Submerged plants [oxygenators] -- do you anchor them....

[taherrmann4]

Well, when my weights come, I'll try that method.

I "invented" a way to anchor my submerged grassy plants (like Jungle Val) that works for them, but not too much for the others. I cut 2 pieces of plastic canvas and/or a closed-mesh plastic fencing into circles (like maybe dinner plate size). Then I took a nice smooth, fairly flat rock (just heavy enough to act as a weight) and sandwiched that between the 2 pieces of canvas using PL goop as an adhesive to glue the rock to the canvas. After that dries, I more-or-less weave the plant stems and roots into the canvas to anchor them in place, then toss the whole thing in the water. As the plants grow, their roots grow into the canvas, and since it sits on the bottom of the pond, any debris down there acts as soil for them. These plants grow like CRAZY and never break off. Easy to pick up & move if you need to move them.

I've tried this with anacharis and a couple of others, but those plants either work their way out of the mesh, die, or get eaten, LOL! All I know is that when I pull the little things out, their are rarely any of these other plants left in the mesh.

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I like this idea but couldn't you just use zip ties instead of the goop to anchor the rock in? Just tie them around the edge evenly spaced enough to not allow the rock to slide out? Does your jungle val grow like crazy where you are?

 

[Mmathis]

I like this idea but couldn't you just use zip ties instead of the goop to anchor the rock in? Just tie them around the edge evenly spaced enough to not allow the rock to slide out? Does your jungle val grow like crazy where you are?

Tmann, since this is a made-up design, guessing you could make it just about any way that suited you. I prefer to have the rock anchored 'cause it's more stable that way, to me. When I pull one of the "mats" out of the water, the rock will stay put and not roll around, possibly damaging the plants. Plus, when I weave the plants into the mesh it can take a little bit of manipulating to get each plant just where I want it, and a loose rock might make that harder. Try it and see how it works. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination,

I'd actually thought about making little cages to put the anarcharis in -- same design, but closing the ends up with zip-ties. If I did that, I wouldn't try to weave any of the plants into the mesh, but close them up inside like little pies. I don't know if they would even try to "anchor" themselves inside, but at least the growing edges could grow out through the mesh.

Does my Jungle Val grow well? It did last summer, but I'm not finding much of it in the pond right now, so don't know what happened. It's probably still there, just hasn't started growing yet for the season.

 

[bfull1478]

I actually get those black plastic mesh square baskets and fill them with pebbles and just bury about and inch or two into the rocks. I have been doing that for years and it works great. I put the pots at the bottom of my pond which is almost 3 feet deep.

 

[Mmathis]

A follow-up.....

Back in April I planted a new batch of Jungle Val in my little "planter" thingys. Here is a pic I took of the roots exactly a month later, starting to establish through the mesh. The plants were showing some good growth, too. I'd planned to take a monthly picture.....

....BUT...... Due to a pond renovation, that started shortly after this pic was taken, I took all the plants out and put them in various temp. places. They didn't do very well after that. The particular one in this pic was ravaged by my goldfish! Their holding tank doesn't have algae for them to graze on, so being the little piggies they are, they grazed on any tender vegetation they could find.

 

[Frog Whisperer]

If you can't find lead weights or want to save yourself from spending anything at all. I use the mesh net baggies from small onions, garlic or other produce. I fill them with pea gravel and use a rubber band to secure the top. It also serves to tuck the ends of the submersible. It serves just as well as a lead weight and you don't need to be particularly upset if you can't retrieve them if you pull up your submersibles in cold weather of the north.

 

[Lisak1]

I'm glad you resurrected this thread @Frog Whisperer - I've been concocting ideas in my head all winter for anchoring submersibles. I like your mesh bag idea a lot! And @Mmathis - somehow I missed your planted disc idea the first time around - are these still in your pond? Did they continue to work for you?