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Newbie here again. I have several marginal plants in containers in the
water around the edge of my pond, with their surfaces at water level.
I use a recommended planting medium, which appears to be clay-based
with not a lot else (from a thread in this NG in March this year I got
the impression that almost any medium will do for marginal plants as
long as it's not got fertiliser in it. Kitty litter and gravel, two
extremes if ever there were any, seemed equally OK).
One of the plants (Equisetum somethingorother, aka Horsetail IIRC, and
not Mare's Tail, which is Hippuris) was not doing very well, with
quite a lot of dead stems, so I thought I'd tidy it up and see if
there was any problem at the roots. It came out of the compost very
easily as it hardly had any roots, and what there were, were black and
stinking.
Is this normal? Judging by the plant's behaviour, probably not, but
OTOH the sludge in ponds can be pretty smelly AIUI, and I would think
any clay system immersed in water is likely to go that way. Is that
the case? Do the folks here who use a clay-based planting medium find
it smelly when they come to re-pot or divide their plants?
--
Chris
E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net
0
Smelly plant medium
Started by Guest_Chris Hogg_*, May 20 2009 08:03 PM
9 replies to this topic
#2 Guest_~ jan_*
-
- Guests
Posted 24 May 2009 - 07:42 PM
On Wed, 20 May 2009 16:03:49 EDT, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>Newbie here again. I have several marginal plants in containers in the
>water around the edge of my pond, with their surfaces at water level.
>I use a recommended planting medium, which appears to be clay-based
>with not a lot else (from a thread in this NG in March this year I got
>the impression that almost any medium will do for marginal plants as
>long as it's not got fertiliser in it. Kitty litter and gravel, two
>extremes if ever there were any, seemed equally OK).
>
>One of the plants (Equisetum somethingorother, aka Horsetail IIRC, and
>not Mare's Tail, which is Hippuris) was not doing very well, with
>quite a lot of dead stems, so I thought I'd tidy it up and see if
>there was any problem at the roots. It came out of the compost very
>easily as it hardly had any roots, and what there were, were black and
>stinking.
>
>Is this normal? Judging by the plant's behaviour, probably not, but
>OTOH the sludge in ponds can be pretty smelly AIUI, and I would think
>any clay system immersed in water is likely to go that way. Is that
>the case? Do the folks here who use a clay-based planting medium find
>it smelly when they come to re-pot or divide their plants?
Yes, clay is *really* stinking, simply because the water does not move thru
it like it will thru rocks & sand. Why I use ~ 99.5% sand in my containers.
I still use fertilizer tabs in the sand, with no ill effects on my water
quality. I do encase the soil in weed fabric, solid on bottom & sides,
strips on top.
Even sand gets stinky in a solid pot. I use mostly baskets so there is some
flow thru.
As far as horsetail. I'm not sure what the roots normally look like, but I
know it dies back to the surface and comes up new each year, as do many
pond plants. Just trim off the old. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us
>Newbie here again. I have several marginal plants in containers in the
>water around the edge of my pond, with their surfaces at water level.
>I use a recommended planting medium, which appears to be clay-based
>with not a lot else (from a thread in this NG in March this year I got
>the impression that almost any medium will do for marginal plants as
>long as it's not got fertiliser in it. Kitty litter and gravel, two
>extremes if ever there were any, seemed equally OK).
>
>One of the plants (Equisetum somethingorother, aka Horsetail IIRC, and
>not Mare's Tail, which is Hippuris) was not doing very well, with
>quite a lot of dead stems, so I thought I'd tidy it up and see if
>there was any problem at the roots. It came out of the compost very
>easily as it hardly had any roots, and what there were, were black and
>stinking.
>
>Is this normal? Judging by the plant's behaviour, probably not, but
>OTOH the sludge in ponds can be pretty smelly AIUI, and I would think
>any clay system immersed in water is likely to go that way. Is that
>the case? Do the folks here who use a clay-based planting medium find
>it smelly when they come to re-pot or divide their plants?
Yes, clay is *really* stinking, simply because the water does not move thru
it like it will thru rocks & sand. Why I use ~ 99.5% sand in my containers.
I still use fertilizer tabs in the sand, with no ill effects on my water
quality. I do encase the soil in weed fabric, solid on bottom & sides,
strips on top.
Even sand gets stinky in a solid pot. I use mostly baskets so there is some
flow thru.
