A lot of people tell me I should remove my plants from my pond, can somebody tell me why?

Erwee1 wrote:

A lot of people tell me I should remove my plants from my pond, can somebody tell me why?

Pros and cons ...

Water plants look lovely and create a tranquil environment and compliment your pond.

They are expensive. The current price of a normal fairly small water Lily is currently R 50.00.

They preclude you from using too much salt in the water. With plants, you are limited to 0.1% (1,35 kg / 1000 l) salt concentration although the ideal concentration for Koi is 0.2% (2.7 kg / 1000 l)

Because you are limited with your salt concentration, you might have more algae growth, but on the other hand, your plants may use all the nutrients and leave none for the algae to grow.

They preclude you from treating the pond properly with certain chemicals.

They give hiding space for the fish which gives them better protection against sunlight, birds and other elements;

The big Koi tends to eat the plants. It is therefore sometimes needed to protect the plants from access by the fish. The ideal is to place your plants in your bio filter.

Proper care has to be taken to ensure that the plant is not poisonous to the fish;

If there are too many plants, you might not see the fish.

They can easily overgrow the pond and require constant attention if not controlled properly.

They help to eliminate Ammonia, Nitrites and especially Nitrates.

They might create a breeding ground for bad bacteria (Aerosomonas and Pseudomonas)

At night time they use oxygen and therefore compete with the fish if there is limited oxygen in the water.

They compete with and therefore control excessive algae growth because they use the Nutrients and Nitrates in the water also required by algae.

During day time they create oxygen which is beneficial to the fish.

They can introduce fatal bacteria or parasites if proper treatment has not been taken. They should always be placed in quarantine before introduced to the pond. (Potassium)

They provide spawning material in the spawning season. After spawning, the plants can be removed easily and placed in a spawning tank, thereby preventing the fish from eating the eggs.

If you have very expensive top quality Japanese koi, why risk them. So, if you are serious about the Koi as such, you should consider to remove the plants.

I have access to water lilies from dams ... can you please explain how I should treat them before placing them in the pond.

I will also plant some "palmiet" ... also from the dam ... do I treat them the same.

I have read somewhere that "Varkoor" lilies are also good ... I can get yhose from the wild too.

I assume that I will have to plant these plants all in some form of container ... what is the best way to do it.

Thanks.

The prescribed way to plant lilies is to put them in a mix with 60% normal garden soil with a bit of clay, 20 % sand and 20% potting soil, and cover the top with gravel.

However, I found that the potting soil, if it is too rich, tends to create algae blooms, and the sand tends to mess in the pond. Therefore, I mix gravel and normal garden soil with clay and stick a fertilising stick into the pot from time to time, covered with course gravel and they are very happy.

You always have to start with a small pot and as it grows bigger, increase the pot size. They tend to die if the pot is too big. They should also not be placed too deep. As the stems grow, you can lower it. Therefore hanging baskets works quite well. You just lower it as it grows.

I use normal pots, drill a few holes in the sides and lay it out with shade cloth. The baskets specifically for water plants are quite expensive.

When you plant them, cut off all the leaves to ensure that all the strength initially goes to the root system to establish them in the new environment.

Papyrus and palmiet can be planted in gravel with no soil, provided that there are enough fish/nitrates.

The "varkoor"/Arum lily is a bog plant and don't do very well inside the pond, and there are people who say that they are a bit poisonous to Koi, however, I don't believe that. They also don't transplant very well. I keep mine on the edges of my ponds.

The Water Iris do very well, they are hardy and easy to grow, and don't need any (messy)soil, and makes very nice yellow or blue flowers. (The blue flag is poisonous)

Dose all the plants with a triple dosage of potassium for an hour before you place them in the pond, to get rid of any possible parasites and bad bacteria.

Please continue on the "water plant" category of this forum

Thanks ... I will go to the correct section. Maybe put a notice here and lock this thread or move it to that section ... just a thought.