Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[CountryEscape]

Brandonsdad, the pictures are the plants growing out of pots on the shelf in the goldfish pond shallower area. I also have them in the stream, but forgot to take a pic of that as well. And, I have them in the lower pool of the waterfall before it goes into the koi pond. That pool has a lot of green algae in it, but parrots feather is still growing very well.
Here is the parrots feather in the stream and in the waterfall pool, still growing or at least still green, probably not really growing any longer. Hoping to get some to survive the winter again.

Then since someone else mentioned it, I took a bunch of my water hyacinths which were in a large pot of water, with kitty litter underneath as they were originally for lotus, but the lotus died .... and I'm wondering if the WH are enjoying getting their toes into that dirt! As you can see, they got somewhat frosted tips before I brought them in, but are nice and deep green so far.

Here are the 3 pots under the flourescent light in the garage. Water hyacinths on left, Azolla and some creeping weigelia (primrose) on right, and a couple of starts of the umbrella palm in front of them. I cut off all the tall shoots from the umbrella palm. If all of these don't survive, that's ok with me. Just doing an experiment.
Oh, and I got a couple of tropical lilies, and other plants from Larkin, they are in the basement under another light. Pretty much don't have to do anything with any of these, as lights are on timers, just make sure the water is at the right level. Time will tell if it was worth bringing them in and keep them alive, or letting them go dormant.

 

[sissy]

just remember they need fertilizer and found adding a teaspoon of dish soap keeps water fresh and bugs away and helps plants absorb fertilizer

 

[j.w]

Interesting about the soap sissy

 

[sissy]

I spray my house plants with soap and water mixture and it keeps the leaves moist and bug free .Also add it when I fertilize them .Just a teaspoon or two in spray bottle with fertilizer and water .Aphids hate it and even the tadpoles in the stock tank did not mind it as long as you don't add much .

 

[CountryEscape]

Holy cow, a teaspoon of liquid soap? OK, I read you put that in a spray bottle, but if I'm to add it to the water to "keep it fresh" (I'm all for that!!!), and there is probably 10 gallons of water in the pot, plus about 3 gallons of kitty litter, how much would you say I should add to the water, and how often? I totally forgot about adding fertilizer, so will do that right away so I don't forget, and put a reminder to "self" to fertilize them each month, too.
I also have a bucket in the basement with several tropical lilies, a LA iris, purple pickeral rush, and hardy lily, all are small, in separate pots, in a big muck bucket with water. Should I add the soap to that, too, or maybe not since those are "baby" plants? This is intriguing to me, adding soap to the water. I'm not worried about bugs, but maybe there ARE bugs in there, wintering over down in the mud at the bottom of the pot!

 

[sissy]

I just put it in but I spray the leaves on all my house plants ,it cuts down on the dust settling on the leaves and killing them ,leaves need to be clean and dust free to breathe .But found the dish detergent the last couple of years keeps the water from getting stale and smelling .Rotted roots will cause the smell .Never had a problem over wintering my pond plants ,You will loose a few but no big deal ,just pull them out .I have been over wintering my plants for over 5 years now and the old plants will have babies and then will die off after awhile .I think age gets to some of them plus I tried putting some floating plants in a big fish tank and found the plants did not like light on there roots .

 

[CountryEscape]

What type of plants are you talking about overwintering, Sissy? And, I assume you mean bringing them inside for the winter, right? This is my first year for tropical lilies. I dried out the bulbs of the Miami Rose I had all year in my goldfish pond, and then I got a couple from Larkin, and decided to keep them alive in the basement, as they are really small plants, and easy to put in a large muck bucket ... at least so far! Also have a new purple pickeral rush and an iris. I'm pretty sure both of them would have been fine outside, but it was late in the year, and no time for them to set roots, so put them in pots in the basement under a light, too. Fun to watch them grow through the winter! Not as exciting as the baby koi I got last year this time, but fun nonetheless!

 

[gardengimp]

Make sure you use a SOAP not a detergent. Most detergents contain chemicals and/or salts that are too harsh for plants. I use dr bonners soap for plant spray and to bathe the dogs. And to clean my bathroom, and for the handsoap pump. For a plant spray, mixture is about 1 tsp per gallon.

Water plants can get white fly and I think hyacinth is susectible.

My pickerel is trying to go dormant. This time of year it likes its legs to dry out a bit.

 

[CountryEscape]

Thanks, GG. I have the pickeral in a pot just barely in the water, so the top of the dirt/kitty litter can get somewhat dried out.
Thin sheet of ice again this morning, everything still up and running. I'm liking this so far! I have another month before I have to think seriously about shutting everything down, so will watch to see how the pumps work in the colder part of winter, thicker ice, and see if I can keep the falls and stream running to have that moving water that I would like to have all year long, keep the filtration up and going as well! Time will tell.

 

[Fishylove]

CE have you shut your pumps off yet? It's been cold here, in the low 30's high 20's by morning. But it's supposed to warm up to the 40's by this weekend. I shut mine off yesterday, idk should I turn it back on with the warm up? Or maybe just put a bubbler in there? :/

 

[sissy]

all my floating plants go in the basement and so do my lotus .I just use dollar store detergent and don't worry about it .I have never had a problem yet .I did use a all natural soap one time but the expense was to high and it just did not work as well .I found the anti bacterial dish detergent works great though .I even use a tiny amount peroxide to sterilize the water and in the stock tank it got rid of all the aphids and did not cost as much as the plant sprays .I have even used 20 mule team borax as it boosts the detergents and even works to spray all my fruit trees .

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes that's a old but good trick to help keep the bugs down without killing yourself from toxic sprays. My mom used to water her plants with dish water as an ultimate "penny pinch trick"!

Do you ever go back threw your thread and look at all the pictures from summer that you posted just to recall the "summer days"?

 

[sissy]

The wash water from my moms old wringer washer always got dumped in the gardens .I used to tell people we have the cleanest bugs in town

 

[brandonsdad02]

I'm going to try keeping my pond going all winter. We have had some pretty cold nights here getting down to the very low teens. Pond has only iced about 1/4 of the way. It's about a inch thick where the ice is. I think I can do it. I put in a bigger pump.

I was just looking at summer pond pics last night. I can't wait.

 

[sissy]

just watch your weather reports closely ,I know thats what I do here after the 2010 winter