Oxygenators in winter/spring

[EricV]

Ok, what do I expect from my oxygenating plants through this winter and spring? The background is that I didn't get plants in my pond until late July. I got a couple of types of oxygenating plants: hornwort and red ludwigia. The ludwigia I planted in kitty litter and dropped to the bottom. It seemed to be growing but very slowly. The hornwort I rubber banded to some rocks and tossed in to a pond with a bare liner bottom. As far as I can tell, it's all gone. Maybe it didn't find enough nutrients since my fish load is small (maxed out at 25 small goldfish in mid-September).

So questions: what happens to these plants in a zone 5 winter, 2' deep pond? Are there better plants for me that I don't have to keep re-buying them? If I get plants again, should I anchor them in clay? What plants do well that way? Once my pond is more nutrient-rich is this a non-issue? The issue I had with hornwort is it could easily find itself in the skimmer.

 

[Mmathis]

I have problems with oxygenators in general, so am not the best person to answer. I wouldn't think you would see a lot of growth for anything during the winter months. I think my goldfish end up eating many of my plants, hornwort in particular, and I seem to get the best results with HW when I band it together and keep it near moving water (like by a filter outflow or close to an aerator). I've had the best luck with anacharis when I "pot" it in kitty littler, and that seems to hold true for another plant I can't recall the name of, but looks like long, thin grass. I've tried various methods of anchoring or tying off different plants and letting them sink, but months later all I find is the remains of whatever I anchored them to. Maybe others will have some suggestions.

 

[EricV]

Saggitaria(sp?) maybe? What you find months later seems to be what I found too. I hear hornwort drops seeds, but I really have nothing for them to seed into. What I'm thinking is to anchor a sprig or two of something into every sub-surface pot I have for other plants.

 

[Tula]

When I had gravel on the bottom of my pond, I used to toss in bundles of anacharis and it would root in the gravel and grow very well. It didn't over winter, I'd add it each summer.

I don't bother now, as the koi just gobble it up

 

[Meyer Jordan]

This may help.
http://www.pondplants1.com/submerged/submerged_pond_plants.htm

 

[Faebinder]

When I had gravel on the bottom of my pond, I used to toss in bundles of anacharis and it would root in the gravel and grow very well. It didn't over winter, I'd add it each summer.

I don't bother now, as the koi just gobble it up

Interesting. So I should stick to parrot feathers.

 

[Tula]

Interesting. So I should stick to parrot feathers.

I've enjoyed parrots feather and it grows well, in my floating baskets. The problem that created, was, the floating baskets became a " koi nursery", allowing eggs to hatch, contributing to an over population problem

Also, last year, I put in empty floating baskets, to provide shade, as we'd lost a big tree and we had yet to put up a sail cloth....two times one of my koi somehow got in the baskets. Both times they were fine, but kind of like serving them up on a dinner plate, for predators!

Water celery grows in rock crevices and the koi love eating it. I also have water lilies and some grasses......these plants have been successful in my pond