O.K...Gardencrazy Donna sent me a bag of something to cover my pond to shade my fishies. The fish ate almost all of it the first few days...but then it started multiplying like crazy...and has now covered my pond!
I love this stuff!
My question... Is it O.K. to cover the entire pond...or will they (my fish) smother if it's all the way covered? My pond is not very deep...and it is quite hot here...up in the 90's everyday. They need the shade.
Here's one of the "babies"... ...they are getting HUGE!
I think this must be his daddy...
Thanks for all your help... I thank you...and my fishies thank you!
Cindy
* * * * Buckle up! It makes it harder for the aliens to suck you out of your car! Plants: 43285 | Registered: Mar 2004
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How long did it take for yours to take off like that? I see little leaves starting to form on the plants you sent me, but they haven't expanded like that yet.
Mary, I seem to remember Cindy telling me that it was salvinia.
* * * * Lynne's knitting journal "I'm spayed, declawed, and housebound - how's YOUR day going???" Plants: 17066 | From: Rockland County, NY | Registered: Nov 2003
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quote: How long did it take for yours to take off like that? I see little leaves starting to form on the plants you sent me, but they haven't expanded like that yet.
Once it starts taking off...and it sounds like it has...it's FAST! Donna sent me those in the middle of June...and the fish ate almost all of it the first few days. So, from mid-June until now...it has covered my entire pond.
* * * * Buckle up! It makes it harder for the aliens to suck you out of your car! Plants: 43285 | Registered: Mar 2004
| Seeded: 70.35.241.223
posted
wow that's awesome - I'm writing it down - for my future pond. It looks beautiful, and helps shade the fishies - what more could ya ask for. In my field we call that 'functional decor'
Been trying to find a reference online to 'too much shade' in a pond, and haven't turned anything up yet, so I'm thinking that's a good sign.
* * * * Plants: 1561 | From: z6 S. Illinois | Registered: May 2005
| Seeded: 66.82.9.48
posted
I gotta find some of that its beautiful. All the nurseries around here have such crappy looking pond areas I am afraid to bring home crap from them and put it in my pond. For fear of bringing home some disease to my fishies. Maybe an online search will help!
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It doesn't matter where you go in life... It's who you have beside you when you get there.
quote: Not to alarm ya but this sight here says that can kill your fish if it gets overgrown too much might want to read it.
quote: Dense salvinia colonies provide habitat for micro invertebrates but if salvinia completely covers the surface of a pond it will cause dissolved oxygen depletions and fish kills.
Oh! I guess I need to get rid of some.
What do I do? Just take some out and throw it away???
I wonder what Donna does...?
* * * * Buckle up! It makes it harder for the aliens to suck you out of your car! Plants: 43285 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Invasive or not I still realy like the look of it and the beauty it adds. My pond is rather large 8ft by 11 1/2 feet and is so blah looking. I realy need to work on it next year told hubby we were gonna spruce it up. I would suggest just pulling it out by hand to a managable amount. Cant be that difficult to do since its a floater.
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It doesn't matter where you go in life... It's who you have beside you when you get there.
posted
From my experience just about 99% of all aquatics can be invasive. I think as long as you are responsible and don't dump these into any natural waterways around you it should be fine. It is prohibited and classified as a noxious weed in several US states(Florida, Texas, Maine, Vermont, Louisianna ect..). I am in zone 6b and mine gets killed out every winter from the freeze but it seems to survive in Maine and Vermont??
posted
Do you think I could bring some of this in the house put it in a water container and hold it over for the winter months. I would hate to see it die. Maybe like an aquarium in my laundry room or possibly in my greenhouse if I get one. Or maybe one of those big square rubbermaid containers. That would probably help keep the greenhouse moisture level up too.
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It doesn't matter where you go in life... It's who you have beside you when you get there.
posted
Umm I plan on planting some hostas around my pond area..........So thanks but no thanks! Dont they get out and eat your plants? Or am I on the wrong kinda snail?
* * * *
It doesn't matter where you go in life... It's who you have beside you when you get there.
quote:From my experience just about 99% of all aquatics can be invasive.
Yikes!
quote:I compost it.
Wahoo! I love compost
quote:I have 5,000 snails
EEEEEEEEEK! In my twisted head (oh come on you know it's twisted) snails and slugs are in the same category of 'pests' in my garden - but that's probably because I don't have a pond, but do have hostas that they like to munch Why can't we all just get along?
