It is Lotus shipping season!

I just finished updating my shopping cart for the lotus 2011 season. We will start shipping on Monday January 24th.
You can see varieties and prices here.

http://bonniesplants.3dcartstores.com/Lotus_c_30.html

Pictured above is Pink Bowl.

Water Hawthorne loves cooler/cold water

The elongated leave is the leave of the Water Hawthorne. Water Hawthorne loves cool/cold water and will bloom all winter. The flowers have a slight vanilla fragrance. You can read more here about these amazing plants.

I took the above photo just a few days ago. Now is the time of year to plant the Water Hawthorne bulbs if your water is between 60 and 70 degrees.

I plant them in the same pot as hardy lilies. For a short period of time in the fall and spring both plants will bloom. The hardy lilies will soon be going dormant and the Water Hawthorne will continue to grow and bloom all winter long in the same lily pot. In the spring when the water warms up, the Water Hawthorne will go dormant - just about the time the lilies are starting to wake up for their winter's sleep.

Sock net question

I am still trying to figure out the blog. I tried to post a reply but have no ideas what happened
The answer to your question is could the sock net be made?

I don't think so because it is very fine netting, almost like silk. There is a short handle that is heavy duty. Without the handle the net would be useless in handling large koi.

I do have them available from my one supplier. They are $69.98 plus shipping.

I recently purchased one and sent it to a customer and he "loved it"

If there is enough interest, I would stock them and have them available on my shopping cart.

He also purchased a professional 28" net for netting large koi. The handle, sold separately telescopes from 4 to 8'.

We use both of the items here when handling large koi for shipping and moving them around from tank to ponds, and ponds to tanks (spawning time)

How to move and handle large koi

With large koi it is imperative that you not move them around in a fish net. If they flop or struggle in a net or worse yet, hit the ground, there is a real danger that they will break their back.

We get the fish in the net and then carefully heard the fish into the sock net. You can then pick up the fish in the sock net and move it where it needs to go.

Middle pond cleaning Thursday September 2nd Myths untrue

We cleaned the middle pond yesterday. Drained it down, washed the liner and vacuumed it dry. Removed 5 small koi ( used to keep the snails off of my lilies) and put them in a holding tank with an air stone and pump.

The "shark" in the middle pond was 12 inches, up from 7 inches in March of this year.
The one photo, he/she let me hold him in my hand and roll on its side to get a side view and was extremely docile while held. Try that with a koi!

There are a lot of myths on the Internet about them:
* grows 1 to 2 inches a year
* does not like high pH, my pH is 8.4

I plan to dispel the "myth" that they do not breed in captivity. Because I have a total of 5 in my 15,000 gallon pond, I am sure I have both sexes. I will try to sex them in the spring when we drain the ponds down again for spring cleaning. I will set up a tank in the greenhouse and try to breed them.

Today we cleaned the upper pond by draining it down and washing the liner. We also dead-head lilies and fertilized them. I would see him/her from time but only glimpses because it would dart back into the lilies.

I took this photo of a Chinese hi-fin banded shark that I put in my pond back in March. He/she was 7 inches then and today measured 10-1/2 inches. They are only supposed to grow 1 to 2 inches a year.
Tomorrow we will be doing the middle pond and I know the "shark" there is even bigger. I am anxious to see how much he/she grew since March

Update mid-August

I had abandoned this blog for awhile because I was not sure how to use it.

Soon I will be updating here regularly.

Bonnie