How Many Plants Should I Plant in My New Pond?

Submitted by Terri on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 21:24.

I am very new to all this and I am not sure how many plants I should plant in my pond. From the interview with Aaron Powers that I got with my free site membership I understood that pond plants are a key commponent to water quality. I also understand that they can grow and reproduce rather rapidly. I don't want to start with too many in the pond so they are choked out, but I also don't want too few so they do not really do their job and keep the water clear and clean. Can someone with more experience please help me out?

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Plants & Fish

Submitted by OzTambo on Sun, 05/31/2009 - 11:43.

I had an issue with too many plants for many years, I would
just cull them every 3 months, mainly water hyacinths, lilies but also with a
few other styles of grasses.

This seems to work well, about 1-2 years ago when my fish
got over 10 inches I started noticing that the fish would eat the lilies and
dig out the grasses, now with my Koi approaching 20 inches and the average size
being close to 15 inchs I cannot keep any plants in my pond...

The koi either eat the roots or chop off the Lilly leaves..

Is there an option I have tried baskets cheese cloth and it
still winds up with the soil at the bottom of the pond and dead plant in the
skimmer...

safe guarding plants

Submitted by David Barkey on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 20:17.

The first thing I would suggest is to build a bog/veggy filter . I use one with my pond . It is about a foot deep of river rock with pockets of earth for the plants . The water is pumped in to the far end and works it way through the plants to the pond spilling over the edge and back in to the pond . There are many different way to build one so do a little research to see which type would be best. If adding on is not viable option right now , try a new product out . It is a large flouting island mat that allows the plant to root into the foam. Unlike the floating baskets. One other thing I have seen done is to use plastic fencing and literaly fence off an area the fish can not go , if you have the room to do so. Well hope this helps

In one of Garth resent

Submitted by David Barkey on Fri, 04/17/2009 - 17:01.

In one of Garth resent artical he gives a industry standard formula for plant coverage. I willl leave you to look this up as there is just too much other good info in it and related articals. The best piece of advice is that it is easier to remove excess plant matter , than to battle poor water quality. As for how much and how fast the plant grow depends on two things. How much sun they get and how much nutrients are in the water . The sun is a hard one to control as the pond is not easily moved around . The nutrient levels how ever are totally in your control, by how much if any fertilizer you use and by how much you feed your fish . All that food and decaying vegitation all ends up as plant food in the end, if your eco system is working right . What I do is to add a few annual plants in early summer to go with all the perenial plants that winter in the pond every year. I have a large bog/veg. filter that I have alot large growing plants . As I feed my fish during the summer the eco system breeks down the waste and the plants grow so at the end of the season when I cut back and remove all that organic matter I have removed all that I had put in keeping the system in balance. Btw all that organic matter goes into the composter for our gardens the next year. Now thats recycling :) at its best. I hope this helps. There is a lot of good reading here in past journal and blog postings .