My lillies aren't producing very many leaves and the lotus and other plants have leaves that aren't green enough/too yellow. What does my water need? I just added pond tabs to the lillies and lotus last week so probably not enough time to see a diff there. Is there any water additive that feeds the plants but not the algae?
Thanks!
Lana
It looks like they are getting plenty of sun. Something that you could try for a quick boost is water soluble fertilizer. I read on another thread where the formulation for tomato plants is good for water lilies. What I have done is put a tablespoon in a small square of paper towel and pushed that under the soil surface in the pot. I put several to a pot and that seems feed the plant without feeding the algea too much. I take the pots out of the water to put in the paper towel packets because I have stones in the pots to keep the fish from rooting in them. If you just have sand or soil you probably would be able to quickly push the packets into the pot before they disintigrated in the water without having to pull the pots out.
I just put plant tabs in the lillies little over a week ago, that's the first they've been fed this year though. Thanks for the advice on the fert.
Lana
It looks you are keeping everything pretty natural there, and really lovely to look at, so I'll bet you dont keep a salt level in the water for the fish. But just in case as an FYI, most Lotus are salt intolerant, even at the .01 level some fish keepers suggest. They just mope and produce yellowed anemic leaves. I love the natural appearance. It must attract all kinds of wildlife.
I do have salt in the pond but don't keep it at a consistent level. The other plants look anemic too, could that be from salt?
Thanks, I do like a natural look. Hoping to make it even more so once we're able to get the edges done along with finishing the landscaping around the right side and behind.
Lana
Too high a salt level could be the source of the problem. If you have a salt level test kit laying around see what you have. The test kit isn't expensive if you want to buy one, about $6 or $7. You'll see by the chart provided in the kit that .01 is the max for ponds with plants. Lotus tolerate even less and some will be killed outright by any salt at all. I salt my pond for the winter to .01 when plants are dormant, then drop the level with a water change in the spring. This keeps my lotus happy.
WVdaisy, I love your pond. We are also creating a natural style pond, but we have a long way to go with the surrounding landscape! Here's the progress so far.
I just love your pond Kaperc! Thank you so much for sharing the pic with us. :^)
Thanks, TT. Can't tell you how much enjoyment DH has had creating it - and tweaking it. I figure it will keep him busy for the next 20-30 years at least. We're looking forward to next year when some of the plants/trees around it start to fill in.
Having a pond is like having a kid, only better. No teen age years. kaperc I admire the fundamentals of that design. It does not look contrived. It looks as though nature did it herself.
Oh, Snapple, my DH will be soooo pleased to hear that! We wanted a wildlife pond that looked good and he's worked so hard.
There are a few goldfish and will probably be some more, but we've had frogs breed, and dragonflies are multiplying, an egret comes to call now and again, etc. We did have a coyote drop dead in the pond last week, but that doesn't count! Thanks so much.
kaperc, your pond is going to be awesome once it gets some growth around it. It's a great design and just has to wait for nature to catch up with it :~)
Lana
OK, we have to have the story on the coyote!
LOL. DH takes a walk around the pond every morning before he leaves for work. One morning he went out and found a dead coyote in the little pond up stream from the bridge - only a few inches of water. He got it out with a shovel, and then I had to have a service come pick it up. We have room to bury it, but our ground is rock hard and I didn't want him digging in the heat. The county wouldn't pick it up for free because we live on what's called a private road. Any excuse will do, I guess. The people who came said it might have been sick or old (I don't think so), came for a drink and keeled over. Not a mark on it. I thought the county would want to know about sick animals, but I guess not.
Another time, we had a disemboweled rabbit on the front porch. It was probably coyote breakfast and when DH hit the button to open the garage, it scared the coyote off. What a mess!
Then there was the escaped rooster that drowned when he stuck his head in a watering jug in our back yard. He kicked so much dirt up it buried him and I came out with a cup of coffee in the morning to find two feet sticking up in the air.
Life is so interesting since we moved from the burbs!
BTW, have you figured out what's causing your problem? Our lilies are growing, but we have to replace hyacinth all the time because it just dies off.
This message was edited Jul 18, 2007 9:47 PM
ROFLMBO!!! You have more dead animals than I do and I live in wild, wonderful, west virginia out in the boonies!!! OMG, you had to get a pic of the dead rooster?! Tell me you did!
The coyote I would guess poison, next time try dept of natural rescources, the porch rabbit my guess is you're right about the coyote, the hyacinth...they like a lot of nutrients get more fish ;~)
Lana
I have the same problem with the lilys and hyacinth so I guess I need to feed more heavily. I'm glad I don't have the problem with wildlife though. I just have to fish my Standard Poodle out of the pond sometimes when he has been trying to fish.
I was finally able to get a picture of my toad that I was bragging on earlier this spring. This guy/girl is huge. That's a gallon pot he is sitting in, no wonder the stick aka lilac isn't doing very well.
Wow, big toad! We had tons of polliwogs in our pond, but we've seen very few frogs and only very small ones. We know the egret got some, and the rest either faded away or ended up as someone's lunch. :-(
We certainly didn't expect to have this kind of interaction with wildlife when we moved here, Lana. We have had some good/funny episodes, too. The 6-8 foot gopher snake stretched across the garage door opening comes to mind - when I shooed him out of there, he stretched across the front steps in front of the only open door to the house. lol Turkey vultures in the yard...possum sneaking around the house...these things are fun and educational!
Yep, got the pics - here's what I saw first; just about choked on my coffee!
LOL, not so funny for the rooster but who would have ever believed that if you hadn't seen it! An almost 6' rat snake killed and tried to eat one of my hens. It lost it's head for that, if it just would have stuck to mice, rats, etc I would have left it alone.
Lana
This is the toad that lived in my wet shoes on the porch 2 years ago and then he was around last year but too big for the shoes. I was going to throw out the stick (lilac) but decided he would move into another plant so I am leaving the pot and maybe he will leave the rest of the plants alone. This year it showed up with a younger sibling? also. I love watching it grow, how long do toads live? This thing may be a goliath when its done growing.
Only tiny snakes here, but several of them. Eastern Garter and Northern Brown. I had a helper digging up some oversized daylillies out by the back pond this morning and he kept seeing them. I think they eat the young small toads. There was a bumper crop of them this year. If you've got rocks, water and toads I think your gonna have snakes. Kind of like a Motel 6 "We'll leave the light on for ya" for our reptilian friends.
Now, a six foot snake would cause me to re-evaluate the whole hospitality thing!
Gopher snakes are supposed to be pretty benign - unless you purposely bother them, then they will bite. Not poisonous, though. And they eat those pesky gophers!
Here's a pic - I think I exaggerated the size a bit, but it was hard to tell because of all the lumps (probably breakfast) and the curves. When he really stretched out, he was pretty big.
My, my my! If I had been taking that picture it might have been a little blurry from camera shake. Biggest snake we've seen this year has been about 18".
I have only had one snake and it was passing through. I keep expecting to find some anytime though. I don't mind the non poisonous ones as long as they let me know they are there.
