"Bill Stock" wrote in message
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"Pam" wrote in message
. ..
Hello,

This is my pond's second year. It is somewhere around 800 gallons. It
has a skippy type filter with no plants which flows into a kiddie poll
plant filter which then goes back into the pond. It has a very low fish
load and two large bullfrogs. The fish and frogs are thriving.
Everything turned green about the middle of May The green algae seems to
be mostly gone now but the water is still brown and murky and visibility
is only about six inches.

Problem; the plants. Everything in pots is small and unhealthy. Initial
growth in the spring was slow and spindly. There is no new growth on the
iris or pickeral weed now, and new lily pads are very few and very
small.. The underwater plants that flourished last year are barely
holding their own, and not putting out new growth. There is about a
tablespoon of duckweed, up from about a teaspoonfull in the kiddie pool.
I composted azolla by the gallon last year. This year I cannot get it
started in the pond or the pool. Needless to say the veggie filter is
almost devoid of veggies.

I gave everything a bath in the miracle grow tub last weekend but it does
not seem to have helped.
Could something about the water chemistry cause my plants not to grow?

Hubby used a test strip in the water this morning and got nitrate 20,
nitrite 1, hardness 75, alkalinity between 80 and 120, and pH 7.2. He
didn't check for ammonia. I know I need to invest in some good water
testing materials, and will do so soon.

Suggestions? I'm in hot, humid south MS where our climate is a mix
ofzone 8 and zone 9.

Thanks!

Your numbers all seem pretty good. You might try some aquatic plant tabs
for the potted plants and some Potassium (Potash) for the floating plants.
About 2 tablespoons of Potash per 1,000 should be OK, but a little more
won't do any harm.

about 2 tablespoons per 1,000 GALLONS that is.