* * * * Plants: 1561 | From: z6 S. Illinois | Registered: May 2005
| Seeded: 66.82.9.31
Slugs SUCK! My snails are very well-behaved creatures that live in my pond and eat algae. If they get out of the water by accident (like when Andy's grandson took a bunch of them out!) they will die. They have to stay in the water.
quote: In my twisted head (oh come on you know it's twisted)
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| Seeded: 70.35.241.223
quote: Water snails or scavengers do an important job in every water garden. Water snails will not leave the pond, and these varieties will not eat any decorative plants.
Check this out! These things cost 20 bucks for 6 of them! I could get rich!!!
YIPPPEEEE!!!!
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| Seeded: 70.35.241.223
posted
ok ok send 2 make sure you send one of each male and female.........ummmmm you figure out how to tell the difference..... Ya think we can have that talk sometime this week, the husband would so appreciate it!
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It doesn't matter where you go in life... It's who you have beside you when you get there.
posted
I have tried to over winter several floaters and haven't had any success. They require so much light and it is hard to give them enough in a house even with grow lights. They just seem to rot.
As for snails it really depends on what kind you get. Some will eat your plants and some won't. I don't know enough about them except they do lay eggs and reproduce quickly.
posted
I have looked for salvinia at the nurseries, but it seems that water plants are hard to find here. I saw some at Wal-mart in Summerville, but some dummy had emptied all the water out of the plants. Said that it was causing the skeeters to multiply. Now how smart is that? Empty the water out of water plants? Sheesh!
quote: As for snails it really depends on what kind you get. Some will eat your plants and some won't.
Mine are not plant eaters. They just eat algae off everything. That was the first thing I had in my pond. Andy had told a friend about my "pond adventure", and that it was starting to turn a little "green". His wife went out to their pond and got the snails to send home with him. They do a very good job. They just hang out on the rocks, sides of pots, etc. and suck down algae all day...like miniature wet/dry vacs!
I took 3 full buckets of salvinia out of the pond, and still have quite a bit in the pond. Now I can see my fishies again! I swear, it's hard to believe that Gardencrazy sent me a little bit of salvinia in a ziplock bag, and it has turned into buckets now! And all the other plants she sent are beautiful, and all growing so big!
Even though I've been so ignorant about the pond, I must be doing O.K. at this point, because everything is still alive!
How big do goldfish get? Mine are getting so big it's kind of freaking me out. The original ones are about 6-7 inches long, and real fat. The babies are getting huge...some already about 3-4 inches long. I'm going to have to build a much bigger pond at Rachel's than the one I have here.
Cindy
* * * * Buckle up! It makes it harder for the aliens to suck you out of your car! Plants: 43285 | Registered: Mar 2004
| Seeded: 70.35.241.223
If I am not mistaken goldfish will grow to the size of their environment. So if they are cramped they will be smaller. It also has to do with their genetics. Some will only ever get 7" and some will get 12".
Overcrowding can also cause health problems as well as water quality problems.
posted
Nice pond. Great fishies. I never had time to get any though. One thing, I don't have a pond. I'm thinking of redesigning my garden.
Plants: 12 | From: La La Land | Registered: Oct 2005
| Seeded: 69.234.74.73
posted
ANYONE!!!! If you have extra pond plants or extra pond life (snails, fish) I would be more than happy and willing to pay the postage and handling to have it shipped to me. I can even send you the containers to send them in. I just really need some stuff for my outdoor ponds and my indoor aquariums. PLEASE, let me know if you are willing. Cece In Canada.
posted
cece, i deleted your email. anyone on the forum who wants to reach you can pm you, and by deleting your email, it prevents spammers from getting it. they have "spambots" that scan websites looking for the email address that folks post in forums.
Seeded: 12.77.200.235
posted
Ok, i have a few questions on this subject here..i have one pond plant..the pond i have now, is only around 100 gallons ( i have way to many fish in it, but i'm waiting for hubby to put in the other preformed pond..and start digging the next...anyhow..so i have 1 plant..ummmm would it be bad if i went down the road..and dug up some cattails from along side the road?? what other plants can be put around the pond..not in it..but around..to give it that look..i'm clueless on these types of plants..as this is my 2nd year with this thing..and already going to have 3 ponds..the new one will be about 30 x 5 x 3...i think...with a tree in the middle..hehe..can't wait for hubby to start digging..although i did say i would help..i'm sure i can not be feeling well that day..hehe..so if someone could just help me out with these plants..i'd appreciate it..and just like karrie said ..about the plants at the stores look ugh...they do too here..i don't get it how you all have beautiful plants..and these here look dead and icky..like they will infest my pond with something
Plants: 178 | From: Indiana | Registered: Apr 2006
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