Substrate or no substrate

[Mcnaughty]

We have just built a roughly 2 x 2m wildlife pond. Couple of questions. Do we put some kind of gravel, rocks and or aquatic loam in it? Also, the plants.. do we just leave them in their containers? Will they spread out if contained?

 

[brokensword]

We have just built a roughly 2 x 2m wildlife pond. Couple of questions. Do we put some kind of gravel, rocks and or aquatic loam in it? Also, the plants.. do we just leave them in their containers? Will they spread out if contained?

it's up to you; without any fish (for stirring the water column) you shouldn't have any murky water. Most (here, with fish in their ponds) don't use a substrate but many do. If you're worried about cleaning (some time distant) then substrate if thick, hinders that operation. I have koi and they like to nibble/move around rocks looking for food, so I put a thin layer of pea gravel down. Before then, having only goldfish, I had a bare pond bottom. Eventually, it'll get covered with algae and mulm, so the 'look' usually only lasts a short time. But you WANT this type of algae as it benefits the ecosystem.

You can plant your plants either way, too; some put them bare root in nooks/crannies in the margin or at the pond bottom proper, using rocks/gravel to hold them down until established. If you're putting in water lilies, best advice it to keep them in pots unless you don't mind the chore of getting them out (in the future as needed) after they've run free. I use pots, some here don't (looking at you @addy1 !). The plants will spread proportional to the space you give them, some more aggressively than others. I like to contain and control a bit more as I don't want the unecessary work later and want a certain 'look' to my pond experience!

Hope this helps.

 

[Mcnaughty]

it's up to you; without any fish (for stirring the water column) you shouldn't have any murky water. Most (here, with fish in their ponds) don't use a substrate but many do. If you're worried about cleaning (some time distant) then substrate if thick, hinders that operation. I have koi and they like to nibble/move around rocks looking for food, so I put a thin layer of pea gravel down. Before then, having only goldfish, I had a bare pond bottom. Eventually, it'll get covered with algae and mulm, so the 'look' usually only lasts a short time. But you WANT this type of algae as it benefits the ecosystem.

You can plant your plants either way, too; some put them bare root in nooks/crannies in the margin or at the pond bottom proper, using rocks/gravel to hold them down until established. If you're putting in water lilies, best advice it to keep them in pots unless you don't mind the chore of getting them out (in the future as needed) after they've run free. I use pots, some here don't (looking at you @addy1 !). The plants will spread proportional to the space you give them, some more aggressively than others. I like to contain and control a bit more as I don't want the unecessary work later and want a certain 'look' to my pond experience!

Hope this helps.

Thanks. So you’d just pop them out of the pot and place the plant with its soil in the pond? What if they are bare root? Do they just grow in nothing?

 

[brokensword]

Thanks. So you’d just pop them out of the pot and place the plant with its soil in the pond? What if they are bare root? Do they just grow in nothing?

Well, most rinse off the soil but if you're going for fishless, you can leave as is. Without fish, you'll need to fertilize the plants periodically. When in the water and no bottom soil, the plants will take what they need from there.

 

[j.w]

@Mcnaughty

 

[Tula]

Welcome . My vote would be to keep plants in pots. It's so much easier to groom, split and fertilize them. When they fill in they'll look quite natural and you can achieve different heights raising some pots on blocks / bricks.

 

[GBBUDD]

firm believer in rocking the pond