Grow Aquatic Plants in Pond Plant Baskets
Planting your aquatic plants in baskets is much easier than planting them directly into the margins or substrate bottom. Using these containers specially designed for water loving aquatic plants is far less messy and whole lot more convenient than the alternative.
Why Use Pond Plant Baskets
- Pond baskets are easy to use. They are just as easy to plant in as it is to plant a potted house plant
- They do a pretty good job of controlling any plants that spread out and multiply by sending out rhizomes. You won’t need to be concerned about your plants spreading out into areas of the pond you don’t want them.
- They help keep any plants that like to root deep from doing so and thus you won’t need to worry about their roots puncturing your pond’s rubber or plastic sheet liner
- They make maintenance much easier by allowing you to easily pick them up out of the water. You can trim, propagate and treat for pests and disease all from the comforts of a work bench.
- You can also move these plants around to other areas of the pond much easier if you decide you no longer like their placement or if you notice they are not thriving as well as they should in a certain spot.
Why You Should Not Plant into the Margins or Substrate
Most ponds contain a rubber or plastic liner and don’t have the suitable substrate depth to even allow planting directly into it. If by chance a pond has a substrate deep enough to grow aquatic plants, one would have to dig holes in the ponds. This would no doubt make the water cloudy a spread any debris that was trapped in the bottom substrate. There’s also a real possibility of puncturing the liner if a shovel is used to dig the hole. Next the aquatic plant would need to be held in place with one hand while the other hand attempts to bury the roots. Bare roots have a tendency to float up and keeping them down while trying to cover them with the substrate is a challenge. If the aquatic plants are successfully rooted into the substrate, performing any maintenance would need to be done wherever the plants have taken root. That could mean the middle of the goldfish pond. Furthermore, the root system of certain aquatic plants can spread making it hard to uproot them for maintenance and division. The spreading of the roots can also be a cause for concern if the roots like to grow downward. If the roots are strong, they can potentially puncture a plastic pond liner.
Even More Benefits
By using pond plant baskets to plant aquatic plants, all of those headaches are eliminated. Aquatic plants can be planted out of the water into these self contained baskets. Filled with aquatic planting mix, a pond plant basket will provide the needed fertilizer and substrate for an aquatic plant to thrive. The weight of the aquatic planting mix will help keep the plant anchored to the bottom and the plastic or mesh basket will keep the roots from growing out of control. In times of seasonal maintenance, pond plant baskets can be lifted out of the water where fertilizer can be added, dead leaves removed, shoots trimmed back or plants divided at the end of the growing season.
How to Plant in Pond Plant Basket
- Fill the pond plant basket with an aquatic plant mix
- Dig an appropriately sized hole in the center of the basket
- Remove the aquatic plant from its container and loosen up the root ball
- Place the aquatic plant in the center and fill in the hole with aquatic plant mix
- Throughly water the basket to help compact the aquatic plant mix
- Add a layer of aquarium gravel substrate to keep the soil in place.
- Water thoroughly one more time to completely saturate the pond plant basket
- carefully lower the pond plant basket into the goldfish pond
Recommended Supplies
Plant Basket – Small Round
Square Plant Basket
Aquatic Plant Food
Reviewed By: Tim Winter
Tim Winter has a strong affection for pets and wildlife. His years of experience caring for various types of pets has led him to share his knowledge with others on the best practices in pet care. Tim holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communications.