We have a newly established man-made pond, rather large. Our pond is stocked with goldfish, shubunkin and some minnows. None of the plants that we have placed in the pond are thriving. We have submersibles, water lillies, floaters, Iris and a few bogs. All the water lillies are dying, no new growth and leaver that were present when purchased got brown, soggy and died. The submersibles broke away, stem-by-stem, and floated to the surface. The floaters are also turning brown, soggy and dying. The Iris's, which should have buds on them, do not show any signs of vigirous growth. What is wrong? We have fertilized the plants every couple weeks with no positive result.

Suggestions would be appreciated.

How old is your pond? How big is it? It may take a year for new plants in a new pond to do really well. They may just be off to a slow start. Be sure not to give too much fertilizer which is almost as bad as too little. Have you tested your pond's water quality for things like pH and hardness? Do you add salt to the pond? What are the plants potted in? All of these things may result in poor plant growth.

It's normal that when you put a newly purchased plant in the pond that it often drops the existing growth. Over a few weeks, it should then start to grow if the conditions are right, the potting media is okay, it's warm enough and bright enough, etc. Submerged plants may also rot somewhat when newly planted in a new pond. If they're floating up, then either they weren't anchored well enough (which is hard to do since they have few roots), or the fish have been playing with them (eating them, rooting them out of the pots, etc. My fish love to do that.). Iris rarely bloom the first yet that you pot them. I suggest testing your water's parameters, not adding salt if you have been, potting in clay soil topped with pea gravel for most plants, and adding one fertilizer pill per 2 gallons once a month (double that amount for water lilies only).

Hopefully, your plants will improve as the pond ages.

My pond plant page - http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plant.htm

OUr pond is new this year, about 2200 gallons. The submersibles were anchored to the floor of the pond by a rubber band attached to a rock. The bogs, lillies and other plants are in water garden baskets, planted in a special water garden plant medium sold at Southern States (rather expensive). The pond water is tested weekly, all tests show stable water conditions, with the exception of Nitrates, which are a little high. No, I have added no salt to the pond. The majority of the pond gets full sun all day, a small portion gets only afternoon sun. When the plants were first set into the pond the water temperature was cold, about 58 degrees. The water temperature is currently 79 degrees. We change-out 20% of the pond water weekly.

Submerged plants don't stay well on the bottom with rubber bands. That would be easy for the fish to dislodge them. I either plant submerged plants in pea gravel or let them float around and go wherever they please.

I have planted some plants in the pond "soil" that you can buy which is kind of like dark cat litter (it's hard-packed clay). This works well for some plants but personally, I don't think it works that well for water lilies and as well for marginals as plain old clay dirt. That's in my experience, comparing plants in yard dirt versus those in the pond "soil" I bought. I do use the bought pond clay in the cases where fish or the mischevious raccoons are more apt to spill the pots since it's less messy when tossed all over the place, repeatedly sometimes.

A lot of your problems may simply be because the pond is new, and time will help a lot. Other than that, I suggest if you have access to yard dirt, that you try planting some plants in clay soil topped with pea gravel to see if those plants do any better for you. For that, use pond plant pots without holes in them (or expect dirty water).

I noticed the same problem when I started my pond just a few months ago. Once I cleared up the algea, the plants started to explode with growth. In the last couple weeks my water lettuce has doubled in size, and all my plants look healthy and resiliant. I guess the lack of algea left more nitrogen based molecules to feed the plants.