As far as horsetail. I'm not sure what the roots normally look like, but I
know it dies back to the surface and comes up new each year, as do many
pond plants. Just trim off the old. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us
#3 Guest_dr-solo@wi.rr.com_*
-
- Guests
Posted 25 May 2009 - 03:59 PM
it is anaerobic bacteria breaking down organic material to make ... oil or coal. the
only way to prevent this is to leave the roots in water, like in a veggie filter.
even then a silt forms and anaerobic action starts. Ingrid
On Wed, 20 May 2009 16:03:49 EDT, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>Is this normal? Judging by the plant's behaviour, probably not, but
>OTOH the sludge in ponds can be pretty smelly AIUI, and I would think
>any clay system immersed in water is likely to go that way.
Somewhere between zone 5 and 6 tucked along the shore of Lake Michigan
on the council grounds of the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago
only way to prevent this is to leave the roots in water, like in a veggie filter.
even then a silt forms and anaerobic action starts. Ingrid
On Wed, 20 May 2009 16:03:49 EDT, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>Is this normal? Judging by the plant's behaviour, probably not, but
>OTOH the sludge in ponds can be pretty smelly AIUI, and I would think
>any clay system immersed in water is likely to go that way.
Somewhere between zone 5 and 6 tucked along the shore of Lake Michigan
on the council grounds of the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago
#4 Guest_Chris Hogg_*
-
- Guests
Posted 25 May 2009 - 09:16 PM
On Sun, 24 May 2009 15:42:00 EDT, ~ jan <Seewebsite@jjspond.us> wrote:
>On Wed, 20 May 2009 16:03:49 EDT, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>Newbie here again. I have several marginal plants in containers in the
>>water around the edge of my pond, with their surfaces at water level.
>>I use a recommended planting medium, which appears to be clay-based
>>with not a lot else (from a thread in this NG in March this year I got
>>the impression that almost any medium will do for marginal plants as
>>long as it's not got fertiliser in it. Kitty litter and gravel, two
>>extremes if ever there were any, seemed equally OK).
>>
>>One of the plants (Equisetum somethingorother, aka Horsetail IIRC, and
>>not Mare's Tail, which is Hippuris) was not doing very well, with
>>quite a lot of dead stems, so I thought I'd tidy it up and see if
>>there was any problem at the roots. It came out of the compost very
>>easily as it hardly had any roots, and what there were, were black and
>>stinking.
>>
>>Is this normal? Judging by the plant's behaviour, probably not, but
>>OTOH the sludge in ponds can be pretty smelly AIUI, and I would think
>>any clay system immersed in water is likely to go that way. Is that
>>the case? Do the folks here who use a clay-based planting medium find
>>it smelly when they come to re-pot or divide their plants?
>
>Yes, clay is *really* stinking, simply because the water does not move thru
>it like it will thru rocks & sand. Why I use ~ 99.5% sand in my containers.
>I still use fertilizer tabs in the sand, with no ill effects on my water
>quality. I do encase the soil in weed fabric, solid on bottom & sides,
>strips on top.
>
>Even sand gets stinky in a solid pot. I use mostly baskets so there is some
>flow thru.
>
>As far as horsetail. I'm not sure what the roots normally look like, but I
>know it dies back to the surface and comes up new each year, as do many
>pond plants. Just trim off the old. ~ jan
>------------
>Zone 7a, SE Washington State
>Ponds: www.jjspond.us
More good advice. Thank you. I'll avoid clay-based plant media in the
future. I've already replanted the horsetail into fine gravel, and
I'll see how it progresses. I was interested to read that fertiliser
tabs are still OK even in sand and don't diffuse out significantly
into the pond water.
--
Chris
E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net
>On Wed, 20 May 2009 16:03:49 EDT, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>Newbie here again. I have several marginal plants in containers in the
>>water around the edge of my pond, with their surfaces at water level.
>>I use a recommended planting medium, which appears to be clay-based
>>with not a lot else (from a thread in this NG in March this year I got
>>the impression that almost any medium will do for marginal plants as
>>long as it's not got fertiliser in it. Kitty litter and gravel, two
>>extremes if ever there were any, seemed equally OK).
>>
>>One of the plants (Equisetum somethingorother, aka Horsetail IIRC, and
>>not Mare's Tail, which is Hippuris) was not doing very well, with
>>quite a lot of dead stems, so I thought I'd tidy it up and see if
>>there was any problem at the roots. It came out of the compost very
>>easily as it hardly had any roots, and what there were, were black and
>>stinking.
