Want Them All

Hi,

I just picked up one of these, it even has the yellow flower! I'm planning on putting it in my pond. I'd appreciate it if you guys can help me with the following questions:

[1] It's currently in a 5-gallon plastic pot. The seller told me to just put it in the pond, don't worry about the soil leaking out. I'm very concerned about the soil messing up the balance of the pond water. I looked around town at 3 different places for "aquatic" soil. None had it. One store personnel told me that aquatic soil is overrated, they're mostly gravels anyways. They said that I can use pea gravels instead, and just add some aquatic plant fertilizer to the pond. Does that sound OK?

[2] I also looked for a mesh basket, since the pot the plant came in is just the run-of-the-mill black plastic. Isn't it much better to use a mesh pot, since the roots can stick out better? There's nothing like that availabe at the stores I went to, so I'm planning on drilling a bunch of holes into the original pot, figure that's just as good, what do you think?

[3] How deep should I place this plant in the pond?

Thanks!!

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bepah

1) Pea gravel is fine but remember, you will have to move and clean the pot at some time. After the silt, roots, etc. get into the pot, it will weigh a ton. Also if the plant uses all of the aquatic fertilizer, it will stop growing. I would suggest fish, which add fertilizers all of the time.

2) If the roots stick out of the mesh basket, the rhizomes that create pups will as well. 'Fontenesii' often send rhizomes out at above ground in boggy instances,....you'll need to determine how you want this plant to grow. It pups often.

3) It can go as low as a foot under water, but 6 inches would probably help it grow better.

Good luck. One of my favorite plants. Mine are set in a boggy setting and the stems are about 4-5 feet tall and the leaves are nearing 2 feet in length.

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John Case
Rookie Gardener, Veteran Drinker

saltydad

I use pea gravel an inch or so thick on top of all my aquatic plant pots. This not only prevents silt from getting in the water, but also helps keep the fish from digging up and eating the roots (Koi are notorious for this). I use plant tabs monthly during the growing season even though my plants are in a fish pond. I also tend to use aquatic 'soil', as it is lighter in weight. As John mentioned, these pots get heavy as the plant grows. Good luck!

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Want Them All

OK, so for a little extra "fertilizer", I'll add a few gold fish, I definitely don't want Koi. If I understand you guys correctly, the roots will start growing out of the holes in the pot (either mesh or the holes that I drill), and from those roots more pups will form and become more plants. Let's say I don't cut them back and let them grow, the new plants from these pups will grow under the water without any container. That's OK, right?

The plant I bought has a main plant and a couple smaller plant-lets. I think I'll separate them at this time and give each of them their own pot. That way they won't be real heavy with all the pea gravels inside the pots.

Thanks,

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