I have a waterlily with me and a few other unidentified plants. Does the water lily need soil/sand to grow or can it depend on things available on the bottom? Any disadvantages in growing without soil?
Qn. about water lily/pond plants
water lily need soil to grow .
Hello,
All of my lilies are planted in pea gravel only, they are doing well.
Lisa
Water lilies will grow in the mulm that builds up on the pond bottom. They use the nutrients available and do quite well.
LOL sorry I'm ROFLMAO
nothing like a second opinion - and I bet they're all right, too. Would depend on how much of the good stuff accumulates in the sand or gravel.
tee hee hee ... can't help it ~ Blooms
I live putting mine in a pot with pea gravel on the bottom and top and some top soil in between. They do well and I can move them when I want.
charlotteda
What is pea gravel? Will sand has to be added?
Dinu, pea gravel is a "grade" of rock or gravel where the stones are roughly the size of peas (maybe 1/4 to 1/2", fairly round and smooth). It's widely available in the U.S. in nursery centers and from sand/gravel sellers. Many ponders use pea gravel on top of their soil to keep the soil from floating away from the pot. (It's mostly temprorary, as once the pot has settled down and the roots of the plant are actively growing, the soil tends to stay pretty well intact.)
I get pea gravel at lowes for about $3 a bag. I think it is very pretty.
charlotte
I have seen colourful little stones sold in aquaria and that must be what 'pea gravel' is. My friend here suggested to put a layers of sand-cowdung-sand for the lily, but now all that seems to have gone - I thought that caused water to stench. Those catfish too were disturbing the area I beleive. Now that those couple of catfish (7"long) have mysteriously vanished from the pond, I can now think of the new idea without fear of having the water getting 'dirtied' like that. Mine is a smallish pond, with a couple of 7" Kois and about a hundred smaller fish (majority are Guppies). The roots are spreading sans soil. I have used a plastic basket with larger holes and kept a few stones right now. But now I am going to add some coarse sand and thicker gravel on top. Thanks for the suggestions.
Priceless thread! Ask one question and get at least three answers....and all of them correct. LOL!!!
Dinu, I think the problem is you need bigger stones to anchor your plants if you've got Koi in your pond. My understanding is that they are more likely to root around in your plants than my shubunkins or goldfish are....
Just for Dinu: http://davesgarden.com/terms/go/652/
Thank you Terry. Those were invaluable. My weekend project is now scheduled: search for gravel and carrying out the work. Most of the constructions that go on here use river sand. The truck load of sand is passed through a wire mesh and so the bigger stones are not useful for them. So I may try some source for procuring this. I had some at home, but I have lost them. I have a few bigger ones and I will use them as suggested.