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How to repot pond plants in spring

How to repot pond plants in spring

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Published: Sunday, 28 April 2019 at 3:33 pm

Discover how to repot your pond plants in spring as the weather warms up.

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Spring is the ideal time to repot pond plants into slightly larger pots, refreshing the compost and giving the roots space to grow. The water at the edge of your pond will be warming up as the days get longer and your plants will be starting to come into growth.

Discover five waterlilies to grow.

Choose a slightly larger basket for your plant and make sure your planting shelf is deep enough for the new basket. Bear in mind that new compost introduces more nutrients, which may cause an early algae bloom in the pond. This will drop as soon as the bigger pond plants start growing.

Here's how to repot your pond plants.

You Will Need

Aquatic baskets
Aquatic compost
Gravel

Step 1

Removing the plant from its old pot

Knock the plant out of the old basket. You may need to cut it out if the roots have worked through the mesh. It won't harm the plant if you prune the roots free.

Step 2

Removing dead foliage

Cut out dead or damaged material and remove weeds or duckweed from around the plant. Pull the roots out a bit if they are tightly packed into the the shape of the old basket.

Step 3

Repotting the plant into a new aquatic basket

Use a larger basket and repot the plant in fresh, loam-based aquatic compost or John Innes No.2. Leave the rootball exposed at the top but firm the compost well.

Step 4

Adding a layer of gravel around the base of the plant

Put a layer of gravel around the exposed rootball to weigh down the compost, then soak thorougly before gently lowering it back into the pond.

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