them and plants benifit in variouse ways from a filter, but the main ones being, fish generate waste wich generate chemicals in the water, after a short time most of these chemical can be harmful to fish and some plants, perticularly in a small controled area such as a pond, a pump and bio filter changes those harmful chemicals, the nitrifying bacteria that lives in the filter convert the chemicals into nitrate, so a ready food source for your plants, ponds with out fish dont need them so much becuse there are no fish to make the harmfull chemicals, one being ammonia which plants dont like, but like it has been said, these filters are not a cheap item to buy, but with a little knowledge you can build your own filter for half the price of a ready made one, any pond with fish and plants will benifit from a filter, but with that comes a little extra work each week, but just a few minutes, isnt it worth it to have healthy plants in your pond.