Well as this is supposed to be a blog about my constructed wetland not just about the critters that I find around it I guess I should mention some difficulties. Several of my plants started doing rather poorly in the wetland. I also use the water for irrigation around my fruit trees and some of the trees started looking poorly too. The water hyacinth had lost its chlorophyll and when I noticed the Asian pear doing the same thing (See the picture below) I was sort of worried.
My cranberries died as well as the blueberry. Both acid loving plants.
I was cleaning up the house from when my significant other had departed and found a half empty bottle of liquid plumber under the sink in the bathroom that she had been using.
That was the only thing left in the bathroom. I would suspect that the other half had been put into my wetland before she left.
The bottle says not to put it even in septic tanks. As it is a very strong base I have added measured quantities of pool acid to the system and amazingly everything is looking much better. So my ex significant other gave me a lot of information that I can pass on to you — don’t put liquid plumber into your constructed wetland. And if you do you can neutralize it with pool acid. :-)
