My goldfish pond

[callingcolleen1]

Or the nieghborhood dogs... they cant resist a good chew toy.

those bones haven't had meat on them for at least 200 years, they have been out front in my yard for ten years, been lucky that no one takes nothing! The only time anyone took anything was at halloween, then your going to see major junk in my yard!

 

[CountryEscape]

JW, I must not have cared for them well enough, as I don't have any plant that is tall. I have one that I thought I got from you, maybe Addy, that is kind of a .... wait, I'll go take a pic of it. Here's the hyacinth, sad look stuff, I know. Have no idea other than my water parameters are not to it's liking.

And, voila, but here is my first bowl lotus, Momo Batan, that is going to bloom! Woohoo!!!

OK, JW, so is this the primrose? If so, it has never bloomed, and does multiply somewhat, but has never been invasive whatsoever, and this is about as tall as it gets. This is where I put it this spring, and where it has stayed. Should I maybe put a plant tab at the base of it, see if that will get it to bloom?

 

[j.w]

Yep that is the primrose in the last photo and I wonder if it does not like your heat there? Looks a bit fried. It should not need any fertilizer that I know of as mine just grow in the pond w/ fish poo. You could try it tho and see what happens. These are a few wayward ones that I didn't catch when I pulled them out to put in a floating ring. You can see a blooming one in the back by the falls:

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, well maybe that's the problem with the hyacinths, too. They don't care for the hot temps. Water temp is 85 degrees. I have no shade for the ponds, except the plants I put on there, so the plants take up all of the sunshine. :-( I'm not going to fertilize them, then, as that would likely fry them even more. I'll just wait and see if they grow more when it cools down. This 90+ temps for June, July and Aug. is for the ... snow birds! That's AZ and TX and FL weather, not IL, but it sure has been our pattern for two years in a row now.

 

[j.w]

Hoping you get some cooler temps back there and maybe that is the reason for the plants not doing so well. They just are waiting for some more mild weather. Wonder if you took some of the hyacinth out and put it in a container in the shade it would do better while your weather is so hot? I'd take some of your warmth but only about 20* more and that would do just fine!

 

[koiguy1969]

CE...sun & warm water does'nt really bother hyacinths...they originate from the rivers & basins of South America. they like moving water. you can put them in your bog and plant part of the roots in the gravel. or in the top of your filter on the koi pond as well. thery will love it there!... mine are in full sun 10+ hours a day and flurish. bought 20 to start. ive sold some, and my 4&1/2' ring is full a 28" ring is full. they'd hit 2' tall in my filter top. but the roots grow into the media.if that doesnt bug you,i'd do it!

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, I'll try that, KG. Right now, though, my waterfall filter is not running, since my Sunterra pump shot craps. I have a Laguna on order, hope to get it by Monday, and will hook that up ASAP. The water in the filter is getting rank, even though I've added fresh water to it every other day. Wonder if that will hurt the fish, if I run water into it and let it run over the waterfall. I've also tried to freshen up the water in the pool right before the waterfall into the pond, hoping to keep the parrots feather alive and well. So far they look fine, but the water is getting cloudy in there, too. I had an extra pump, then built my goldfish pond. Should have bought another one, darn it. Using the air pump to push oxygen into the koi pond, and it's really "boiling" with the air infiltration, but besides the skimmer and bog, no filtration going on in there. Still pretty clear, although not optinum at this point either. Oh well, live and learn.
JW, I would have to put the plants in the garage to find them more than a few hours of shade, though. Even the north side of my house gets the late afternoon hottest sun, so not sure that would help them. BUT, I guess I could put them under my big white pine tree, where it's shady all the time! Think I'll give that a try!

 

[CometKeith]

CE, I think the brown edges on your plants indicate they are burning up. I don't know why koiguy doesn't have that problem, but I think mine do well because they are not in full sun all day. South America has trees. I'm not sure everything that grows there is in full sun all day.

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, but burning up in the heat of the water/sun, or burning up because of the direct sun? I could move them to a bucket under a large pine tree, get them out of the sunlight, but the water temp might be just as high, so I would need to do water changes often. I might try a few of the livelier ones in a bucket and see if I have any luck. At least then I might know that they cannot handle the direct sunlight along with the high temps we are having. Either way, it will be my last year to try. If this is going to be our norm now ... 90+ temps June through August ... then there is no need to even try them in the future. Norm used to be 90+ temps came mid-July through August, but the last two years we have had it beginning first week of June. I'm in IL, for goodness sake, NOT AZ. :neutral: :neutral: :neutral:

 

[callingcolleen1]

I wonder if its the well water, I know some people with well water here in town that have a huge pond and can't grow lots of pond plants cause the water is to hard and high in some minerals. some plants will tolerate the water better than others. My hyacinths the roots were eaten by the fish so bad but now there coming better with the warm weather.

 

[taherrmann4]

I wonder if its the well water, I know some people with well water here in town that have a huge pond and can't grow lots of pond plants cause the water is to hard and high in some minerals. some plants will tolerate the water better than others. My hyacinths the roots were eaten by the fish so bad but now there coming better with the warm weather.

Mine are in hot sun all day and are doing fine and it has been high 90's and even 100 degrees for the last two weeks! I think your fish are eating your roots. My roots are about 6-8" long and I am growing them in shallower water as they have always done better there than in the deep end.

 

[koiguy1969]

same here tman..almost.kissing triple digits...10 hours full sun...the moving water is likely the biggest factor. being fed a constant source of nutrients!

 

[taherrmann4]

CE here are how my lettuce and hyacinth look. I started out with two plants of hyacinths about 4 weeks ago. I have already started throwing out some of the lettuce as it is clogging my creek.

 

[Shoestring Ponder]

My Water Hyacinth are doing Gr8 also and I am in hot, humid Missouri. Occasionally the are blooming as well as sending out "daughters". They occasionally get "spit upon" by a water spitting frog on the ledge and move around the pond. I do prefer the Hyacinth to the Water Lettuce, although the little flower they put out is so cute!

:goldfish:

 

[CountryEscape]

I just have to believe that it's my well water. I'll have to try to find the seller on ebay that mentioned that hyacinth cannot tolerate something in the water (can't remember if it was high KH/GH or PH or what) but remembered my water was borderline to what this person was saying. I know that my inside aquariums have to use reverse osmosis water, and then I have to ADD nutrients to it, as my well water is so high in KH/GH (I hope I'm remembering correctly) that there was no way to do a partial RO partial well, or we couldn't figure out the ratio, so I use the RO water. Once the aquariums are filled, it's not that expensive to top them off and do water changes. Couldn't do that with the pond, though! So, if water hyacinth and lettuce won't grow for me, at least other plants will. I just need to find a floating plant that will do some water surface coverage, filter the water with the roots, and be able to handle the heat of the sun in the summer.