Would my filterless pond be harmful for my lotus?

[addy1]

@addy1 , are you saying you let your tubers freeze then? Or do you never get 8" of ice?

The tubers are down deep in the litter which is 1.5 -2 feet or so deep. I have had the water freeze solid on top of the litter and the tubers do fine. There are no fish in that pond unless eggs make it in.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Oh that is pretty deep. My shelves for the marginal plants aren’t even a foot deep. My lotuses are in containers so I can easily maintain them. I thought of the idea of planting directly in pond with kitty litter but pond liners have a lifespan and I don’t want to deal with the nightmare of having to dig out and divide them 20 years later. Also so that if the liner were to ever break or get punctured and starts leaking I can easily remove the lotus and fix the pond.
So then would my marginals be ok with just like 6 in depth of kitty litter?

My marginal shelves are all in the 4 - 6" depth range, give or take. I don't use kitty litter directly on the pond shelves (IMO, it is a heavy, slimy mess to work with...OK in containers, but not to pour onto a planting shelf in the pond.) , but use a combination of pea gravel, maybe some commercial aquatic planting medium, all topped up with some slightly larger river rock (say, 1/2 - 2" diameter) Maybe a few larger (fist sized) rocks to hold things in place if necessary. For those marginal plants that prefer to have their crowns at or slightly above the surface of the water, I fill the shelf in with the gravel/planting medium mixture & then put them in. Those that can tolerate more depth, I just anchor them with the gravel a few inches below the surface. Any plant that wanders outside of the depth or area I planted it... I leave until it wanders too far - then I pull, yank, divide, etc... & start it back over where I want it. Remember, most pond plants have roots that run wide, rather than deep, and they will compensate for the lack of depth with further running laterally. That's how they work to suck up so many nutrients.

PS - I have never had a lotus, and probably never will, so all of this is related to marginal or 'bog' type plants.

 

[Heruga]

Thank you! Exactly what I wanted know I will do exactly what you suggested.

 

[addy1]

I have never had a lotus, and probably never will, so all of this is related to marginal or 'bog' type plants.

If you put lotus in the pond uncontained, they will do a take over, eventually. I had one that jumped its pot, in my big pond, next thing I knew I had tubers everywhere. It spread faster than the lilies. So I put them in their own container, no chance of jumping the pot.

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Thank you! Exactly what I wanted know I will do exactly what you suggested.

I couldn't tell if you have fish in the pond or not, but they are what provide the "fertilizer" for your plants. If this is a fishless water garden, then you'll need to fertilize the plants occasionally yourself for optimal growth even if you do use planting medium. (sort of like having to routinely fertilize houseplants even if they are in professional potting soil)