How it looks now?

I am not expert in planting but just some experience.

If you have been growing till such stage all by yourself then I should be learning from you. Over all the plants are thriving

When you say 2 months, I assumed you bought from nursery and it has been with you for 2 months. You know they are the experts and if they actually and professionally growing till this usable size then all of the plants should still be thriving and none should be dying. Some yellowing of leaves is expected.

You see what behind is that not all plant are suitable to grow in the same condition like this. But in order to attract customers to buy you have to have varieties.  Meaning have as many different species as possible, some big leaves some small leaves and some tiny leaves. But as said some are not meant to be planted this way. So, they take from pots and put it there and it should live but not thrive. Dont sound convincing? Ok you pluck a flower and put in a vase with water, that will last you few days to a week. You pull a plant with root and put it in a flower vase with water, it last you one month, 2 months? Ok this is only one of the theory.

When leaves turn yellow not due to aging it is because of too much fertiliser that "burn" the plant. Just like when you eat too much durian day after day you get "heaty" and fall sick. Too much of a good thing is not good. This will usually affect grass like plant with small long leaves. But why not the big leave? Size does matter! A 2 yr old kid eat one durian and a young 60kg young adult also eat one durian. It is not too much for the 60kg man. Ok this is also another theory only.

It is not over watering, over watering will have fugus growing. It is also not insufficient watering otherwise same shuould happened to all of them and the big leave should die first because it need more water than the smaller leaves as it has bigger surface areas.

The best way is to take this to the nursery where you bought them from. 2 things to do. First is to ask them why some are dying and, 2. Request they help you care for a month and pay them a small fee. After a month make sure they did not replace the dying plants with new ones. They will die (again). Sorry things dont die twice, you live once only

This plant requires good sunlight to thrive.
Generally, waxy leave plants dont require as much water, because the wax is to prevent water evaporation from the leaves.
If only one leave turns yellow, it could be either the stem is injured, or it's simply old. If bottom leaves r yellow, it could be they r prevented from getting sufficient lights by other leaves on top. If all the leaves are turning yellow at the same time, most likely they are not getting sufficient lights. If they turn yellow, stem getting soft, most likely there's injury to the roots, likely cause overwatering, not adequate drainage or fertilizer injuring the roots.

Day 1


Week 4


Week 8 Added 2 new pockets at the bottom

There seems to be a power cable.
It uses electricity ?

DIY?

They are modular vertical pocket systems called Woolly Pocket. DIY part is just screwing them into the walls.

They are modular vertical pocket systems called Woolly Pocket. DIY part is just screwing them into the walls.

It is easier to use brick method for curve pond, so is my curve pond using bricks backfilled with concrete.

This is a diagram of a brick wall with backfilled concrete. The backfilled acts as support for the brickwall and therefore compacting is not utmost important. Also, you can back fill as you lay the bricks than pouring the backfilled concrete after completion of building the brick wall.

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As you know brick is rectangular, long and edges. Laying the bricks as it is give the surface has too rough edges, impossible to be smooth out during plastering. To have a smoother curve cut the brick into two using a circular concrete saw. You will now have shorter bricks which give you smoother curve and making plastering easy. You need only to cut a line on one face and use hammer to break them into two. I lined up the bricks on the ground some 10 to 20 pieces at a time and cut all of them at one go. That is cut a roll of bricks at once than cutting one by one which is time consuming.

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Hey stevie8..
What concrete grade did you used? As in what was the cement:sand:gravel ratio..

Cheers...

A pond for a house can be considered a small pond. For small pond the grade is not crucial as compare to large public pond which is usually large area and deeper with uneven depth and level that require more strength. More important for a house pond construction is the process of mixing with water, compacting and curing process.

For house pond you just need M15. So go for M20 to be on the safe side. M = mix by weight between cement, sand and stone. The number is compressive strength in megapascals (MPa) after 28 days curing. 15 means 15 MPa, 20 means 20 MPa. For M-15 the mix = 1:2:4 (cement:sand:stone). M-20= 1:1.5:3 (cement:sand:stone). As you can see from the ratios mentioned the more cement against sand and stone the stronger is the strength of the concrete. But the more cement used the more shrinkage as the concrete ages. The stone and sand are inert means it will not react and will not shrink. Cement in the mix is just like glue that glue itself to the sand and stone. As it dries the "glue" shrink and become stronger and harder as it is now more compact than before.

For my pond I mixed 1:2:3 which is between M-15 and M-20. Why? it is easier than to follow something like 1.5 kind of thing. I just need to weight 1, 2 and 3 and mix. Because I DIY so I hand mix with shovel.

In order to achieve good result as said it is not the mix but of which one of it is the process of mixing with water. The more water the weaker is the concrete. Water creates capillaries during curing process (hydration). The more water used the more porous is the concrete and therefore weak and less waterproof. In order to use lesser water I used admixture. Admixture allow you to use less water and it also contains something of rubber things that provide better waterproofing and also prolong curing. All these 3 things help in a strong and waterproof concrete.

To increase strength besides using lesser water is prolonging the curing process. You can spray mist water on the concrete as it has set or harden to touch and some time cover it with plastic sheet and shade it from sun and wind.

Also, compacting bring out the air in the mix. Having air means having hollow and inconsistency concrete.

What you want to do? Building a pond?

Wow.. Thanks for your elaborate explanation yea i m building my own pond too..also diy myself.. Currently in the 2 1/2 month since i began.. Was just wondering what concrete grade u were using.. I hand mixed grade 30.. Really tough work. I can imagine u had a hard time mixing the concrete too.

For my mix, i also tried to control the water ratio. I also added waterproofing admixture during the mix.

At the moment, i will be adding the brick wall up to the top now.. I have managed to cast my slabs and my filter chamber.. Looking forward to finish up the brick wall and the filter by year end..

Once that is completed, i will start with the skimming of the wall and then applying the sika top