Crystal clear water

[Guest markimus]

Hello Everyone,

I set up a pond last spring (actually I originally set it up for frogs to spawn in) and it became over-run with algae. It used to be about as bad as the pond my goldfish currently lives in (just a foot away):

But then I put in one of these reeds:

A few weeks later the water was crystal clear, like this:

So now I'm thinking of trying some aldrovanda in there.

Any suggestions on which variety would be a good starter. I'd love to grow one of the red varieties but the ones I've spotted all seem to be from Australia. I'm based in the South East of England and the pond is outside - so I'm guessing one of the Polish varieties will do pretty well.

Have any other UK growers had success in an outdoor pond? If so, which varieties are you growing?

Mark

[rsivertsen]

This is a very good start! Aldrovanda also requires some detritus and minerals along with a healthy population of zooplankton from small snails, to copepods and rotofers. Aldrovanda doesn't need the water to be clean and pure, in fact the best Aldrovanda I've seen were growing in a disgusting slurry of suspended clay and detritus just a few inches deep where the population density of those creature is the highest and the CO2 is also pretty high due to the close proximity to the roots of those companion plants. Large ornamental grasses should also work well as they also have extensive roots that have a strong ability to absorb and assimilate nitrogenous matter and give off CO2 to respiration. Good luck with whatever Aldrovanda you attempt to grow in this small pot. - Rich

[Guest markimus]

Hello Rich

I notice you describe my pot as a "small" one. It is about a foot deep by a foot wide. Is that large enough to grow aldrovanda? I'm guessing that the water just needs to be deep enough to not completely freeze. I've heard the turions sink to the bottom in the winter.

If this pond is too small I'll leave it for the frogs and see if I can set up a larger algae free pond for aldrovanda.

Mark

[rsivertsen]

Hey Mark,

You can grow Aldrovanda in a pot this size, at least for a while. The problem is that once they have ideal conditions, they will grow and multiply VERY rapidly, exponentially, in fact, and will double their numbers every 5 to 7 days. Lubomir Adamec has published this a few times, saying "... aquatic CPs such as Utrics and Aldrovanda grow much faster than terrestrial CPs." They can grow one to three new axils per day, and produce two or three new growths every week. A few plants can grow to millions in a few months! Yes, they do sink when they've produced "hardened" dormant turions for the winter. They also have a very high winter fatality rate, up to 95% is actually normal!

In my pond, less than 20 turions that emerged from winter dormancy in April grew into this by August. - Rich

Edited November 24, 2009 by rsivertsen

[Guest markimus]

Hi Rich

Wow that's your pond? Impressive. Now I understand why you refer to my pond as being "small". I have to admit to suffering from a bit of pond envy.

I didn't realize aldrovanda were such prolific growers.

If mine grow that well perhaps I'll set up a biomass burner to reduce my heating bills. :-)

Mark

[Lavindil]

Hi Mark. Aldrovanda red temperate from Hungary are red and I think it will survive in your winter.

PS: I never heard about Aldrovanda and Equisetum, please post your results.

[Alexander Nijman]

In Nieuwkoop here in the Low Countries they are also growing like crazy I have heard! But the water there is very clean. Other plants growing there for example are Utricularia vulgaris, U. australis and U. minor. Water is acid with some sphagnum along the edges. And Drosera rotundifolia.

Alexander

[Daniel G]

Is there any way to "Convert" A pond with fish in, to an adrovanda pond?

[gardenofeden]

you could try:

take out the fish

replace water with rainwater

plant extensively with marginals including sedges, rushes to soak up nutrients

leave it a year to settle and once water is crystal clear add Aldrovanda

[Daniel G]

Well, the pond is at least 3 foot deep, maybe four foot, so marginals may be a problem. The water here isn't a problem, but the pond is filled with leaf litter and silt at the bottom, is that a problem?

Could i start off converting while that fish are still inside?

Also, seeing as i have been watering my plants for months with tap water, so would it be ok to fill it with that?

Thanks!

[jimscott]

Whoa.... I thought Aldrovanda is supposed to be in dirty pond water.

[Daniel G]

That's what i've been thinking, still, started emptying pond, not sure if i can get to bottom by bucketting it out.

Someone stop me pretty quick, before i get conditions wrong.

[nepenthes99]

I grow my aldrovanda in a small outdoor pond with goldfish in it. the plants are very hardy. I dont think the water quality or sun matters at all in their cultivation.

[gardenofeden]

the main issue with Aldrovanda is algae. Sure it will grow in nutrient-rich water, and would probably prefer to do so, but in the majority of cases it will be outcompeted by algae which will smother the plants and block out light. Natural situations where you might have moderately nutrient rich water, warm temperatures, bright sunlight etc all plants including marginals and other aquatics and Aldrovanda will grow very quickly and none will get the upper hand. In a small garden pond situation, where the typical pond is high nutrient with low proportions of aquatic and marginal plants then algae will dominate and Aldrovanda will never succeed. Fish will exacerbate the problem, as the extra nutrients from fish can switch a pond from a clean water macrophyte dominated system to a dirty, algal dominated system where the lack of light getting into the water prevents good growth of aquatics and the water quality never improves.... this situation can be seen at many intensively managed fishing lakes. If you're lucky, and have a well-balanced pond with clean water and the right proportions of aquatics and marginals, you may well be able to grow Aldrovanda, but you need to get that well-balanced pond first. It does not mean that fish are completely incompatible, but it is easier to establish a pond with the right balance if you start with low-nutrient water and a high proportion of plants which mean that algae have a very low chance of dominating.

[Alexander Nijman]

Aldrovanda is very picky about the waterquality! Otherwise it would not be that rare in the wild!

Alexander