Salting/Liming the pond impact on plants

[Faebinder]

Whats the consesus here? How much salt is safe in a pond for the plants?

Anyone buffer their pond with lime or salt?

 

[Mmathis]

I only use salt as part of QT. I buffer with crushed oyster shells mixed in the bog.

 

[MitchM]

I don't recomend salting a whole pond with plants at all.
Even at 1 tsp/gallon, that's about 0.1% salinity and can be fatal to some plants.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Lime is only used in earthen -bottom ponds.

Bonnie's Plants at one time had a fairly comprehensive list available on-line that listed the salt tolerances of most aquatic plants, but now it is only available if you purchase something.

You may have to look up the individual plants to find out what their salinity tolerance may be. There is this:

"Salt concentrations of 1.66% and 2.50% were toxic to Pistia stratiotes and Eichornia crassipe respectively."

Effects of salinity on growth of several aquatic macrophytes. Haller, Sutton and Barlowe

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I have very rarely used salt.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

We used lime in horse stalls when cleaning them to help cut down the urine smell. Can't image using it in a pond.

 

[sissy]

Use PDZ horse stall refresher it is zeolite and can be used in ponds in a very fine mesh bag and kitty litter boxes .

 

[addy1]

I use crushed oyster shells for buffering the water.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Use PDZ horse stall refresher it is zeolite and can be used in ponds in a very fine mesh bag and kitty litter boxes .

Isn't zeolite used to control ammonia?

 

[Usman]

I use potassium permaganate if i see any parasites or dissease ,its a salt

 

[sissy]

yep zeolite is used and is safer than most other products .I did get a couple of bags of the bigger zeolite gravel but to be honest the bigger ones don't work as well the pdz horse stall refresher .

 

[Jeanie master]

I don't recomend salting a whole pond with plants at all.
Even at 1 tsp/gallon, that's about 0.1% salinity and can be fatal to some plants.

I'm curious, not disputing anything you've said cause.."I know nothing" to quote Sgt. Schulz..lol
But..the man down the hwy. From me who has been so helpful to me, has about 6 ponds, some are primarily lilly I think, but he salts a lot! He uses a water softening salt that has been verified bt the company to be 99.9% pure. His lilies are amazin, his lotus are feet tall and his koi are enormous!!

 

[MitchM]

In my view, there are 3 aquatic environments - freshwater, brackish and marine.
Koi and goldfish are freshwater fish, so they should be kept in a freshwater only environment.
Salt should only be used as as medicinal treatment in a separate container.
Some people like to use salt as a supposed preventative measure, but I see it as a measure that hides other shortcomings in the maintenance/setup of a pond.

I always try to learn what the origins are of where the fish/plants/invertebrates originate from and try to recreate that environment.

Shortcuts can be useful, but you must understand both the negative and positive aspects of the shortcut first.

.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I finally found it. Here is the chart from Bonnie's Plants indicating the maximum salinity tolerance of certain aquatic plants. It is very important to keep in mind that what is indicated on these charts is the level at which plant death occurs. Well before these levels are reached aquatic plants will react to elevated salinity levels with , first-reduced growth and second-cessation of growth.

 

[MitchM]

That's a nice chart. You don't have it in a higher resolution do you?