THE NATURAL POND BALANCE FORMULA - SIX ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

Although each pond differs in the amount of sun, depth, dimensions, water movements and temperature, the following formula will be helpful in achieving a balance for your pond.  For each square meter of surface area you should have:

1. Two bunches of oxygenating grasses
To produce oxygen through photosynthesis and absorb carbon dioxide resulting from fish waste and decaying matter.

2. One medium to large water lily
To provide surface coverage preventing evaporation. The pad's shade cools the water.

3. Twelve water snails
To eat algae and decomposing matter.

4. Two fish - Gold Fish, Native Rainbows 100mm-125mm
To eat pests such as aphids, flies and mosquito larvae and consume oxygen produced by the plants.

5. One bog plant or small aquatic (per two square meters)
To consume excess pond nitrogen and phosphates.

6. Do not feed fish in the pond
Fish are algae, larvae, etc eaters and by feeding them you are creating more algae in your pond that the fish will not eat.

If you would like to add features that attract and create a natural habitat for wildlife such as frogs and birds you can do this by adding marginals.

CARING FOR YOUR WATERLILIES

Upon arrival of your waterlilies, take care of removing them out of the bag and ensure they are placed in your pond immediately.

• Unfold the leaves and ensure the leaves are turned upright and sitting flat on the water.
• Your water lily must be in at least or greater than 30cm of water.
• Your water lily must be in full sun for at least 4 hours of the day to flower
• Do not put your water lilies near fountains, they do not like continuously water splashing on them. This causes the leaves to rot and the water lily will eventually die.
• Water Lilies need feeding at least every 6-8 weeks during their growing season.
•To fertilise water lilies, you must first remove the pot from the pond and push your finger or a stick into the potting mixture and place about 1 teaspoon of slow releasing fertiliser into the hole and cover it, or alternatively you can use a recommended pond fertilising tablet, (these can be purchased from SWG), then carefully place back into the pond.
• Remove spent leaves and flowers from your water lilies; this will encourage growth of new leaves and flowers.
• If you do not wish to remove the spent leaves and flowers, they will naturally sink beneath the water and compost.
• If you wish to re pot your water lily, use a clay Loamy mix (do not use potting mix) and then top with sand to keep the clay from coming out of the pot and fertilise.

COMMON PROBLEMS

If your water Lily is dying-

ALGAE - naturally occurs in pond water. If excess greening occurs, adding more oxygenating plants will reduce algae growth to an acceptable level. If the algae becomes stringy (blanket weed), it may be that the pond water is alkaline. Check the PH of the water (a PH tester can be purchased from any aquarium) it should be between 6-8. Remove the stringy algae by hand or by twisting a stick through and removing as much as possible. Zeolite placed in a muslin bag or sock can be hung in the corner of your pond. Zeolite is a mineral. It attracts and absorbs excess nutrients from the water and in doing so competes with algae or starves the algae. You will need to rinse the sock out every 4 to 6 weeks.

If your Water lily is being eaten:-

CADDIS FLY - is a small white moth like insect that will pupate under water and usually if there is a Waterlily in your pond, it will pupate in the stem or under the leaf. They will eventually rot the stem of the waterlily. Adding fish such as rainbow or gold fish to your pond will control some of the problem and they are also good in controlling mosquito larvae. The only other thing you can do is to remove the caddis fly by hand or removing the infected leaves.

SNAILS - there are good snails and there are bad snails. The bad snails are grey roundish that cause all the problems. These snails will over populate and start eating your water lily. To fix the problem scoop out as many snails as possible or clean out your pond and add FISH, they will eat the jelly eggs that the snail lays under the leaf and control the population.
 

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