>>
>>Is this normal? Judging by the plant's behaviour, probably not, but
>>OTOH the sludge in ponds can be pretty smelly AIUI, and I would think
>>any clay system immersed in water is likely to go that way. Is that
>>the case? Do the folks here who use a clay-based planting medium find
>>it smelly when they come to re-pot or divide their plants?
>
>Yes, clay is *really* stinking, simply because the water does not move thru
>it like it will thru rocks & sand. Why I use ~ 99.5% sand in my containers.
>I still use fertilizer tabs in the sand, with no ill effects on my water
>quality. I do encase the soil in weed fabric, solid on bottom & sides,
>strips on top.
>
>Even sand gets stinky in a solid pot. I use mostly baskets so there is some
>flow thru.
>
>As far as horsetail. I'm not sure what the roots normally look like, but I
>know it dies back to the surface and comes up new each year, as do many
>pond plants. Just trim off the old. ~ jan
>------------
>Zone 7a, SE Washington State
>Ponds: www.jjspond.us
More good advice. Thank you. I'll avoid clay-based plant media in the
future. I've already replanted the horsetail into fine gravel, and
I'll see how it progresses. I was interested to read that fertiliser
tabs are still OK even in sand and don't diffuse out significantly
into the pond water.
--
Chris
E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net
#5 Guest_~ jan_*
-
- Guests
Posted 25 May 2009 - 11:48 PM
On Mon, 25 May 2009 17:16:53 EDT, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>More good advice. Thank you. I'll avoid clay-based plant media in the
>future. I've already replanted the horsetail into fine gravel, and
>I'll see how it progresses. I was interested to read that fertiliser
>tabs are still OK even in sand and don't diffuse out significantly
>into the pond water.
I use Jobes Tomato spikes, btw. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us
>More good advice. Thank you. I'll avoid clay-based plant media in the
>future. I've already replanted the horsetail into fine gravel, and
>I'll see how it progresses. I was interested to read that fertiliser
>tabs are still OK even in sand and don't diffuse out significantly
>into the pond water.
I use Jobes Tomato spikes, btw. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us
#6 Guest_ReelMcKoi_*
-
- Guests
Posted 29 May 2009 - 01:25 PM
"Chris Hogg" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:did815h8qdcmd5bdqpu6ahoe6do7dudjid@4ax.com...
> One of the plants (Equisetum somethingorother, aka Horsetail IIRC, and
> not Mare's Tail, which is Hippuris) was not doing very well, .......
========================
Some places are selling it as a pond plant. It isn't! It grows in damp so
il,
not in water. It's spread to one of my flowerbeds where it's becoming a
weed.
If you want to save it, remove it from the pond.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(รถ>
news:did815h8qdcmd5bdqpu6ahoe6do7dudjid@4ax.com...
> One of the plants (Equisetum somethingorother, aka Horsetail IIRC, and
> not Mare's Tail, which is Hippuris) was not doing very well, .......
========================
Some places are selling it as a pond plant. It isn't! It grows in damp so
il,
not in water. It's spread to one of my flowerbeds where it's becoming a
weed.
If you want to save it, remove it from the pond.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }<((((*> ~~~ }<{{{{(รถ>
#7 Guest_Chris Hogg_*
-
- Guests
Posted 29 May 2009 - 06:28 PM
On Fri, 29 May 2009 09:25:49 EDT, "ReelMcKoi" <anon@anon.net> wrote:
>
>"Chris Hogg" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
>news:did815h8qdcmd5bdqpu6ahoe6do7dudjid@4ax.com...
>> One of the plants (Equisetum somethingorother, aka Horsetail IIRC, and
>> not Mare's Tail, which is Hippuris) was not doing very well, .......
>
>========================
>Some places are selling it as a pond plant. It isn't! It grows in damp so
>il,
>not in water. It's spread to one of my flowerbeds where it's becoming a
>weed.
>If you want to save it, remove it from the pond.
I didn't know that. Thank you. I won't move it because I know it can
be very difficult to eradicate from a garden, and I was thinking that
in a container actually in the pond it would be OK and wouldn't
spread. If it dies, it dies....
--
Chris
E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net
>
>"Chris Hogg" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
>news:did815h8qdcmd5bdqpu6ahoe6do7dudjid@4ax.com...
>> One of the plants (Equisetum somethingorother, aka Horsetail IIRC, and
>> not Mare's Tail, which is Hippuris) was not doing very well, .......
