I've been using Akwatiks - the commercial version of what's
described below. After finding them plugged with months-old
undissolved tabs I did some experiments with different brands of lily
tabs. I placed each in an identical glass of DI water and waited for
them to dissolve...
Plantabbs Pondtabbs and Pondlife Showlilies appear identical in
appearance and label analysis. These dissolved the most completely and
left the water the most clear. Jungle Aquatic Plant Food left more
solids, clouded the water the most, and developed a scum film and mold
on the water surface. AgSafe Aquatic Tabs dissolved the least, leaving
a lot of solids.

Steve J. Noll | Ventura California
Glass Block Pond http://www.kissingfrogs.tv
Pond Dealer Directory
http://www.kissingfrogs.tv/ponddirectory.html


On Tue, 29 Jul 2003 02:47:39 GMT, "Wendy Kelly Budd"
wrote:

Excellent idea! I might be tempted to just put in one tab at a time, but
this works for me. I'm always concerned that when I shove/stomp on a fert.
tab that I might be breaking roots apart.
--
Wendy* in N. California,
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite
you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man." -- Mark
Twain


"Lee Brouillet" wrote in message
...
May I offer a new/different idea? One of the members of my local "club"
takes a piece of pvc pipe and drills the bottom end full of holes and puts
it in his lily pots when he transplants. I think he said he uses 1" . . .
the pipe is about 12" above the pot surface (and maybe 6" below), and he
stuffs it full of fertlizer, then puts a PVC cap on the top to prevent the
fertilizer from backflowing into the pond (you can paint it black, if you
want to). It feeds his lilies for the whole season without the
algae-inducing "rush" when plants just have a pellet or two shoved under
the
surface of the dirt. He swears by it! And it works a lot easier than the
tool you're thinking of. That one works fine in the beginning of the
season,
but as the plant grows and the pot becomes root bound, it gets harder and
harder to jam that fertlizer into the pot.

For a cheap lily fertilizer, buy generic fruit tree spikes and cut them
into
little pieces. Alternatively, if you can find them, Jobe's Tomato Spikes
also work.

Hope this helps.
Lee

"K" wrote in message
om...
Anyone have a link for the plans to that device, I think it was made
from PVC pipe and you could jam it into the lily pot and fertilize
without getting IN the pond?
Also, somewhere with it, there was something about not having to use
the pond pellets but adapting regular fertilizer.
All my old links are dead. Anyone have current information?

Thanks!