First "real" year with the pond and first winter, decided to bring plants indoors due to the frigid temps here. (and Hello to 13.5" of snow yesterday)
Need some advice other than "just keep buying new" plants each year because can't say I have a green thumb or it went well
The pond is too shallow and freezes entirely in Zone 5a. No fish. No breather to keep it unfrozen (and zero desire to go this route).
Sweetflag, Corkscrew Rush, Lillies, and Canna were put in the pond late July/August some time I recall after a reconstruction, young plants.
Planted them all in homemade fabric pots with plain unscented kitty litter. Root growth seemed significant, LOTS of roots. The greenage survived and looked fine, but didn't seem to strive and grow much after putting in the pond. Late season, not enough fert, soil comp,did but not noticeably, etc as "possible" question areas.
In any regard I decided to try to overwinter two different varieties of sweet flag, corkscrew rush, three different kinds of water lillies, and a canna.
I ordered Marsh Marigold and Arrowhead off Etsy in early February and planted the bare roots. Just planted in plain top soil w/ some starter fert. Water level for the marigold was covering 1/2-3/4 of the roots, and crown out of water. Over the month, they did "well," they each had 3-4 leaves form and one flowered already. Arrowhead started off good as bulbs, small leaves on two, and the other big bulb also had a nice leaf. Arrowhead i put in top soil and water was about 1/2 inch above the soil, with the bulb tip exposed. Went seemingly ok for the most part.
As far as watering the others, sweet flag/rush had mainly wet soil with draining containers.
Changed the water that marigold and and arrowhead had sitting there every week or week and half.
Sweet flag / rush / lillies were in the garage most of the year @ ~35-40 degrees, moved sweet flag/rush indoors w/ the grow light around February in a room that was ~70 degs to get some action going. Canna was in fridge and didn't seem rotten or soggy, dried out if anything - wrapped in damp papertowel that i rewett like 3 times through the winter.
Things seemed to be going well until I got greedy and put "enough" starter fert (10-10-10) on everything. The rush is seemingly dead now, marsh marigold got nuked, sweet flag seems to say "give me more MF'er!", and a white mold/fungus started on the base of the arrowhead and now its starting to go.
Just recently made a sand/soil/litter mix and put the lillies in the storage container of water and the 5 gallon bucket. Doesnt seem like any action over the past 2 weeks and and upper left one looks like a white mold growing under water on it probably? Canna has done nothing. Soil very moist, but nothing pooling on bottom.
I took the rush, marigold, and sweet flag out, washed the roots and replanted in different non-ferted soil to try and save them but I think they were nuked. I didn't swap soil on arrowhead yet, was planning today but also feeling 'aw whats the use' syndrome.
I ordered 3 more marsh marigold and 3 arrowhead on Etsy the other day to replace them and know better but still need some advice to improve my outcomes and stupid ideas like over-ferting.
Send your better expertise way for improvement!
Need some advice other than "just keep buying new" plants each year because can't say I have a green thumb or it went well
The pond is too shallow and freezes entirely in Zone 5a. No fish. No breather to keep it unfrozen (and zero desire to go this route).
Sweetflag, Corkscrew Rush, Lillies, and Canna were put in the pond late July/August some time I recall after a reconstruction, young plants.
Planted them all in homemade fabric pots with plain unscented kitty litter. Root growth seemed significant, LOTS of roots. The greenage survived and looked fine, but didn't seem to strive and grow much after putting in the pond. Late season, not enough fert, soil comp,did but not noticeably, etc as "possible" question areas.
In any regard I decided to try to overwinter two different varieties of sweet flag, corkscrew rush, three different kinds of water lillies, and a canna.
I ordered Marsh Marigold and Arrowhead off Etsy in early February and planted the bare roots. Just planted in plain top soil w/ some starter fert. Water level for the marigold was covering 1/2-3/4 of the roots, and crown out of water. Over the month, they did "well," they each had 3-4 leaves form and one flowered already. Arrowhead started off good as bulbs, small leaves on two, and the other big bulb also had a nice leaf. Arrowhead i put in top soil and water was about 1/2 inch above the soil, with the bulb tip exposed. Went seemingly ok for the most part.
As far as watering the others, sweet flag/rush had mainly wet soil with draining containers.
Changed the water that marigold and and arrowhead had sitting there every week or week and half.
Sweet flag / rush / lillies were in the garage most of the year @ ~35-40 degrees, moved sweet flag/rush indoors w/ the grow light around February in a room that was ~70 degs to get some action going. Canna was in fridge and didn't seem rotten or soggy, dried out if anything - wrapped in damp papertowel that i rewett like 3 times through the winter.
Things seemed to be going well until I got greedy and put "enough" starter fert (10-10-10) on everything. The rush is seemingly dead now, marsh marigold got nuked, sweet flag seems to say "give me more MF'er!", and a white mold/fungus started on the base of the arrowhead and now its starting to go.
Just recently made a sand/soil/litter mix and put the lillies in the storage container of water and the 5 gallon bucket. Doesnt seem like any action over the past 2 weeks and and upper left one looks like a white mold growing under water on it probably? Canna has done nothing. Soil very moist, but nothing pooling on bottom.
I took the rush, marigold, and sweet flag out, washed the roots and replanted in different non-ferted soil to try and save them but I think they were nuked. I didn't swap soil on arrowhead yet, was planning today but also feeling 'aw whats the use' syndrome.
I ordered 3 more marsh marigold and 3 arrowhead on Etsy the other day to replace them and know better but still need some advice to improve my outcomes and stupid ideas like over-ferting.
Send your better expertise way for improvement!