i've heard everyone talking about using plain cat litter in their planting baskets... where in the baket is it used? i take it you still need aquatic soil and pea gravel and the cat litter replaces the funny media that swells up and absorbs water...right?

also could anone tell me at what depth an elephant ear likes to be planted as i got a tiny wee one off ebay (couldn't find one anywhere else) as i really like the one scott has in his pond! it's only 4" hight at present but i've been told they grow like wildfire in the summer and die back in the winter!

also i can't find anacharis for my pond but i did buy plants for my tank last week and i'm thinking it could be it...can anyone identify it from this pic of my tank for me?



Thankyou in advance!!!

Yep, that's anacharis! Some nice anacharis too! I love that shot, it looks like the fish is about to go into attack mode with those plants! Mine loooove anacharis.

As for the whole kitty litter thing, that's all I have my plants in... when you think about it, the plant isn't getting its nutrients from the soil it's planted in, it's getting it out of the water.. so I just have plain ol' kitty litter.

With the elephant ear... I dunno how deep, but I'm going to assume that it can't be in water very deep at all. Maybe Scott'll jump in here and clarify.

hehe! Cheers Erica, that's garfield...he's a right wee character, he was black and orange when i got him but all his black has disappeared!

So is that tank anacharis suitable for the pond then provided it's weighted down?

i've bought soil already so i'm gonna use both then...do you top with gravel at all or does the cat litter do the job insted of gravel?

Nah, I just have cat litter. It can get a bit sludgy, so make sure you rinse it till the cows come home. I think I rinsed for like 10 minutes and still didn't get all the dust out of it. Oh well, it's gone now.

You can put the anacharis in the pond, it's happy either rooted or floating.

I used the cat liter in mine and you know what, I could never rinse it all the way. I think I was outside for 20 minutes rinsing the stuff. The water is constantly murky, especially when it rains. I wont use the stuff again, honestly. I didnt realize how much of a mess it would be. I used baskets and maybe the cloth pots would have been better. Maybe half filled with liter and top with about 2 inches of gravel. Maybe that would hold it in the pots better. I think if I use it again Ill try it that way.

i lined the inside of my planting baskets with hessian squares, then used a bit of aquatic soil, topped with a few inches of rinced cat litter and finally a layer of pea gravel and so far so good, i have no complaints...i think the hessian is a must to keep any media from leaking out!

All of my plants are in foot deep water, well some a little more foot and a half but it's right around there. I think that on the elephant ears you want to make sure that your leaves are above water level before you leave it in the pond. If they're not there I'd put it something else until they do get tall enough to stay above water in the pond.

Sorry it took me awhile to jump in..

Scott

whoops! i have in in the same large basket as the water lily...better fish it out and hope it survives