orchiata bark: i don't think you can truly hydrate coarse bark by just watering it to dampen sphag in it. overtime it will become bone dry and will completely shed water. unless you patiently douse it with a fine stream of water from pressure sprayer sev times over sev days - which takes quite some time. .. not sure about shower - depends how leaves cover the surface of the bark, it's possible to shower leaves and not get much into bark...and the water will just pour thru like with reg. watering. i did read posts about orchiata - saying it sheds water, hard to hydrate it. if dolomitic lime is of such great importance - it can be sprinkled in top layer of bark from time to time - though usually it's mixed into medium. so i am not sure if light surface application is OK or not. This post was edited by petrushka on Tue, May 6, 14 at 17:48

rcharles, The problem is the water in the ground around the pond is higher then the water level in the pond. This can happen one of two ways. The first is if you are pumping water to a water feature such as a waterfall or fountain or external filter and the water is leaking out there. If it is flowing back to the hole in the ground where the pond is. The water level in the pond is going down because of the leak but at the same time the water in the hole is filling up. When the water in the ground gets to a level that is slightly higher then the water in the pond the liner in the pond starts to float like a boat. As more water is pumped out of the pond it is replaced by water on the outside of the liner until the pond is empty. Normally the water in the ground around the pond soaks into the ground and can't lift the liner unless the ground because rain can't hold anymore water. The way is for rain to raise the water level in the ground higher then the water level in the pond. When this happens the water level in the pond rises. It could rise high enough where it could flow out over the edge of the liner until the pond is empty. This situation is a lot more rare then the first and requires some unusual circumstances. The pond has to be built on sloping ground. The liner on the lower parts of the slope the has to have a way to let the pond water out and the ground water not back into the pond. So usually the liner follows the slope down very close to the surface with usually a fold as to act like a drain tube while the water in the ground can be higher then the water in the pond. This is rare but can take place. Mike

I started off with cheap plastic clear saucers like these: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PX4LNVW?tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1 They are flimsy, deteriorate fast and crack and cannot really take heavier pots with heavier mixes. I gave up on those and replaced with thicker more durable saucers. They are available in various sizes (limited range though) from garden centers, big box stores, etc in the $3-4+ . Cheapest are the ones from hydrofarm if you buy in bulk - eg: https://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-HGS8P-Premium-Saucer-8-Inch/dp/B008XOPUVO There are better ones available than the hydrofarm ones but will cost more. The main advantage is that they last a long time. My newest ones are probably 4 yrs old and the oldest ones are more than 15 years old and none have cracked yet. Another advantage is that I can lift up the pot with the saucer or drag it across the floor without worrying about them cracking. Another place to check is IKEA. They have all sorts of stuff that can be repurposed as a plant saucer.

While we’re on the subject of watering, just a note on how to fertilize lots of plants quickly. I used to use a 3 gallon pump sprayer and it took hours to fertilize everything. Even watering section on different days took forever (Kevin knows my setup). I got a Venturi watering device and now I water EVERYTHING in 20 minutes or less. There are several types of Venturi devices out there. This one was given to me by an orchid friend. ALL of them are based on water flow requiring a minimum of 2.5 gal/min. Some require even higher flow rates. This is definitely a downside, This device is significantly less costly than a commercial metered proportioning device. This particular device comes with various proportioning nozzles to adjust the fertilizer concentration. I mix a gallon of fertilizer concentrate, attach the device and I’m done in a short time. The other downside, of course, is the amount of waste and having a location appropriate to use such equipment.