Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Floating Islands Arrived!

These 70 sq foot puppies are HUGE! Truck driver had to have help getting them out, in fact.

Looking forward to deploying them, eventually. Impressive.

Since I have built a couple of different islands it would be interesting to see yours and what they are like.

You know what they say about threads with no pics.....

For cryin out loud, it was 2:34 AM John's still tryin ta contain the buzz. New project....very exciting.

Would love to see the project in pics as it is deployed/constructed !

Me too! Sounds pretty cool.

John, I'll have to figure out how to post pics here. They are dark gray and look like steel wool, though of course they are plastic. Four inch deep holes in them to put in soil and plants.

My neighbors are impressed...

Anthropic I wondered if they told you what plants will grow well with your island. My island grew Petunias well but some things didn't grow well.

John, I have talked with the floating island folks a bit. I want to grow perennials because I'm lazy -- don't feel like replanting every year -- and because they usually have deeper root systems.

Irises for sure, maybe some native grasses.

What have you found that grows well?

I would recommend a butterfly mix of wild flowers from wallmart. Get the big pack and pant it all. They will come back every year from their own seed.

Cheers Don.

Aquatic iris and some low growing, spreading plants such as creeping jenny, pennywort and parrots feather would complement a picturesque floating island hmm?

IMHO Absolutely Awesome!

I planted annuals the first year then experimented with vegetables the second year but what I think you will find is that weed seeds find their way to you plantings with your perennials in the next year and you may have to cultivate them. That's what I run into anyway. Finally the third year I just let the island grow what it wanted and it was interesting and looked natural.

Any of the natural bog plants and marginal plants that like "wet feet" should do well on the floating island. I am surprised that Floating Islands International (FII) does not provide a list of plants that grow well on floating islands. FII may be missing a business opportunity by not selling nursery stock and seeds for their floating islands.

Bob Lusk started a floating island, introduced it as an article in PBoss magazine, but he never updated the readers about its progress or succession of plant growth.

Glad to see Andrew Davis still visits our forum.

This sounds interesting to try! If anyone has link to the type of plants that would work good for this please post it. Or if you can make a short quick list. Not looking for colorful stuff just good ole green stuff!! Low Maintenance....

P.S. One other quick question. Would my grass carp mess with something like this or try to anyway??


thx,
RC

Just Google Bog or Marginal plants and you will find a bunch of places that sell them.

I think grass carp will eat all the roots that grow through the island.

Bill I had grass carp when I had the flowers and they grew well right up until frost. The next year the cabbages didn't so there are mysteries about island plants that I don't understand.

I love what you guys are doing with your floating islands...I really need to get mine going this Spring.

Root mass and depth of growth will depend on the specie of plant. The flowers may have had shallow roots that did not extend through the bottom of the floating island.

With agriculture most plants fall into a 4-1 category. What you see for above ground growth you will have 4 times that in root underground growth.

Low maintenance with out any weeds is the wild flower mixes. Choose one that you could like to have as secondary creatures like butterfly's, humming birds, ect.

These are self seeding for the next year. They will grow so thick that you will not have to worry about weeds and the birds just love the seeds in the fall.

Wild flower mixes.

Cheers Don.

I doubt the most wildflowers will not do very well in a constant water soaked or water logged substrate of a floating island. It would be very interesting to know what species of wild flowers like constantly saturated soils.

I think I would try a few rushes and something in the arrowhead family for sure. Not sure what I would pic for a plant to add some bright color if that is a goal. Please let us know how it goes.

Keep in mind if what you plant produces seeds your pond banks may eventually be seeded also if the seeds float.

Aren't there species of Iris that are considered emergent vegetation? Blue Flag Iris, maybe?