Messages

121

Photo Album / Re: Double Pride

« on: April 13, 2007, 10:10:18 AM »

So when can I get one Craig???!!!???   Oh yes, and the SOS  as well ?


Paul 

122

Pond Chat / Re: Water Changing Question?

« on: April 13, 2007, 10:03:18 AM »

  Good one Kay, though I was really  referring to the word as applied to water quality, I was, as you have so eloquently pointed out, remiss in excluding appearance.



Paul 

123

Pond Chat / Re: Water Changing Question?

« on: April 13, 2007, 09:29:46 AM »

Is it just me or does anyone else out there feel that the term NATURAL when used in reference to our backyard holes  for any other purpose than  related to how it looks, is wholly out of place? 


Paul   

124

Pond Chat / Re: Water Changing Question?

« on: April 13, 2007, 08:53:50 AM »

This may seem at first off subject but it isn't.  Anybody that has read any authoritative books on keeping aquariums or from years of experience can appreciate the value of the recommended 10 to 15/% weekly water change recommended in the books.  Following the advice in the books helps in many ways, not the least of which is saving you the 200 to 400 dollars it takes to buy a high quality test set to check for all the compounds  that  Bonnie has been making reference to.  Now if you consider that an aquarium is indoors and protected as opposed to a pond being virtually an unprotected outdoor aquarium.....well......you to the math.

I am no expert but I do know this, detritus will get in the pond in spite of your best efforts and it is the source of both  aerobic and anaerobic decomposition, which the former robs the pond of available D.O. to achieve its end and the latter produces hydrogen sulfide and other noxious elements to achieve its end.  Let  there be no mistake about it....clear water DOES NOT mean safe water.  Many harmful chemicals are clear and some odorless.  Clear water gives far too many pond keepers a false sense of security.  Before I could ever bring myself to be considered a “fish keeper“, I had to become proficient as a “water keeper” first and foremost.   So again the math is fairly easy for most folks.   


Paul   

 

125

Terrestrial Gardening / Re: Moses in the cradle ?

« on: April 10, 2007, 08:55:20 AM »

Will this help? 

Paul

126

Pond Chat / My noontime shadow.....

« on: March 15, 2007, 09:21:38 AM »

......checkin' the new arrivals last spring.  Ain't they cute!

127

Pond Chat / Re: Bricks and Cinder Blocks?

« on: March 15, 2007, 08:56:49 AM »

Thanks Jonna, my wife and I needed a bigger playground cause we were bulging at the fences in the back yard ( see my bit of jungle post ) so we bought this 3 acre strip of land.  Of course I couldn't wait to have something large enough for a Victoria lily and being on a shoestring budget....up came the wood frame pond right in the middle of huge batch of sandburs!   

Paul 

128

Pond Chat / Re: Bog bed anyone?

« on: March 14, 2007, 08:07:10 AM »

Hi Jonna,  the water does spill over to a lush lawn and the lotus is in a sperate 100 gallon container and I try to maintain 2-4 inches of water over the lip of the pots.

Paul

129

Terrestrial Gardening / Re: My papya plants.....

« on: March 13, 2007, 09:49:50 PM »

Thanks Tim!

130

Pond Chat / Re: Bog bed anyone?

« on: March 13, 2007, 09:45:17 PM »

OK folks here goes nothin'.... I built the bog 4' wide by 11' long and 11" deep the water level in the bog is 12" below the water level in the pond.  when the stand pipe is placed in its fitting in the bottom of the bog, the water level inside the stand pipe is the same as the water level in the koi pond.  lifting the stand pipe up from its fitting causes the water in the pond to rush trough the 3" bottom drain while taking a great deal of muck with it, straight to the bog thus feeding my bog plants.  As soon as the mucky, dark water gushing  into the bog clears up, I stab the stand pipe back into its seat, or fitting.   I have two bottom drains in this pond for the purpose of daily removal of the bottom water and muck, which usually happens to be the most toxic water in the pond.  It helps take some of the load off my bio filter...makes it happy....makes fishies happy.....makes ME happy.  Though I didn't show it in the diagram, the intake for the pump and filter system is 18" from the bottom, mounted in the side of the pond so that in the off occasion that I have a line break or some other mishap, the pond cannot be drained down and leave my fish without water.  I'd much rather burn up a swimming pool pump than loose my fish by pumping the pond dry.  I backwash  the mechanical filter into this bog on a daily basis also.  Bog plants for the most part are aquatic weeds and most people feel that weeds don't need feeding but I feed my weeds!!!   I will even put a layer of osmocote 13-13-13 in the bottom of the tub before planting bog plants and lilies in them.   So,  there is a rough diagram to refer to and I thought I'd throw in a photo showing the other side of the bog just in case you missed it in one of my other posts.  Holler if ya have any Q's and I'll try to come up with some A's.
         
