Messages

1

Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Re: Wanted- Dwarf Sagittaria

« on: April 11, 2011, 08:51:58 AM »

LeeAnne,

This weekend I did the first bit of pond clean up and had to go searching for my helvola. It seems something knocked the pot over and the plant became dislodged. It is alive but just barely shoeing signs of new growth. At this point, I wouldn't know where to divide it. I re-potted and moved it to a warmer sunnier location. I'll let you know when it wakes up.

This is my first spring with helvola. I'm not used to dealing with such a small rhizome. I may have more divisions than I think because I am used to seeing bigger plants. These things are tiny!

2

Pond Chat / Re: Hello, newbie here

« on: March 22, 2011, 06:55:28 AM »

Your hubby will begrudgingly come around one he sees all the little fishies peacefully swimming. I agree with keeping it to goldfish. I don't think you will need mosquito fish and I never really got into koi. I don't have much room so seeing multiple smaller fish schooling with more space and around plants is better than a few big fish swimming back and forth in an empty tank. If you get a mix of orange, sarassa and shubunkin, you will have plenty of visual interest. I look at my pond as a miniature koi pond. Not to mention, goldies are easier to take care of IMHO. . .

3

Chit Chat / Re: Google Earth

« on: March 21, 2011, 08:33:56 AM »

Years ago I looked at the satellite images of all the usual places, home, old homes, work. . . I thought it was so cool that I could locate my car in my work parking lot (always the same parking space) so I knew I was at work at the time the images were taken. For some reason I thought it was neat that I had a vague idea of what I was doing at the time. I just checked again. The images have of course been updated. When I looked at my house, my wife's car was parked in the center of the driveway. I only park it there when I need to get the lawnmower in and out. Now I know I was mowing the lawn when the image was taken.

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Pond Chat / Re: recommend a submerged plant

« on: March 18, 2011, 12:25:53 PM »

For what it's worth, I have tried mondo underwater without success. A quick internet search yields comments that it is not a true underwater plant and should not be sold as one.

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Pond Chat / Re: recommend a submerged plant

« on: March 18, 2011, 06:35:51 AM »

That's the one. I am pretty sure I can get it locally too. I'm not going to shop around too much for it yet since the water is still cold. If I find it for trade, I can keep it inside but I'm not going to bother with that if I am just buying it down the street.

Hurry up spring! it got up to 80 degrees yesterday (will not last) and it felt so good. Most of the fish were out of hiding when I cam home from work.

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Pond Chat / Re: recommend a submerged plant

« on: March 17, 2011, 12:59:43 PM »

Lawanna, that's okay you have pointed me in the right direction. It is also good to know that you had it in a kiddie pool. If it did well in an above ground tank in 6b, I'm sure it will be fine 2 feet down in 6b/5a. . . where did you get yours? Did you just start with a small amount? If I don't source any here, I will just buy some at a fish store when the weather warms up. I could have a good amount by the end of next year.

7

Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Wanted- Dwarf Sagittaria

« on: March 17, 2011, 08:29:43 AM »

Does have (or expect to have) an abundance of dwarf sagittaria they are looking to thin out? Before I order some small starts from an aquarium place, I figured I'd ask here to see if I cold get more bang for my buck. . . I could also trade, too early to say for sure, but I should have extra of the following:

Unnamed pink hardy lily.
Attraction hardy lily.
Arc en Ciel hardy lily.
Helvola dwarf hardy lily.
Pickerel (blue flowering)*.
Pickerel (white flowering)*.
Horsetail rush.
Iris (purple)*.
Iris (yellow)*.
Stonecrop. This is a green sedum that puts out little yellow star shaped flowers. I picked a few pieces off a wall at a local park and tossed them on the rocks in/around the waterfall. They have spread nicely and I really am liking the look of them surrounding the water flow.

* plants are mixed up and I don't know which colors they are until they bloom.

Depending on how well they fared the winter, I may also have:
Spearmint.
Peppermint.
Variegated water celery.
Bob bean.

Thanks all!

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Pond Chat / Re: recommend a submerged plant

« on: March 17, 2011, 08:12:57 AM »

I am really liking the idea of dwarf sagittaria. I remember reading about it before but it didn't stick out in my head because I could never find any evidence that it would be hardy for me. What did you have it planted in? Could I just put down a layer of gravel, sand or kitty litter? That would be ideal because I prefer the look (to just black liner) and could periodically suck it up and rinse it out. then just replant the sagittaria (it would need thinning from time to time anyway). Sure would be great if someone here had it and could share or trade. I better start a thread over in the exchange.

