Hi Everyone
Has anyone had any experience with AgSafe Aquatic Spikes? They are sold as being good for one-a-year applications and are supposed to last 6-9 months. Since I live in zone 5A, I'm worried that the slow release fertilizer will carry over during the dormant seasons in my lotus and hardy water lilies and cause too much salt build-up while they are dormant. Has anyone been using this product and how have they worked for you?
Many thanks!
Anyone Using AgSafe Aquatic Spikes Once-A-Year fertilizer?
NathanR
I use the year round fertilizer spikes. I don't think they are the AgSafe, but the Laguna brand and totally swear by them. We have color from early to late in the season with the waterlilies.
We have never had any issues with the salt build up during the winter using this product, however, we do salt the pond when we shut it down for the winter. This is normally around the time of Thanksgiving to the first week in December in our zone 5b, however we gauge it by the water temps. We shut down and remove the pumps when the water temps are in the high 30's. Then in the Spring when we start up, again this is gauged by water temps, we start doing our water exchanges, which takes care of the salt levels. By the time the waterlilies start to sprout, the salinity in the water tests at 0.
Carolyn
I tried the Laguna brand as well and didn't realize how good it was until I bought another brand that virtually dissolved in my damp hand. My first experience was Laguna and then I bought a huge lot on the co-op last year and really didn't like the way it fell apart so quickly. My plants were good (bloom wise) both ways BUT the quick dissolve type needed a lot more applications (and it meant a lot of work and wetness on my part) and also more algae in the pond. So anything long term and slow release sounds good to me.
I also use the Laguna spikes year around, good results, no problems and so much more convienient. In this photo the tropicals were just coming into bloom.
I'm going to try those because I always forget to add the monthly spikes. Sounds like they are worth the extra money.
Wow! Those are some beautiful ponds and lilies Carolyn and Snapple45. Thanks, all of you for your input. I've never tried Laguna spikes but I'm thinking of trying the AgSafe time release Aquatic Spikes in one set of lilies and the Lagunas in another set of lilies. I always like a good science experiment. I'll report my findings later this year.
I looked at the fertilizer components of the AgSafe vs the Laguna. The Agsafe has 12% nitrogen, 20% phosphorus and 8% potassium.
Tha Laguna has 16% nitrogen, 9% phosphorus and 12% potassium. Because phosphorous promotes flowering and nitrogen promotes leaf growth it would appear that the AgSafe should produce more flowers when used on flowering aquatic plants such as water lilies and Lotus. The Laguna would be better for things like rushes and papyrus etc. So, I'm going to use both this coming season. I'll use the Agsafe on the Lilies and the Lotus and Laguna on the rushes and the papyrus.
Keep us posted on your experiment NathanR. This should be fun!