Oh yes , Red Stem Thalia and parrots feather are in the bog photo  sorry the thalia is so small, I have images of larger specimens in the yard.


Paul 

131

Terrestrial Gardening / Re: My papya plants.....

« on: March 13, 2007, 07:07:13 PM »

Hi Kay,  I feed most everything  Osmocote.  For many years I used  14-14-14 thinking I had at least 3 to 4 months of slow release food for the plants until I read charts on how fast the food is released at temps of 90 degrees or more ( or somewhere around there ).  I buy two or three hundred pounds a year in fifty pound bags. When I read it was dumping its contents  in about a month at those temps, my head spun around.   Well as it turns out, osmocote 13-13-13 is rated at about 9 or 10 months at lower temps and at our Oklahoma Dutch Oven  temps from mid June on I get a three to four month release rate.  Hope that makes sense but anyhow  I get an actual 3 to 4 month slow release fertilizer using  13-13-13 at high temps.  So don’t buy 14-14-14 unless it’s for cool season or greenhouse use.



Yo Mikey,  the parent plant that these seeds came from is in the photo below and required no other plant to produce fruit, so it must have been a  dioecious plant, but I’ve read that they can be monecious, so I guess I was lucky with the parent plant.  Since it was a gift and was about two or two and a half feet high already when it was brought to me and I have no idea how old it was but I will be posting the progress on thes new ones.  I think I read something on changing the sex of a plant but I can’t remember the growers web address.              


Paul

132

Terrestrial Gardening / Re: Desert Rose....

« on: March 13, 2007, 05:41:03 PM »

You're right on all counts Kay.  I am truly blessed!

133

Terrestrial Gardening / My papya plants.....

« on: March 13, 2007, 12:20:07 AM »

.....are about nine weeks old now.     hope there aren't too many males.   

134

Terrestrial Gardening / Desert Rose....

« on: March 13, 2007, 12:15:38 AM »

......still blooming, but not for much longer.

135

Pond Chat / Peekin' in........

« on: March 12, 2007, 11:52:08 PM »

......on the goldfish pond.

136

Pond Chat / Bog bed anyone?

« on: March 12, 2007, 11:48:39 PM »

I think I've got cabin fever.

137

Pond Chat / Re: Bricks and Cinder Blocks?

« on: March 12, 2007, 03:38:20 PM »

My  only concern with brand  new concrete, mortar, or cinder blocks is the existence of hydrated lime or quick lime residue that still may be on the product.  These forms of lime are a good deal stronger than agricultural lime such as dolomite lime that is just a pulverized natural stone.  The lime can leach out of the cement in a concrete pond   in significant amounts because that is quite frankly a sizable amount of concrete, even in any fresh paving around the pond.  All the lime can be neutralized with a brush and a solution of muriatic acid used for swimming pools, ( be sure to wear eye and skin protection if you do it ).  I’m posting a photo of a frame I built for water lilies that holds 8,500 gallons.  I used over 40 spankin’ new cinder blocks from Home Depot to prop  the lilies up near the surface of the pond soon after completion.  Though you cannot see any fish, there are many in the tank and though  I’ve applied new blocks to every pond I’ve ever built…admittedly that’s only six…..I’ve never noticed any ill effect.   I do believe it has to do with whether there is enough free lime available to drive the ph up in a really significant way.         



Paul

138

Pond Chat / Re: If you had to choose...

« on: February 28, 2007, 04:48:51 PM »

Given that I could afford the cost, I’m opting for the 30,000 gallon pond with a U-V of proper size and possibly an ozone generator.  A 24 or 36 inch sand filter loaded with #4 industrial sand and a bio with at least 4,000 square feet of surface area for starters and add more surface area as needed, and it will be needed as I never can stop acquiring koi until I’m well past over stocked.  I guarantee the water will be clear with my daily backwash routine on the sand filter.  I have a quick release clamp on the sand filter, which allows me to lift the valve and stir the sand so as the break up the impacted bed (reversing the flow as with a normal backwash procedure only blows a few holes in the impacted sand bed)  to insure an effective backwash when the valve is replaced as well as more efficient mechanical filtration, thus  reducing sludge accumulation in the bio.  I do also use the high tech bead filters but 4,000 or more square feet of surface area would truly be expensive.  I’d rather build a cheaper and just as effective up-flow  gravity feed bio so I could apply the savings to a proper U-V.  When sizing a bio-filter to the pond  I NEVER use pond volume as a criteria.  Only this, 400 square feet of media surface area per 50 pounds of fish @ a feed rate of 2% of fish body weight per day.   Now let the  nay saying begin.   

