While you need to fertilize garden plants from time to time, this is generally not necessary for aquatic plants. The garden pond contains natural fertilizer. However, with some pond plants a little help may be necessary. Learn when and how to fertilize your aquatic plants!
Should you fertilize aquatic plants regularly?
Aquatic plants should not be fertilized regularly as this can lead to over-fertilization and algae formation. Only fertilize when necessary if plants show deficiency symptoms such as yellowish discoloration or poor flowering. Use low-phosphate fertilizers in the form of fertilizer cones or tablets.
Fertilize aquatic plants regularly – yes or no?
Practice shows that you don't have to fertilize aquatic plants regularly. Only a few pond owners and hobby gardeners swear by continuously supplying their pond beauties with fertilizer like all other plants in the garden.
Caution: Regular fertilization quickly leads to over-fertilization of aquatic plants, which in turn leads to rot and burning. In addition, too many nutrients remain in the pond water due to the constant administration. The unpleasant consequence: algae formation.
Fertilize aquatic plants only when necessary
When it comes to fertilizing aquatic plants, it's better to just react rather than act. This means: Only add fertilizer to the natural cycle of the pond water when the plants indicate that they need it. But even then, the following always applies: less is more. So use fertilizer sparingly.
How do you recognize the need
- If you put aquatic plants in your pond, you do NOT need to fertilize them first.
- If the plants show signs of deficiency, you can add some fertilizer. Potential deficiency symptoms include yellowish discoloration and relatively poor flowering. But even if such “symptoms” occur, you should check before fertilizing whether the problem is caused by too dense plant growth in the pond.
Attention: Aquatic plants that change color are not necessarily diseased. Especially in the autumn season, pond plants often take on a reddish-brown color.
If you are unsure whether there is a nutrient deficiency in the water, you should measure the iron content before taking any specific action (€35.00 on Amazon). Corresponding tests are available inexpensively in hardware stores and garden centers.
Fertilize aquatic plants properly – this is how it works
Fertilization is done using a fertilizer cone or a fertilizer tablet. Press the respective agent directly into the soil.
Important: This variant of fertilizing is much gentler than fertilizing directly via the water. Its effectiveness is not as intense, which is an advantage in terms of algae growth.
Use fertilizers that are low to phosphate-free without exception!
Tip
You can also make fertilizer for your aquatic plants yourself.
