Advice about slow release ferts for DIY aquatic soil in a pond basket

[JMorgan]

So with help from friends we built a small wildlife pond a couple of months ago and while it's going to be next year before it properly gets going, I need to replant some of the plants into bigger baskets over the winter, ready for next year.

I found these instructions for making your own DIY aquatic soil. How to Make Aquatic Plant Soil for Ponds

So my first question is whether anyone can critique what's being suggested? Anything you know from experience you'd do differently?
So far I have some bentonite clay cat litter without any additives/fragrances, some top soil and some sand.

So the second question is about Osmocote . . . I'm not sure if this recommendation is specific to the brand Osmocote or whether all slow release granular ferts would do the job? Osmocote on Amazon is stupidly expensive by weight, while other brands are more sensiblly priced.

That said I don't want to risk adding something that's going to slowly release something toxic to wildlife into the water - kinda defeats the whole point of a wildlife pond.
I should add that there will be no fish in this pond.

 

[PARAGUAY]

I might be wrong but l always thought soils for ponds should be not be nutrient rich for reasons you touched on, how about something like a EI method with replacing and refilling some water periodically?

 

[Maf 2500]

Just use ordinary garden soil for planting pond plants. Loamy and/or clay-ey soil is fine, try and avoid organic material. With a recently dug pond you probably have loads of ideal material sitting around looking for a use. Sand is not needed, all it does is make the basket heavier.

You can add root tabs or similar for water-lilies and such heavy feeding plants, but don't bother until they have had time to spread their roots into the whole soil volume of the basket. In your case it won't be needed till next summer. Depending upon how rich the pond turns out to be they may never be needed.

With small wildlife ponds the main issue usually is preventing the plants from completely taking over and closing off the open water. Excess fertilisation is just going to make this happen more quickly.

Edit: BTW the pond looks really good!

 

[JMorgan]

Thanks for the tips - the only reason I'm thinking about it now is that I got the plants from a guy who very obviously doesn't sell a lot of his lilies or other plants. So it looks like these plants have probably gone through a couple of growing seasons in their original quite small pots. They look like they are pretty root bound already - where the roots haven't just burst out of the plastic mesh pots anyway.

So taking onboard your advice, I think the way forward is to keep it super simple and just re-pot them with garden soil so they're ready to do their stuff next year. Thanks for the advice!

Yes- I'm really pleased with how it turned out - we found a field where the farmer had cleared all the big rocks out to the roadside so we helped ourselves. 🙂

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I might be wrong but l always thought soils for ponds should be not be nutrient rich for reasons you touched on, how about something like a EI method with replacing and refilling some water periodically?

I think, unless it is a huge pond, the issue is always <"too much growth">, rather <"than too little">.

Cheers Darrel