Yuck - smelly plants
 

Hi All: Fairly new to ponding. My son-in-law and I put in a small 65 gal pond
just off the patio last summer. This summer I finally got the rockwork to put
around it and planted around the rockwork. Looks good if I do say so myself
G.
However, My water is a slight greenish color, has an almost oily feel to it,
and when I went to divide my pigmy water lily the dirt smelled like an old
soured swamp or something. Pond has the lily, a "flowering rush", two water
hyacinth, 3 water lettuce and a small "sweet flag". For critters I have a 3in
shubunkin, a 3inch goldfish and 3 small 1in. goldfish. Filter is an "in-pond"
box filter (good size) feeding a japanese bambo water spout. Last year I just
through in a bunch of water hyacinth (which multiply like rabbits) and the same
fish (somewhat smaller) and the water stayed pretty clear. I didn't pull up any
of the other plants so don't know if the soil was "soured" then or not. Is this
"swamp smell" normal for the plant dirt or is there a problem with my pond?
Fish seem happy and I only feed them once a day (what they will eat in about
3-5 minutes).
Any help/comments/advice greatly appreciated

Tom B.
"Born To Fish - Forced To Work!!!"

Yuck - smelly plants
 

there is a basic difference in how people pot up plants that go into the pond or even
in a veggie filter. Some people put them into open pots with gravel or other
material that wont silt out into the pond. Others put them into closed pots using
good loam, shove fertilizer tabs down into the mud and cover the top with rocks and
gravel to keep fish from stirring up the surface. yes. the mud in the closed pot
will stink. this is anaerobic bacteria making hydrogen sulfide and is what normally
happens in closed pots. it is important to NOT disturb the plant in the pond or this
gets released. I take my pots out before fiddling with them (to repot only). I find
closed pots with fert tabs makes for larger plants. I only have 2 water lilies in
the pond. both are huge.
however, water that is both greenish and oily indicates rotting material (from the
bottom of the pond?) is getting mixed into the water, unless somebody has been
spraying for mosquitoes or ????
Ingrid

(TomNavyRet) wrote:
However, My water is a slight greenish color, has an almost oily feel to it,
and when I went to divide my pigmy water lily the dirt smelled like an old
soured swamp or something. Is this
"swamp smell" normal for the plant dirt or is there a problem with my pond?


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Yuck - smelly plants
 

water that is both greenish and oily indicates rotting material (from the
bottom of the pond?) is getting mixed into the water,
Thanks for reply - I will transfer to the open pots. Local nursery has them
cheap. As for the stuff mixing - that could very well be as my grandchildren
seem to think that fish eat dirt and clumps of lawn grass.
My daughter returned my syphon last night so will clean out bottom as well as I
can.
Thanks

Tom B.
"Born To Fish - Forced To Work!!!"

Yuck - smelly plants
 

*This* year I put the lily tubers into
a rigid mesh pot and tied them to the sides
with black plastic string. Stuck a big rock in
and sunk them to the bottom. Letting the fish fertilize. So far the blooms are
smaller than normal but the pads are normal size. I really have
no idea what I am doing ;-)


k30a

Yuck - smelly plants
 

I don't know what I'm doing, either, but it seems you and I are doing the
same thing! My neighbor brought me three HUGE lily tubers that he actually
pulled from the bottom of a pond he was visiting! I can't believe the
size of the pads - they're a foot long! I'm not sure how these monsters
will do in my pond, but since he went to all that trouble to get them for me
I'm sure as heck gonna try. I took each one and placed it on a bed of
small rocks in a mesh basket and then ran fishing line back and forth and
across the tuber and through the mesh basket until I felt sure it would stay
with the basket. Weighed it down with a large rock and sunk them. So far,
so good. I'm getting new pads like crazy, and the promise of three buds
that are halfway to the surface of the water.
Sue

"K30a" wrote in message
...

*This* year I put the lily tubers into
a rigid mesh pot and tied them to the sides
with black plastic string. Stuck a big rock in
and sunk them to the bottom. Letting the fish fertilize. So far the blooms
are
smaller than normal but the pads are normal size. I really have
no idea what I am doing ;-)


k30a

Yuck - smelly plants
 

I don't know what I'm doing, either, but it seems you and I are doing the
same thing! My neighbor brought me three HUGE lily tubers that he actually
pulled from the bottom of a pond he was visiting! I can't believe the
size of the pads - they're a foot long! I'm not sure how these monsters
will do in my pond, but since he went to all that trouble to get them for me
I'm sure as heck gonna try. I took each one and placed it on a bed of
small rocks in a mesh basket and then ran fishing line back and forth and
across the tuber and through the mesh basket until I felt sure it would stay
with the basket. Weighed it down with a large rock and sunk them. So far,
so good. I'm getting new pads like crazy, and the promise of three buds
that are halfway to the surface of the water.
Sue

"K30a" wrote in message
...

*This* year I put the lily tubers into
a rigid mesh pot and tied them to the sides
with black plastic string. Stuck a big rock in
and sunk them to the bottom. Letting the fish fertilize. So far the blooms
are
smaller than normal but the pads are normal size. I really have
no idea what I am doing ;-)


k30a