9

Pond Chat / Re: recommend a submerged plant

« on: March 17, 2011, 07:30:25 AM »

Thanks guys,

Scott, I figured it was a bit of a long shot. . .
Lawanna, I'm hitting google now.

Keep the suggestions coming!

10

Pond Chat / Re: recommend a submerged plant

« on: March 16, 2011, 09:09:32 AM »

I should add that I have tried anacharis and for some reason it didn't thrive. It grew well for a while then just stopped and the little broken off bits clogged the filter. I had a similar plant who's name escapes me at the moment. The finer texture of the leaves became the perfect place for SA to grow and it looked gross.

I am thinking about java moss but am concerned that it wold run amok and also that it may not look too much different than SA. Anyone want to weigh in here?

In case it makes a difference, I'll list the specks and plants I have:
- 550 gal.
- 20 gal. skippy type filter feeding small waterfall.
- 4 water lilies fertilized with osmocote.
- loads of pickerel (skippy filled with the stuff).
- Iris.
- horsetail.
- two kinds of mint.*
- bog bean.*
- water celery.*
- stoncrop (sedum) in waterfall.

* Started last year, haven't really taken off yet.

11

Pond Chat / recommend a submerged plant

« on: March 16, 2011, 08:59:17 AM »

I am pretty much set with plants, but I just cant' resist the spring urge to hunt down the next pond addition. Last year I broke down and added UV which completely eliminated spring lag between suspended algae and plant growth, fuled an existing string algae problem. Without the small amount of platonic algae to help the plants tie up nutrients, the string algae was worse than ever. I usually don't have many underwater plants because they either don't thrive, clog my pump or get covered in string algae and look awful. Can anyone recommend an underwater plant that meets the below criteria:

- Low growing 6 to 8 inches or better yet less (I don't want any more plants that breach the surface and take away the visual appeal of the lily leaves.
- Not free floating.
- hardy to zone 5a 6b.
- hungry (hopefully give the SA a run for its money).
- small sample available here or locally to try it out.

Would be even better if:

- interesting color.
- gracefully flows in the water currents.
- low maintenance.

I would love something that I could "carpet" part of the bottom with.

12

Pond Chat / Re: Plant question..

« on: March 11, 2011, 11:07:31 AM »

That makes more sense. I don't keep trops. so I can't help you. . .

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Aquatic and Terrestrial Plant Exchange / Re: anyone wanna trade a helvola for a lotus...

« on: March 11, 2011, 07:37:36 AM »

Tink, it sounds like you are covered but if it falls through, I might have some later in the year. It was 25 degrees this morning so I won't see any growth for a while. . .

14

Pond Chat / Re: Plant question..

« on: March 10, 2011, 12:50:56 PM »

miguynmkoi are you talking about hardy or tropical lilies? What do you mean by mushy? I can't imagine a hardy dying in SoCal from cold weather. Are the rhizomes getting mushy or just the part of the plant that is above the soil?

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Pond Chat / Re: Plant question..

« on: March 10, 2011, 11:13:37 AM »

What kind of plants are we talking about? My Iris was growing through the ice this winter, the stonecrop on my waterfall has already begun to spread out. . . I have hosta and horsetail that freeze each year and come back. This year I forgot to sink my pickerell down for the winter. I'm not too concerned because the two I forgot last year came back (albiet slower than the others).

I'm sure any (hardy) lillies will be fine unless they froze solid. I bet if you listed what you have someone here will be able to share an experience with each plant and freezing.

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Pond Chat / Re: I'm coming down with something.

« on: February 15, 2011, 09:50:21 AM »

It has warmed up here in St. Louis. last night, about half the surface area of my pond was ice free. I even saw 6-8 of the fish lurking around. It was too dark to figure out who they were, but encouraging nonetheless. I even saw one of the babies that I thought would be too small to make it.

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Chit Chat / Re: have a laugh o me

« on: December 23, 2010, 03:53:07 PM »

Wow that raised just about every red flag in the scamming world. The sad thing is good people get fooled/cheated by this stuff.

18

Pond Chat / Re: Fry raising this year

« on: September 20, 2010, 03:07:40 PM »

I had a fish who was actually named Toby because of his size (read taste for fish fry). This year a heron gave him a taste of his own medicine.

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Wakin, Shubunkins and Goldfish... / Re: Double tailed commet (uh I mean interesting feeder fish)

« on: September 20, 2010, 11:37:25 AM »

I know what you mean. . . there technically is no room at the inn, but I couldn't resist these guys  .

