Established ponds and general pond water plants

Aquatic plants, either deep water or marginals need splitting up every 3-5years, depending on the size of the pond. Small setups may need an annual trim and sort out. The centres of clumps of marginals may seem lifeless with all the fresh growth outside of the basket. In which case replant, discarding the centre.

General plants problems:

Aphids or Blackfly.

1) Rub off plants or spray with a jet of water. Fish will eat them.

2) Be very careful with insecticides. Systemic insecticides might be possible if you can avoid getting too much on the water. One expert recommends spraying the plants with a fish parasite treatment if sensitive orfe or rudd are not present. Prepare the chemical at the recommended dose for pond treatment and spray on.

Lily leaf aphids that will soon be converted to fish food. An ant harvests honeydew from them. How did he get there into the middle of the pond?

Blackened foliage.

1) Either late frosts or inclement wind from an exposed direction. Established plants will grow into recovery. Most marginal plants store a lot of growth potential in rhizomes or tubers.

2) Too much medication, in particular salt. A water change is essential.

Distorted foliage.

• Cold weather, aphids, or snails (see above and Snails).

• Eaten foliage and plant pests in general.

• Brown China moth - see pests to specific plants Lilies.

Caddis flies - Larvae feed on submerged foliage and cut pieces out of water lily leaves. They not generally considered a pest and if some imbalance favours them and there is a population explosion then the best control is fish, particularly tench, which will eat the lot.

A caddis fly larva, probably the very common Limnephilus flavicornis, which has disguised itself with bits of plant stem and twigs.

Snails - Snails do great damage to all plants, particularly submerged ones. Eggs look like toothpaste size extrusions of clear of dotted silicon on the underside of leaves, particularly lilies. Rub them off. Fish will eat some snails eggs.

The eggs of the great pond snail.

The great pond snail grazing on duckweed and oxygenating weed.

To get rid of the snails themselves, dangle a cabbage stump in the water and they will flock to it. Also grapefruit rind or lettuce leaves are all suggested lures to entrap them. Then remove the lure and dispose of it.

Water Lily Beetle - pests to specific plants - Lilies