Pond Plant advice for large pond

[jeffgoodby]

Hi all!


I have created my pond at the back of the house, it's roughly 8m x 8m. Has a shallow end of 3ft, deep middle section 5ft and a shelf at 2ft. Pictures attached.

I have 3 establish lilies in deep & 2 water iris (yellow flag) on the 2ft shelf; these have established themselves well last summer.

My 3 cold water fish that had been in a large indoor tank went in last year and have multiplied at a rather productive rate!

I need to add oxygenating plant life but realize the depth of the pond will be a challenge. Ideally I'd like the pond to manage itself and stay reasonably free of algae since the pond gets all day sun. It does have a pump and fountain but nothing powerful. There is no filter system.

I would like to have plants on the 2ft shelf that add colour as well as shelter, as well has more substantial plants to filter and oxygenate. I have looked at adding bunches of elodea but think the pond is too deep to bed these in?

Would much appreciate advice on what would work well in this pond?

Many thanks for reading!!

 

[CountryEscape]

Welcome to this Forum! You will get lots of good comments on your post. What type of "cold water fish" do you have? Sounds like maybe goldfish or shubunkins, by your comment on them reproducing.
If they are goldies, lots of the floating water plants will fare well. Koi tend to eat roots of floating plants, and the plants should be sheltered from the koi with a screen type of basket to float them in. (look in DIY section for the floating plant rings) You will need lots of plants to help shade the water, I would guess. Lilies will do very well on your 2' shelf, too! They have pretty flowers, winter over in the deeper part. I put my lilies down a little deeper for the winter, but this winter has been so very mild they would have been fine on the 16 and 20" shelves, too. Then bring them up to the 2' shelf when they start growing.
Good luck with your pond and plants!

 

[sissy]

nice pond and great deck to sit on and enjoy the pond and fish .You can really get some nice big plants for that pond .

 

[j.w]

jeffgoodby

 

[addy1]

With no filter system, you will be fighting algae. You will need to really get it covered with plants to keep the algae at bay and keep the water cooler.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

If you're not planning on adding even a DIY filter, I would suggest at least getting a pump or aerator to get the water moving. Stagnant water is absolutely the worst thing you can have, for the smell, the mosquitoes it will attract, and the disease that can breed in it, plus all the plants in the world won't help the water if it doesn't move through their roots. The fountain might help some, but you might want to just set up a pump or two to create a water flow in one direction around your pond.

As for the plants, lilies are certainly a great choice. I am also looking into hornwort (a common underwater oxygenator), and jungle val (grows up from the bottom in long ribbons and can get 5-6 feet in length). You might also consider some types of marginals. You can put some plants between the rocks along the edge, and their roots will grow down into the water. Dwarf cattails might be a good candidate for this, as long as their roots can always stay wet.

 

[adavisus]

Elodea is a bit of a swine in a large pond, it can be difficult to eradicate when it smothers water lilies. You can rip the plants out only to discover it springs back worse, its roots have a tunneling habit. Anacharis is easier to rip out when the time comes. Hornwort, Cabomba, Water Crowfoot are pretty and fairly easy to control

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[Waterbug]

Kind of important question...why do you "need to add oxygenating plant life"? If it's to keep fish alive there is a problem. Oxygenating plants only produce O2 when there is sunlight. At night they consume O2. Virtually all O2 in a pond comes from gas exchange at the surface. If a pond is so on the edge that it needs O2 from plants you're going to be screwed because at night the O2 level will drop and fish can die. I know nearly 100% of what you read say oxygenating plants are good for a pond, but not really true. Get away from the pond sites and read the more scientific stuff.

Do you believe adding oxygenating plant will fix an algae problem? Of all the O2 on the planet produced by plants about 1/2 is produced by algae. A green pond contains a tremendous amount of oxygenating plants. The concept of adding more oxygenating plants will kill algae is a myth. I know, pushed by about 100% of pond sites. It's called the Internet, not the InformedNet.

 

[taherrmann4]

Nice pond and welcome to the forum.