139

Pond Chat / Re: The experiment begins!

« on: February 10, 2007, 11:39:14 AM »

Ya’ll pardon me, I still don’t have this quote thing down  yet!??!   

Paul

140

Pond Chat / Re: The experiment begins!

« on: February 10, 2007, 11:32:32 AM »

Hi Marilyn C and karen J,

One lily that confounds me is Patio Joe.

[Patio Joe confounds me too./quote]


I don’t know if this will help in regard to the Patio Joe quandary but a fella I’ve grown to know over the last 15 years told me some years back  that Perry Slocum named a lily after his wife, “Louise Villamarette”.  He told me that Colorado was one of the parents.   Joe told me once that his interest in water lilies began in 1967 and  has been the proprietor of a local pondering shop, Patio Garden Ponds, a good deal longer than the fifteen years I’ve known him.  Anyway, he has been referred to as “Patio Joe “ since I’ve known him.  It’s on his T-shirts, his truck, his news letters and flyers, etc.  So, I’ll try and remember to ask him if he knows anything about the origins of “Patio Joe” the lily when I see him next.     


Paul
 

141

Pond Chat / Re: The experiment begins!

« on: February 07, 2007, 08:20:03 PM »

I love this thread, pissing contest or not!   I’m sure it is boring to those who don’t need to learn  anything more, but even though I know enough after 15 years to have decent success, I am still a rank amateur and grateful for any tidbits of information that I can get.  People like Craig, Sean, Joyce and others not only have information that can be utilized to increase our proficiency in our pondering pursuits but have information that even if left unused will yet enrich the experience.  Do I know what questions to ask in order to pry knowledge from the minds of these people.  AN EMPHATIC NO!!!!   Do I have any half-baked opinions that  I would care to spew forth in order to evoke the kind of informed responses these people give.  NO AGAIN!!!   Then how else unless brave souls like Andrew  boldly step forth to be splayed with the swords of enlightenment.  Hail Andrew!   I have learned much and had great laughs as well both here and in the Koiphen posts from  Craig and Andrew.  This kind of discourse doesn’t need to be viewed as a negative thing, for there are great positives to be gleaned from it.  Thank  you for indulging me this moment for a comment.
 

Paul

142

Terrestrial Gardening / Re: MUlch from Tree trimming company.... anybody use this??

« on: February 02, 2007, 07:50:37 PM »

LeeAnne has the short answer alright Tink, but it has a long term consequences!    I guarantee it, but don’t take my word for it.  check out this site and the links at the bottom of it. 

http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=552


Paul

143

Terrestrial Gardening / Re: Mulch from heaven or vehicle abuse?

« on: February 01, 2007, 11:45:29 PM »

Hi Mikey!

As I recall your website left me with the impression that you have space constraints that would limit the size of your utility area for the purpose of making compost.  If you get yours bagged or bailed, odds are that it will be unfinished more often than not, or at least that’s the secondary reason I stopped getting packaged compost, the primary reason was cost.  I found that even if I finished the packaged stuff  myself, I couldn’t afford the cost of what it takes to conquer the soil problems you speak of.  So the first order of business for me was to find wholesale amounts as cheaply as possible, if not free.  Stable rentals and livestock shows were my first sources.  I like dry animal manures rather than wet manures.  Horse, sheep, rabbit and the like.  Feed lot manures have too much salt in them, the cows and such are on a movie theater diet, salt in the food to make you thirsty  to get more last minute weight on the hoof, not to mention the salt blocks layin’ around to add to it.  But as the years went buy  the straw that breaks down easily gave way to sawdust and wood chips for stable bedding.  Too high a carbon content for decomposition to suit my needs.   I need a product that has a high enough  natural nitrogen content that all I have to do is pile it up, add water and stir.  Then keep stirring or turning often for rapid decomposition.  When  a pile is finished, I’d rather use it all in a small space and get dynamic results from a few plants  than to take a chance of spreading too  thin and have marginal if not negligible results.  In your case it takes  a lot to hold surface moisture but it does work. I use composted cottonseed  hulls  as soil amendment  or even soil replacement (great for heavy feeding exotics) and then I blanket the beds with a two to four inch layer of raw cottonseed hulls  to insure  a capillary action just underneath the layer is insured.  If you not familiar with the effect, lay a large sheet of plastic on the ground and see how quickly sub soil moisture forms under the  plastic and you’ll see what I mean.  Be sure the soil is tilled before applying the mulch layer, that way the soil will say loose underneath the mulch all season long no matter how much you water or how much it rains.  I apply a few of the most active earthworms  I can locate and in no time I have them in abundance.  Where you are located (Z 10) 1000 breeders will produce at least a million in a season.  Before ya know it ya got worm boroughs all through the root zones of your plants laden with urea nitrogen and castings.  With about 252 kidneys per worm to lubricate their movement, you can expect a lot of urine.  I wish it were easy to collect, I’d use it as a foliar feed.  Oh well I digress.  In regard to your seeds Mikey  I’m not familiar with mushroom compost, so I have no idea how course or fine it is, nor any idea how  well composted it is, but maybe you can glean something from this.  I will compost prairie hay, in abundance around here, instead of using it as a mulch.  It has so many seeds in it that you get a weed patch if used as a mulch.  If thoroughly composted the seeds have rotted and will offer no problems, but in your case, though I’m not sure, that could be a problem.  Well there I go again, my kids tell their friends “don’t ask my dad any questions unless your prepared to listen a few hours to get the answer, if your lucky”.      Holler if ya think I can help. But I don’t promise any short answers unless it happens to be “ I just don’t know”. 


