Root Bound!

[Stephen T.]

We went to an estate sale on Friday and got an education of sorts. There was a roughly 6' diameter preformed pond with 6 goldfish and a few water lilies. It had no pump or filter and had been there for a long time. They sold us the fish and lilies for $10. It seemed only about 12" deep and getting the fish out was easy.

Next came the lilies, well that shouldn't be difficult. We started feeling around and discovered that the bottom 12-14" was solid roots. There were 3 12" pots where they must have started, but it took a saw bladed knife and a couple hours to get them and a few other blocks free. I have never seen such a huge and tightly packed root mass!

There are two 5" shubunkins, two 4" comets and a 6", and one 6" that looks very much like the fish in Walt Disney's Fantasia. I need to find homes for the 3 comets, they are presently in a small preform and will be ok in there for a while. Someone around here will want them, probably for a stock tank to keep down the mosquitoes.

 

[sissy]

OH I have and some plants can be worse than others .The iris is the worse .I had to put a chain around one and pull it out and liner came with it .

 

[Lisak1]

Just watched a video of a couple that were cleaning out an above ground pond planted with lilies and cattails that they hadn't touched for "several decades" - the tubers were like small tree trunks! One giant mass of roots. It's easy to see how they can be invasive if not contained.

 

[Faebinder]

I don't find lilies to be too useful in my pond and have given up on them this year.

Essentially they build leaves.. but the leaves die and stay in the pond so nothing is taken out of the echo system.... the shade they gave is negligible in my pond that is covered by 3 trees. Plus mosquitoes like them.

 

[sissy]

I don't have rooted plants in my pond . I only have them in my filters or in my plant pockets .Easy to pull plants and trim roots