Mid-season advice please

[Dave in Innisfil]

I'm wondering if there's things I should be doing at this time of year, such as transplanting and splitting, with my variety of water plants.

My water bean has a 3' bloom, but also has roots shooting parallel to the water line an equal length floating freely from the planter. My pickeral reed is performing in much the same manner, with rooted shoots extending horizontally in all directions too. Some kind of bug has been eating them too.

My lilies seem to be suffering from something, as their leaves are all turning brown and yellow. I'd expect that from a frost, but it hasn't been below 14C in a very long time. I must admitt to being negligent in the removal of dead flower, as it usually has resulted in more damage and time wasted untangling.

Our parrot feather has exploded, and the underwater portion has become home to vast amounts of string algae. Some of our reeds are producing cattails, some aren't. The many iris plants are showing yellowing and broken leaves, with rot at the water line. I've given up on my water lettuce, and resorted to buying a water hyacynth already in bloom so I would know what the flower looks like if I ever get one. My pond books say I should have blooms on my arrowhead by now, but only a solitary flower has been produced so far. There's also a wide variety of other plants I haven't been able to identify...yet.

Is it still "feed the fish, sit back and enjoy" time, or are these symptoms of something wrong, lacking, or omited ?

[Jackie Ramo]

Trimming back plants is an always job but I'd pull those iris and have a good look at them, sounds like iris borer to me. Took all my japanese iris last year nasty ugly things but the fish eat them.

The parrots feather can be cut and repotted up, throw out the string algae covered stuff.

My arrowheads have just started blooming so you are not far off with yours.

[Dave in Innisfil]

It's been weeks now since I've donned my water slippers and plunged into our main pond, and I'd love to extend that as long as I can. It seems to take a week for the water to return to 3' visability after I seriously stir up the muck on the bottom. We're planning on some major plant movement to enhance our viewing pleasure, just haven't decided what is going where yet.

Attached are three pics of plants I figure either need cutting back, or dividing if possible. While the water bean main plant grows vertically, it also is growing horizontally. Our few sprigs of parrot feather went crazy when I moved them just below the waterfall, and now are covered in what I call string algae. If it's providing a safe haven for our new babies, I'd just as soon leave it, if it isn't doing any harm to the pond. The pickeral reed I transplanted from Lake Couchiching has also gone crazy, and every plant has these horizontal extensions protruding in all directions, some with long trailing roots. I tried cutting off some of the arms and transplanting them in a fresh planter, with mixed success. Some lived, and some just went yellow and became debris.

Advice to black-thumbed me ?

[Jackie Ramo]

Dave, sorry I must have missed this post.

Your plants look typically August to me, which is what mine look like. I'd not divide etc until September but do it before the water gets too cold :) I always seem to leave these chorse until late in the season and pay for it with cold hands and since the chest waders leak, one cold foot :lol:

[Dave in Innisfil]

Some of my water plants, the pickeral reeds in particular, are being plagued by some kind of small black mite. I picked off the leaves with the heaviest populations. I'm glad to hear my plants look typical, considering my amateur status but I did something wrong in my first attempt at splitting, as the cuttings I transplanted all died. No great loss as I have an endless supply available of those, but some of my more unique plants I want more off are outgrowing their pots.

Whatever those mites are, the fish loved it when I hosed the plants down and turned on the skimmer. They schooled in front of the skimmer and ate for hours. The mites aren't big, the size of the head of a pin or less. I don't know their origin, and haven't added any wild plants since spring. I guess they could have come on the water hyacynths I recently bought but didn't rinse off before adding to the pond. Never thought of quarantining plants before.

[Jackie Ramo]

Most of us q our plants, one never knows what will arrive on them, anything from parasites to gold fish eggs and snails. The bugs sound like aphids and they come in many colours black being one as is lime green.

Most plants need a bit of root when divided, trimming down the top to match the root often helps with growth as the small root cannot support a lot of top growth.

[Dave in Innisfil]

Courtesy of whatever was swimming in the pond the other night, my water bean sprouts separated from the mother plant. I planted them in a shallow container with the new leaves just out of the water, and the roots buried in fresh aquatic soil and p-stone.

[Jackie Ramo]

I should give you my address and you could just send all these errant plants to me :lol:

[Dave in Innisfil]

I've got more iris than I know what to do with, and while they were beautiful when in bloom, they're just another leafy plant most of the season. Just the yellow and blue iris, and since I moved them around, can't remember which is which anymore. This has been a learning year for us, and we're just starting to introduce "real fish". Next year we want to do more plantwise with our upper bog pond, but that depends on our relining that pond too. End-of-season plant and pond equipment sales at all the local nurserys are tempting. I'm wondering what plants I should buy now that will contribute cosmetically as well as fulfilling their duties as organic recyclers. But with liner selling for 62 cents sq. ft, and needing a 20' X 20' piece, maybe I should buy a new cart before buying new horses.

[Jackie Ramo]

I'd look after the liner first. Plants can be swapped in spring. Several of us in the koi club swap plants each year.

BTW there are few plants that do as good a job in filtering the water than iris, so one seldom has too many of them.

[Dave in Innisfil]

Seems those little black bugs moved from the pickeral reeds and arrowheads to my lily pads. Now they're covered with them too. I'm just learning about pond bugs, and only recently found out what dragonfly larvae look like. Kinda Jurassic-parkish before they get their wings and leave the pond. That is if before my three frogs don't find them.

With single digit air temps nightly now, can plant bugs be left to nature to take care of, or do I need to rid my pond of them this year so they don't come back next year ?

[Terri]

Little black bugs sound like aphids Dave, been stuggling myself with them this year. Once it gets cold enough they will be gone, usually when the plants start to die back.

[Jackie Ramo]

You can keep their numbers down by spraying them off into the water with the garden hose, fish food and free at that.

[Dave in Innisfil]

I've been doing that for quite a while, herding debris towards the skimmer. My fish are fed so frequently ( small handful of large-size pellets they consume in a few minutes) I can't blame them for waiting instead of settling for a free-floating aphid.