Paul

144

Pond Chat / Re: My old pond photos

« on: January 31, 2007, 08:25:33 PM »

Red Flare you say?  I couldn't see the "Truly Named" tag.<g>

That photo was pre "Truly Named" 1996.  I knew you'd peek!

145

Chit Chat / Re: From the Mountains to the Sea.....

« on: January 31, 2007, 04:17:23 PM »

Great shots Mikey, now I'll knock back a few shots and enjoy them some more!


Paul

146

Pond Chat / Re: Starting to Download my Vacation Pix...DONE!!!

« on: January 31, 2007, 03:55:08 PM »

Great pix Joyce!  I saw Kit but no Ben, Craig, or Darcy......camera shy?

147

Terrestrial Gardening / Re: MUlch from Tree trimming company.... anybody use this??

« on: January 31, 2007, 03:08:41 PM »

For my purposes the xylem of a tree has too high a carbon content, which means I have to watch my plants more carefully to insure they do not become chlorotic.   I prefer to mulch my bedding plants with a material with a natural nitrogen content  high enough that decomposition  of the mulch occurs without leaching  any soil borne nitrogen from my plants.  Since decomposition is primary in nature and plant growth is secondary, the carbon/nitrogen ratio must be considered  in using  a heavy mulch such as I do.  The carbon/nitrogen ratio needs to be around 30/1 (thirty parts carbon  to one part nitrogen ) for the average gardener making compost at a leisurely pace (six months to a year for the end product).   Over the years, I’ve mulched with oat straw, wheat straw, peanut hulls, pecan hulls, tree bark, shredded tree leaves, cottonseed hulls, sawdust, wood shavings and wood chips.  The materials I least like for bedding plants are sawdust, wood shavings, and wood chips , in fact I refuse to use them around any plants because the carbon/nitrogen ratio often approaches 800/1.  For the last fifteen years I have used shredded leaves and/or cottonseed hulls exclusively, with no ill effects to my plants except for an occasional crown rot when I’ve allowed the mulch to get too close to sensitive plants.  I don’t mention grass clippings as a mulch because they sour  quickly when applied green in a thick enough layer to be effective, thus  becoming smelly and drawing flies.  I much prefer making use of the high protein content of green grass clippings by tilling them thoroughly into the vegetable garden where they will be unrecognizable within two weeks, adding greatly to the nutrient content of the garden.   But for the intent and purpose of covering  large expanses heavily with wood chips to prevent or retard weed growth or cut down tracking mud when the area is wet, I would recommend it as long as it is 30 feet or more from your home or cars.  Wood products as mulch are notorious for harboring a type of fungus that mares the finish of home siding and cars….uh…some kind of shot or artillery fungus, I believe.   Anyway , I hope this helps Tinkster….if not …give me a holler!
Paul

148

Terrestrial Gardening / Mulch from heaven or vehicle abuse?

« on: January 30, 2007, 06:01:23 PM »

Got my thirteenth load today.    That adds up to seventeen and a half tons of cottonseed  hulls for mulching the beds and composting.  I guess  that puts me about half way to getting this season’s supply.   Nothing like viewing a bed of plants cloaked in a gray tweed mulch.   

149

Pond Chat / Re: My old pond photos

« on: January 30, 2007, 07:46:50 AM »

That combination of film and scanner seems to have handled the tonal range and colour very well, which scanner did you try?

The little red waterlily looks like a humdinger, does it have a name? It looks like a keeper

Hi Andy,
It's not just a scanner but the HP all in one Officejet 6310xi.

The red lily in the photo is (cover your eyes Craig  ) red flare.

Paul

150

Chit Chat / Re: vanilla beans

« on: January 26, 2007, 11:53:07 PM »

Woops...I left out the photo!