Change of Hours.

In light of the tough Economic Climate we are all experiencing this year I am reducing the hours Finch Family Water Garden will be open. We will be open Friday and Saturdays 10 am-6 pm, and Sundays 10 am-5 pm August-October. For those of you those hours don't work for I will do my best to accomodate you with Special appointments on Wenesday and Thursday afternoons, Please call and leave a message at the nursery at 541-926-9737 to schedule an appointment.

I am sorry for any inconvience this may cause.

James

Wonderful Water Lilies

I came home yesterday to a number of blooms on the water lilies in the display pond. One of my favorites, Colorado, is shown here--it is a salmon color.

I went through and fertilized all of the plants in the pond this weekend. Some plants like Water lilies and Lotus want to be fertilized monthly during their growing season. The reason for this is they expend a great deal of energy opening and closing their flowers and putting up new leaves. Their flowers last about three days and leaves about three weeks, but they are constantly putting up more. When I fertilize I pinch off all the old growth so the debri isn't breaking down in the pond.

In addition to the Colorado we cary 23 other hardy Water Lilies at Finch Family Water Garden.

A GARDENERS LIFE

"The gardener is a solitary figure, who, like the book reader, withdraws from the real world into one of his own creation."
~Witold Rybczynski
Waiting For The Weekend

GreenClean by BioSafe Systems

GreenClean By BioSafe Systems, LLC is a Granular algaecide that works on contact to eliminate and control String Algae Cladophora in water gardens, ornamental ponds, fountains, waterfalls and rocks.

It immediately begins fighting algae blooms, releasing vital oxygen into the water body as it biodegrades. GreenClean is EPA registered and OMRI list. it begins working on contact and is approved for use in water containing live fish and plants.

How to use: You will see quicker results on a warm day. Turn your pump off (so the water flow doesn't push the product off the algae) and sprinkle the granular algaecide across the water, it will quickly sink, landing on the string algae. On a warm day the algae will float to the top as it dies. Be prepared to net the algae from the water as the decomposing algae will deplete oxygen from the water as will the heat. After about 45 minutes to an hour restart your pump and continue to monitor the algae rising to the pond surface. If you have an heavy bloom you may have to reapply the product because it can only kill the algae it touchs.

Comments

Wow, I am no computer Guru....Plants I am comfortable with. LOL, I enabled you to leave comments, but at the same time I converted it to Hindi Writing. I think I have that fixed.
I hope to start getting some product spotlights up soon and focus on some of the plants we carry.

Our focus has been the yard and getting ready to reline the nursery pond.

Now we have yet another wedding in the yard coming up. We hosted one last year in September , which forced the focus on the Large pond in the yard. We are hosting another this year again in September......Come out and see how things progress between now and then

James

Japanese Trapdoor Snails

The Japanese Black Trapdoor Snail (Viviparis malleatus), Viviparis meaning live bearer, are the preferred snail for water gardening. They are dark in color and grow up to 3 inches. They generally produce 3-5 young at a time.

They scour the pond eating algae off the liner, planters and even cleaning up your plants without harming them. They also eat dying plant matter and clean up left over fish food. They are cold hardy even if your pond freezes over, unlike many snails because they do not breath air (many snails have a breathing apparatus that they send to the surface to suck in air with). Japanese trapdoors stay in the water at all times unless removed. If you do take them out they will seal their trap door and wait for you to return them to the water.

The biggest question is how many do you need. "The golden rule" published in books for many years is one per square foot of surface space, this is fine for small ponds, but can get overwhelming and quite expensive to buy if you have a large pond. I suggest one for every three square feet of pond surface on larger ponds, keep in mind that they do multiple. At any rate the more snails you have the more benefit you will see in algae control, buy what you feel comfortable with, 10 at a time seems to be a magic number this year for many pond keepers--After all you can always get more net time you visit.

Want to name your snails? You can sex your Japanese Trapdoor Snails if you can view them with their antenna out. Note in the picture above that one antenna is shorter, this is a male, and the reason for the shorter blunted antenna is that is also doubles as its sex organ. The females will have antenna of equal lengths. Also note its mouth, as tiny as it he moves it from side to side as he peruses your pond cleaning an path crystal clear.

the 3/50 project

SAVING THE BRICK AND MORTARS OUR NATION IS BUILT ON

For more information, visit the350project.net