john rutz wrote:

Mat
I have bought a bunch of plants on line and more here localy, on line
the y are much cheaper cost wise, yes

but they are also a lot smaller and have minimal roots, the ones I
have that survived (10 out of 100 plants) I had to put in the greenhouse
and nurse to growing size

I find its cheaper in the long run to pay more for a good healthy plant
that you can keep than the same for 10 or so that dont make it

my pennys worth

I agree with everything you say. I won't buy plants on the internet
again. I did buy plants at my local pond shop and while they had much
healthier roots they they haven't exactly taken off. My shot at the pond
store owners is directed more at the fact that if you walk in and tell
them you have green water they'll try and sell you a lot of expensive
stuff. I asked them about a veggie filter and they thought I was nuts.
"you can't plant iris in pea gravel, it needs nutrients, and the algae
needs a big UV light to kill the algae that's living on the nutrients in
the water." On the other hand, the just-add-plants mantra I see on the
internet is missing something because I tried it and it didn't work. I'm
hoping that a filter and a lot of plants work.

Matt