20

Pond Chat / Re: Starting tropical lily seeds

« on: September 19, 2010, 08:37:13 PM »

Yeah Scott, only one left. I had 3 but needed the aquarium to quarantine some baby fish. . . For some reason, they left the big one alone.

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Wakin, Shubunkins and Goldfish... / Re: Double tailed commet (uh I mean interesting feeder fish)

« on: September 19, 2010, 05:45:57 PM »

So, first an update on this little guy. He is dong very well and growing at a good rate. His tail(s) have gotten longer. Once he got settled in the pond, the tails started to spread out further and he has taken on a more wobbley swimming pattern (think halfway between the streamlined moves of a comet and  the slow wobble of a fantail).

Now the  interesting part. At least I think it is interesting, maybe this is commonplace and I am getting excited about nothing. I was at the same PetSmart a few weeks ago and found two more of these in the $0.13 tank. Naturally they came home with me. One is orange with white fins. the other is all white with a small orange spot on his head. Their tails are already spread out quite a bit. I wish I had thought to update this with pictures while they were in the quarantine tank. They went in the pond yesterday and I will never get a good picture now.

How common is this? I assume the feeders they are getting at this store are the culls from somewhere. Does this happen a lot? They are great looking fish, I'm surprised no one has tried to breed them like this (assuming this is a common mutation). Any input?

22

Wakin, Shubunkins and Goldfish... / Re: wakin & watoni pics

« on: September 19, 2010, 05:30:37 PM »

Cindy, I'm in St. Louis too. South County. . . how about you?

23

Pond Chat / Re: Starting tropical lily seeds

« on: September 19, 2010, 05:23:08 PM »

I haven't updated my progress in a while. . . There is not much to say, my seedling is now doing well. It has very slowly been getting bigger. I have about 9 leaves now. None have reached the surface yet. I think I am through the difficult part. It will winter in my little heated aquarium until the pond temps outside go up in the spring/summer.

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Pond Chat / Re: pea soup????

« on: August 13, 2010, 11:18:35 AM »

Are you trying to use this IN the water? Many/most UV clarifiers are not intended to be submerged; I have no knowledge of this one however. Do the instructions say it can be submerged?

Also, I am not sure I understand the problem you are having. Can you elaborate?

25

Chit Chat / Re: What American accent do you have? (We did this once before and it was a lot of f

« on: August 09, 2010, 09:03:33 AM »

Your Result: The Midland
 
"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.

They got me right on, that tends to happen when your guesses are incredibly vague. Basically they said I could be from somewhere in the US. Well St. Louis (born and raised) is in the US. It did get one thing right, I don't have the awful St. Louis accent.

26

Chit Chat / Re: Just one hellova photo

« on: August 06, 2010, 07:18:59 AM »

I guessing by the prices that this is a movie set.?.

27

Pond Chat / Re: If you build it they will come..

« on: August 02, 2010, 01:05:40 PM »

WOW! That is really neat. To get to be visited by a yellow, red and blue is neat enough but all three in the same photo is really something.

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Pond Chat / Re: Divided and Repotted Lillies - How Long to Grow?

« on: July 29, 2010, 02:35:58 PM »

Matherfish, showing my ignorance here. . . this is not the first time I have heard of hardies building strength during the winter months. This concept seems counter intuitive to me. It seems that if a plant has no leaves and is not actively growing, it cannot be bringing in (creating) energy, rather it is living in (to some degree) a state of suspension and using (though probably a minuscule amount) of the energy it created and stored during the season. There must be something happening that I am not considering (therefore misunderstanding the concept). Are these plants actually acquiring energy w/o photosynthesis, or are they somehow using the dormant period to convert the stored energy to some other usable form for spring? I know I am not asking this question very well, sorry.

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Pond Chat / Re: MANY photos from Longwood Gardens!

« on: July 29, 2010, 09:16:59 AM »

Wow great pictures and beautiful gardens!

I can't help but ask , why the picture of Arch En Ciel lists it as a tropical day blooming water lily on the placard?

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Pond Chat / Re: Divided and Repotted Lillies - How Long to Grow?

« on: July 29, 2010, 07:08:11 AM »

Far from an expert here. . . How much did you cut back on the roots when you divided. Early on, I was of the impression that you should trim back many/most of the roots when you divide. I don't remember where I got this impression, it was probably misunderstanding on my part. . . lately I have been keeping more roots in tact with quicker success, though there is still a settling in time.  I would imagine temperature and other factors would play a big role in this as well. Hang in there, someone who knows what he/she is talking about, is bound to show up.