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Old 21-07-2008, 09:24 PM posted to rec.ponds.moderated
D Kat D Kat is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2008
Posts: 83
Default Non-floating Plants Floating Root

The native soil would work just fine - assuming it doesn't have much of any
loam, leaf mold, compost, etc. in it. Plain clay is good - so if it is red,
light brown, buff color you are probably fine. Dark brown - not so much
(that will have a lot of organic matter in it which you don't want). Of
course if the clay is really fine then this will make your water muddy so
you want to put a layer of clean sand or pebbles on top of the soil. I
recently topped off one of my plants with some white pottery clay and ended
up with milk colored water. A kind soul here recommended using nylon wool
to filter it out and that worked perfectly. It along with the clay also did
a wonderful job of cleaning out the pond which is something you may now have
to think about. Basically the manure is going to give you one hell of a
algae bloom unless you can somehow filter it out.

Hope this resolves itself soon - it must be a real pain for you. Donna


"BB" wrote in message
...
"D Kat" wrote in
:

My - I have never had this happen - what kind of soil are you
using?


That's kinda what I thought might be the issue. I got some topsoil
in a bag (less than $3.00); I figured it'd be a decent mix with few
nutrients and thought it'd be the same as the stuff I'd gotten for
the other lily I've had for quite some time (that, by the way, has
never decided to go on a field trip out of its plastic pot). Got
it home and potted the lilies. It was only later that I read the
bag (that'll learn me) and saw it was a mix that had some composted
manure and, I think, peat along with "forest products"; the bag's
outside and I don't care to go find out exactly what it is.

So. Now that I've messed up the potting, I figure should just do
my best to keep the root balls in the darn pots with a
strategically placed brick or two and repot come the end of the
season. Sound reasonable?

The "native soil" here is rather clay-like and slippery as slimy
snot when wet. Could that possibly be used instead of any
commercial product?

Anybody know if Costco sells clay kitty litter?

~~Bryan



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