Fertilizer questions

[Lynne22]

I got off doing all of them at once, since my pond was so small, I didn't want there to be too much dissolved fertilizer in the water. Now, I can't remember exactly who I fed, and when, LOL. Anyway. I have noticed some changes in the past few days, but I am reluctant to add more tabs to a few of the pots, because there is a white residue on the pads that have gotten pond water on them. I'm assuming that means there is a lot of phosphate in the water. Am I right?

If there is a lot of phosphate in the water, what ill affects would it cause to feed 2 more of the lilies? I have 4 lilies in 330 gallons. I have never given them what the directions say, only 1-2 tabs per 18 qt. dishpan. I know the tropical got fed last week, the lemon mist, I can't remember, but I'd say 3-ish weeks ago, and 2 tabs. The hardies, within the last week, they have both gotten 1 tab each, but both are showing signs of slowing down. One of them- the pads are hugs, and blooms small, the other, small blooms, small pads, when the older pads were much larger.

The tropical has an abundance of pads, and huge, but I think they might be a tad lighter green than they use to be-new. However, the blooms on the trickett are HUGE, but they fall over at the end of the first day, they perk back up the next, then they are done on the 3rd day.

The lemon mist had 4 buds, nothing new visible coming up, and an abundance of pads, multiples daily. This lily as well as one of the hardies has another growing point, so I wonder if that's not slowing the main part of the plant down?

The water is crystal clear, no algae at all, except for a few of the rocks. I just don't want to dose them too much, because of the amount of water, and I have a pleco in there as well.

Advice? Thanks.

[Lynne22]

Let me just add this; none of them seem to be supporting 2 open blooms at the same time, very well. One bloom always suffers. They have all had 2 blooms open for the last week, and it seems that one of them won't make it 3 days. Is it the heat maybe? It's not as hot here as where some of you are, only 95? today I think?

[frogman3]

If you add the fertilizer correctly you should not have any significant amount of Phosphates released into the water. Phosphates released into the water typically encourages suspended algae blooms. How much sun does your pond receive?

[Lynne22]

Hi frogman,

My pond gets full sun, all day. The water is very warm - 85 degrees. I guess when I started to fertilize them back in May, my concern was that if I gave them what the package said, that would have been 12 tabs in the entire pond, which I thought might cause some issues. I haven't had any algae except right at start up. The fert is 10-12-8, and I have used a couple of the miracle grow spikes well over a month ago, which were 6-12-6. I didn't notice any benefit from them at all. The white residue on the pads, I think is what's spooking me too. There are no other chemicals in the pond.

[frogman3]

Lynne, I could not tell you what the white residue might be but I'm not shy about fertilizer use. Most of my hardiest are planted in 16" dia pots with 4-5 inches of clay soil and I use 3 jobes fertilize spikes every two weeks in each pot. Works for me, today I had 42 blooms from 8 pots some of which were divided this spring. Lemon mist which I has been divided twice this year had 5 blooms today but had more earlier this week. Give it a shot experiment a little and see if it improves their performance.

[Lynne22]

I went ahead and gave the lemon mist a tab this morning, and will give the other ones a tab throughout the week. Thanks frogman. The fact that I don't have any algae-at all- makes me think they could probably use a bit more. Hey, if the water goes green, I'll know there is too much in there. 

[SueSTx]

The tabs I use recommends 2 tabs per gallon of "dirt".  I use 3 gallon dishpans and I do add 6 tablets per pan.  Yes my water is greenish and I can hardly see the fish unless they are feeding, but they do not seem to mind and I do have multiple blooms per pan.  The Pink Ribbon had seven open blooms today.  I think there are two tubers in that pan.

[Lynne22]

Hey Sue, I'd settle for some green water if I can get mine to bloom the way yours do. 

[Mike S.]

Per the people at AgSafe, the fertilizer tends to move up thru the soil in the pot, not so much down and out thru any holes in the pot. Guess that why we get told to put a "top dressing" of sand in the pot. I've always done this, but cannot say for sure that it actually makes a difference.

But I can say that I have a number of small ponds with lots of plants and the water goes green at the pond's start up, clears up in a couple of weeks, and stays that way.

Here, I am talking about water gardens in the strict sense. The only ponds I've ever had to battle with green water was when the pond was being kept primariliy for the fish. Even then, a biofilter that was actually matched to the fish load kept the water clear.

But green water simply from fertilizer in the plant pots? I've not seen it. Usually other factors involved. Just my opinion.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL