Stagnant happens where oxygen levels plummet to such a degree, aneirobic conditions take off, rather destructive when poisonous gases such as hydrogen sulphide and methane levels increase. Not the end of the world, but it will be to those critters that are poisoned easily, more bodies going off. A bit unlikely on a pond where usually such tacky water quality 'gasses off' such pollution. As the pond is going into the green soup bowl phase, you could leave it alone, while waiting for the more desired ornamental plants to take control As algae is an opportunist, able to expand and replicate faster than other plants, that's what you are enjoying currently. When plants are settled in and dominate half the pond volume and more, the algae population will slump in water conditions where the fertility levels are being taken up by the aquatic plants. The algae growth will slow, stop, collapse, the water will go crystal clear one cool morning, and turn to silt. Unless something stirs it up...

I hate to resurrect an old thread, but this exact thing is happening to me. I grew a hibiscus rosa-sinensis from seed, and now I'm getting one single red drop on the underside of almost every leaf, where the leaf meets the stem. In my curiosity, I licked one. It tasted sweet. I didn't see any other signs of an infestation of any sort. Radovan, did you ever find out what was up with your plants?

I'm a former member of Dave's Garden, which used to be a pretty popular site and probably GWs most notable competitor. I probably had a dozen or so stickies posted to fora related to container gardening, houseplants, and 1 or 2 other fora (maybe they're still there somewhere - not sure). I quit going to the site when they deleted the container gardening forum and said they felt it should be incorporated with just 'gardening'. The stickies seemed to work out quite well - and it's no problem to look beyond the 2-3 threads you might find pinned to the top of a forum if one felt there was nothing there to capture one's interest. Those threads did get an extra measure of traffic, so there were a lot of gardeners following them on a day to day basis, even if for no other reason than there was a considerable amount of information being shared. About there being a better way ....... I have probably read "It works for me" as a direct reply to me about something gardening related a thousand times or more as a point meant to terminate the discussion. It doesn't matter how many better options or potential issues there are, if it works for that person, the method should never be questioned or even gently criticized. For those of us who try mightily to keep the impressionable from falling into the patterns of the "it works for me crowd" who have little interest in honing their skills, it presents a dilemma. Say nothing and let the information stand unchallenged, or explain why there are potential issues involved with certain advice/practices or even offhand comments. When I come across obvious misinformation, I always ask myself if it has the potential to diminish the gardening experience of others. If 'no' - I offer no comment; if 'yes' I explain clearly why I disagree. That's held me in good stead for quite some time, so I don't plan on changing anything. I didn't write this, but it illustrates the folly in using the "I've always done it this way" argument, a logical fallacy called 'Appeal to Tradition'. Following that, you'll find "The Story of My Old Pal, Joe Pye", and what worked for him. The Way It’s ALWAYS Been Done Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all the other monkeys with cold water. After a while another monkey makes the attempt with same result, all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon when another Monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, put the cold water away. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the Stairs. To his shock, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted. Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm. Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs he is attacked. All of the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. After replacing all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know, that is the way it has always been done around here. It works for me: I usually shake my head whenever I hear the words “It works for me“ used as either an argument in a debate or as a justification for particular methods when there has been a suggestion that there might be a better way. I’ve encountered those words so often that I even wrote a silly little story to illustrate how ridiculous it is to use “It works for me” as any kind of argument. After the story, I’ll look a little deeper at the phrase, if you’re still interested. It Works for Me - or The Story of Old Joe Pye There’s this story I often tell ‘bout a real good friend I had a while back - called hisself Joe Pye. Now ol’ Joe was kind of a stubborn sort, but at least sometimes he'd listen ...... if you caught him on a good day. Well, I’m gittin off the track here, so lemme git back to my story. Ol' Joe had a real peculiar habit. See, ever’ mornin he'd commence to banging his head against the wall for 15 minutes or so before he went to work. When I'd ask him, "Why o' why do you do that, ol' Joe?" His answer would always be, "Well, it works for me - wakes me up inna mornin. Gits my blood a movin‘" Now I'd been around the block a time or two; and I was sure as sure can be there was a more productive way for ol' Joe to wake hisself up inna mornin, so I timed it to when I figgered Joe would be in one of his listenin’ moods, and sorta half whispered a suggestion to him. Had to do it more'n a coupla times, too - even got some other folks agreein with me and telling’ ol’ Joe the same thing … to sorta help ol’ Joe along. Well by gosh, through the blessed power of multiple suggestions, and jus like I proposed, ol' Joe commenced ta huggin & kissin on his wife ever’ morning’ afore work instead of pursuin his other long time habit of bangin his head 'gainst that wall. Stubborn as he was, ol’ Joe recognized right away he was better off - he just lacked the benefit of enough experience to see it at first. His wife was quite pleased with the change as well - took right kindly to it. Ol' Joe never ever did go back to bangin his head on that wall neither. There's a moral to this yarn: If yer real happy with how things is, and ‘it works for you’, by all means, please maintain the status quo; but at least allow it is possible there’sa better way you might not know about .... at least consider it …. please? Al

There are inherent limitations in a soil that takes 2 weeks to dry down to the point the grower feels it's safe to water again. We have to allow too, that since you haven't been monitoring moisture levels, the plant might be capable of going much longer between waterings, which would tend to increase the level of limitations associated with too much water in the soil. Given the size of the plant and the size of the container, the only way that can occur is by virtue of the fact the soil holds a lot of excess water. The soils I use require watering every 1-4 days, depending on the pot size and weather or indoor conditions. Keep in mind that most of my plantings are bonsai, so the ratio of plant mass to soil volume is very different than growing in a container as large as yours. I do have many dozens of plants growing on for bonsai in containers the size of the one you pictured and much larger, however. I think plantings that actually DO require watering every 2-3 days probably represent the best opportunity for plants to realize as much of their genetic potential as possible, but you'll need to decide weather or not you're willing to work toward getting to that point and subsequently making the effort it takes to water that frequently. Since we might never know what caused the leaf drop, it's probably best to confront the issue on several cultural fronts. My plan for the plant in the short term would be to take steps to significantly reduce the volume of excess water your planting can hold. That can be done in a variety/combination of ways. I'd see what I could do about getting it more light and maintaining a constant temp of about 70* or warmer. I'd flush the soil at regular intervals and fertilize regularly. Unless there are other potential limiting factors we don't know about, these suggestions should allow your plant to recover. Because the above doesn't go into a lot of detail doesn't mean I can't. If you're up for making the effort, you'll get all the help you need, a good part of it in the form of homework I'll link you to. After you read it, ask about anything it leaves you wondering about. Al