I'm thinking I might experiment with planting my pond plants in rocks only, no dirt. The dirt floats out and causes problems. I keep hearing that everything the plants need is in the water, so why not just use rocks. Plus they'll wait the pots down and they won't float. I bought lava rock because of the mineral content. Don't know if that was a mistake or not. We have an inexhaustable supply of granite scraps from countertop finishing businesses around here so I can weight it down with those in the bottom.
rocks in my pots?
I've planted in just rocks, it works...however plants in soil REALLY take off! I use regular soil from the yard and then fill the top around the plant with rocks. I have to use pretty large rocks so the Koi don't suck them all out :(
Greetings--
You may want to consider using aquatic planting media produced by Pond Care. It will provide nutrients for your plants without the weight and mess of soil.
Happy water gardening, lilypons
Thanks to Fishknees and Lilypons for your quick replies. I would love to know how you come up with a name like Fishknees.LOL What kind of soil did you use?
Lilypons could you explain exactly what aquatic planting media is and will it leak out of the pot? We have water lilies planted in funny looking pots with slots in them, and some other plants planted in regular nursery pots which I have a ton of and would like to use. I am going to an RU in April and I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to plant and transport the plants. Does it depend on the type of plants?
Silver, I'm planting in rocks but I'm using fertilizer, too. The water is good for nutrients....for a plant that's out floating with it's roots exposed. You have to remember that a pot is contained and there isn't necessarily an exchange of water between the inside and the outside of the pot (if there were we would never find a black stinky mess when we pull the plant from the pot :-)
Plants take off with garden soil because the nutrients are in the soil, readily available. You should take a cue from FK and use garden soil if you don't want to mess with fertilizer.
Silverfluter, I have two kinds of aquatic media. One is very tiny grains, simular to cat litter and is sold by Lowe's. If you are talking about the black water garden pots, a little bit will come out, but it is really not a problem. It is designed to sink, not float. You pre-soak the media and lower the pot slowly into the water. It is a 100% ceramic product.
The other type I have is like an eighth or 1/4 inch diameter media and will stay in the baskets without any sifting through. I buy it here at Archie's Gardenland, a local nursery. It is 100% diatomaceous earth.
The advantages of the water media are the lighter weight and the water and oxygen obsorption. Both have a neutral PH also. I have used rocks also and prefer the aquatic soil. It allows the roots to develop more freely as they do in soil.
But in saying all that, when I came to the Arlington plant swap last year, I simply took my plants bare root. I wrapped the bottoms in paper towels, then newspaper, and placed a rubberband around it. Carried a bucket or tub with water in the bottom and placed mine in there and they were fine. People ship plants like that with plastic around them. As you said, they only need water, plus the aquatic media is very expensive.
Sorry posted on top of you.
This message was edited Mar 21, 2006 7:48 AM
Ok, thanks for all the info. I'll try and find aquatic soil. The closest pond supply I know is in San Antonio, but I'm hoping to go there on April 1. Do you prefer regular pots or the kind with slots in them?
I have experimented with pea gravel, aquatic potting soil, garden soil, and pure clay from the earth around here. All the plants bloomed and thrived, but the clay was a big mess because of the oxygen exchange (Lack of it...) and it made the pots very heavy. I also think the plants that were not in clay actually did better.
The gravel appears to work just fine and has allowed me to plant a few things directly into the pond. I do use the fertilizer pellets, however. The garden soil also works very well and mine has a high clay content. But it does also make for a very heavy pot and I put rocks on the top anyway because of the koi.
If you are going to use rocks, I recommend pea gravel. It is easy to use and holds the roots firmly. I found that the plants that were in pots of pea gravel had extensive root systems at the end of the seaon. It is also cheap. The aquatic potting 'soil' is very expensive around here and if you have a large pond like mine, it costs a fortune to pot everything with it.
If I use gravel does it matter whether it's granite or something else? Granite gravel is very cheap and readily available around here. Some people actually add it to their soil because of the minerals in it. There are minerals in lava rock also, so if I don't use it in the pond I guess I can use it on top of the mulch as a decoration and as a source of minerals.
As far as using dirt from my yard or garden I doubt that it has enough clay in it. We live at the bottom of a long sloping hill, near a creek, so our dirt is very deep. But the content varies a lot, because most of our back yard was at one time a vege garden. The owner grew quite a wide variety of fruits and veges. For example, there is no doubt about where the watermelons grew, as I discovered when I was preparing my flower beds.:) There are small pockets of clay, but not many.
Ok, thanks. I hope to get started on pond plants next week, as soon as I can get everything fertilized and pruned in the yard.
I have a lot of aquatic media that I bought last year. I will bring you a sample of each so you can try them out later. But I sure wouldn't use it on plants that your trading, the pea gravel would be the best way to go if you have to pot them. I had butterfly ginger, pickrel, lizard tail and horsetail at the swap and the paper wraps and bands worked great for me; lightweight too.
Thanks Sheila. Yes I think for the RU I will use your idea, but for what I put in my pond I need to balance convenience with economy somehow. I don't want to use fertilizer if I can help it. It's just something else to have to buy and remember to use. I'm so new at this pond stuff, I guess I'm just going to have to try different things and figure out what work best for me. However, any suggestions are certainly welcome.