>
>========================
>Some places are selling it as a pond plant. It isn't! It grows in damp so
>il,
>not in water. It's spread to one of my flowerbeds where it's becoming a
>weed.
>If you want to save it, remove it from the pond.
I didn't know that. Thank you. I won't move it because I know it can
be very difficult to eradicate from a garden, and I was thinking that
in a container actually in the pond it would be OK and wouldn't
spread. If it dies, it dies....
--
Chris
E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net
#8 Guest_~ jan_*
-
- Guests
Posted 31 May 2009 - 04:10 AM
On Fri, 29 May 2009 14:28:57 EDT, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>I didn't know that. Thank you. I won't move it because I know it can
>be very difficult to eradicate from a garden, and I was thinking that
>in a container actually in the pond it would be OK and wouldn't
>spread. If it dies, it dies....
I have a ponding friend who has it in her pond, it keeps coming back.
Only thing I've found that kills it in the garden is Bush-Be-Gone
Concentrate (w/o adding water to it) works on bamboo also. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us
>I didn't know that. Thank you. I won't move it because I know it can
>be very difficult to eradicate from a garden, and I was thinking that
>in a container actually in the pond it would be OK and wouldn't
>spread. If it dies, it dies....
I have a ponding friend who has it in her pond, it keeps coming back.
Only thing I've found that kills it in the garden is Bush-Be-Gone
Concentrate (w/o adding water to it) works on bamboo also. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us
#9 Guest_~ jan_*
-
- Guests
Posted 06 June 2009 - 06:50 PM
On Sun, 31 May 2009 09:32:21 EDT, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>and it is more effective. We don't have Bush-Be-Gone as such in the UK
>although it sounds a bit like our SBK (which I think stands for
>systemic brushwood killer); do you know the active ingredient in
>Bush-Be-Gone?
Triclopyr. Ring a bell? We get it in concentrate that you're suppose to add
water to. When I was dealing with horsetail I didn't dilute it. Note I said
"when I was" because it worked. Also worked on the neighbor's bamboo that
tried to visit. It didn't get far. And next the holly the birds planted is
going. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us
>and it is more effective. We don't have Bush-Be-Gone as such in the UK
>although it sounds a bit like our SBK (which I think stands for
>systemic brushwood killer); do you know the active ingredient in
>Bush-Be-Gone?
Triclopyr. Ring a bell? We get it in concentrate that you're suppose to add
water to. When I was dealing with horsetail I didn't dilute it. Note I said
"when I was" because it worked. Also worked on the neighbor's bamboo that
tried to visit. It didn't get far. And next the holly the birds planted is
going. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us
#10 Guest_Chris Hogg_*
-
- Guests
Posted 07 June 2009 - 01:10 PM
On Sat, 6 Jun 2009 14:50:39 EDT, ~ jan <Seewebsite@jjspond.us> wrote:
>On Sun, 31 May 2009 09:32:21 EDT, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>and it is more effective. We don't have Bush-Be-Gone as such in the UK
>>although it sounds a bit like our SBK (which I think stands for
>>systemic brushwood killer); do you know the active ingredient in
>>Bush-Be-Gone?
>
>Triclopyr. Ring a bell? We get it in concentrate that you're suppose to add
>water to. When I was dealing with horsetail I didn't dilute it. Note I said
>"when I was" because it worked. Also worked on the neighbor's bamboo that
>tried to visit. It didn't get far. And next the holly the birds planted is
>going. ~ jan
>------------
>Zone 7a, SE Washington State
>Ponds: www.jjspond.us
Triclopyr. Yes, that's the stuff in SBK. Thanks.
--
Chris
E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net
>On Sun, 31 May 2009 09:32:21 EDT, Chris Hogg <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>and it is more effective. We don't have Bush-Be-Gone as such in the UK
>>although it sounds a bit like our SBK (which I think stands for
>>systemic brushwood killer); do you know the active ingredient in
>>Bush-Be-Gone?
>
>Triclopyr. Ring a bell? We get it in concentrate that you're suppose to add
>water to. When I was dealing with horsetail I didn't dilute it. Note I said
>"when I was" because it worked. Also worked on the neighbor's bamboo that
>tried to visit. It didn't get far. And next the holly the birds planted is
>going. ~ jan
>------------
>Zone 7a, SE Washington State
>Ponds: www.jjspond.us
Triclopyr. Yes, that's the stuff in SBK. Thanks.
--
Chris
E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net
