Hi from Montana!

[CountryEscape]

They will grow fast once they are in the pond, MT! Mine have been on the surface for a while now, and noticed the flower buds this past weekend, that Addy has been talking about on hers for several weeks! Doubt they come all the way up and bloom until the temps get back up there, though, but that's ok. I don't want to waste a pretty bloom on a night of freezing temps!

 

[mtpond]

Yahoo I got 7 lilies planted and in the pond. Wow bottom of the pond was up to 51 degrees today.

 

[addy1]

Fantastic mtpond!

 

[CountryEscape]

Yippee, MT!!! My pond is at 50, and the grass was crunchy this morning due to the heavy frost we had. I'm ready for the temps to get up in the 60's today and tomorrow and they are promising 70's for the weekend! Going to get a lot done. Hopefully your water temps will keep climbing. Now you get to watch the lilies really take off! Were they growing in the tub you had them in as well? Spring will arrive for all of us, we just got that warm weather in Feb. and now feel like it went back to winter. Guess the seasons are all messed up this year.

 

[j.w]

Good deal MT. I got a bunch addy sent me planted up too. Need to pick up some Jobes Tomato Spikes for them at Lowes. Guess you don't need to fertilize them tho till temps get warmer. I put Osmocote 14-14-14 in w/ some of them.

 

[CountryEscape]

I got plant tabs on sale end of season last year, I think I have 4 jars of maybe 24 tabs each, so need to get them into the lily pots, but yeah, with the cold temps, no need to fertilize until they start growing again, hopefully this weekend. At least the lows are supposed to stay in the mid to upper 40's. Whew! I'm really excited for you, MT, as you were very patient waiting to plant your lilies, and now you get to watch them grow. Come on warmer weather!

 

[mtpond]

I agree with warmer weather. I sent my hubby to Lowes and Home Depot for Jobes tomato spikes but neither of them had them. The fish were starting to swim around some last night so I'm thinking if the weather keeps up they will be wanting to eat soon.

 

[CountryEscape]

Don't be in a hurry to feed them. Mine were begging for a week before I actually fed them. I think the water needs to be at least 50 or maybe 55 degrees before you feed, and stay at that level, or it can actually hurt the fish. Your fish have lots of things to eat, like mine, we just like feeding them as it connects us to them. My water temps are 50 now and the fish are no longer begging. I've not fed for over a week. I hope I didn't do any harm to anyhow. Will wait until the morning pond temp is at least 55 before I resume feeding. But, with the alga I have, they have PLENTY of food. I worry more about the goldfish, as that pond is new, and not much algae in it yet, if any. But, they are not begging either. They know when it's time to eat. LOL

 

[j.w]

Weird I looked the other day online and they said this but maybe just at our store near us?
:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_210908-304-...aram=&storeId=10151&storeId=10151&qvRedirect=

 

[CountryEscape]

How much are they by you, JW? I had to enter a zip code to get a price, and it said 50 of them for $4.16. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

 

[j.w]

When I put my zip code in they say it's $4.16 also but I have not made a trip to the store yet to see if it's really there. If it is I'm buying some!

 

[mtpond]

I started out this winter with 2 goldfish and 4 koi in my new pond. The beginning of March I lost a koi and then for the last three weeks I haven't seen another one of my koi so assuming it is DOA. :sad: I have 4 koi that I have kept in the house for the winter because I felt I got them to late in the season to put them in the pond. My water temp has been in the 60's the last 4 days so is that a good temp to put them in the pond? Or should I wait until it gets warmer?

 

[addy1]

I have put goldfish in at that temperature without an issue. I made sure to float them for at least 30 minutes, also add pond water to the bag.

 

[CountryEscape]

You can float them if your bag is large, or you can put them into a bucket, make sure to have plenty of the water from where you had them inside. Then just keep adding water to the bucket, a little at a time. I used a 3.5 gallon bucket, put about a gallon of existing water in there with the fish. Then added pond water at the rate of about 8-12 oz at a time, every 10 minutes or so. Do it slow, take a while to do it. This way you are changing the water temps and the water chemistry at the same time, and they will get used to it slowly. Good luck!

 

[mtpond]

I purchased a 14 inch butterfly koi from one of my local fish stores, someone had brought it in with another koi and a goldfish because they were moving. They have had the koi for 7 years. Heres a picture of it when I was acclimating it. Its not very good because of the light. Since I got the new koi my other fish have been swimming around the pond a lot more. Also the koi that I thought had died on my last post showed up on the bottom of the pond the next night after I had put the new Koi in. When I was looking in my pond tonight I noticed one of my containers didn't have a lily in. Found it in the skimmer. Hope this new fish doesn't start pulling all my lilies out of the containers.