Growth Guarantee
For us, at Aquatic Plants Nursery, ethics and honesty are core values, that’s why from a 100 euro purchase in plants, you are entitled to the 100% Growth Guarantee, which includes free replacement of plants that may not take root, even though you have planted them correctly, according to our instructions.
The 100% Growth Guarantee covers water lilies, marsh plants and lotus flowers (including nuphar, marsh irises, plants for moist soil, colocasias).
This guarantee does not apply to submerged plants and floating plants, as the growth of these plants is strictly dependent on the characteristics of the water, as well as the possible presence of fish.
Regardless of the Growth Guarantee, if you receive damaged plants from the courier, please notify us immediately, within one day of receipt. Obviously a few broken leaves, absolutely, does not mean a damaged plant!!!
The 100% Growth Guarantee is valid if you place the plants correctly, so you have to send us photos of how you planted all the plants, as soon as you place them in the pond.
If plants are incorrectly placed, and they die as a result of incorrect placement, we do not provide any guarantee. By sending us photos immediately after planting them, we can confirm that they are positioned correctly or we can give you suggestions for quick changes.
For example, for each different species of marsh plant, the planting depth depends on the species, so please read the table, containing the planting depths information for marsh plants, in the green-pink manual. If you place marsh plants at a different depth, they may die.
If you have purchased an Easy Pond Kit or the Pond Consultation service (i.e. you have sent us the information regarding your pond), we have already selected the most suitable plants for your context and therefore, in order to activate the Growth Guarantee, you only need to send us the photos of the plants placed and the water test (enclosed).
If, on the other hand, you have purchased the plants from the website by yourself, you should have carefully read all the technical data sheets of the plants during the purchase and you should have chosen the plants according to their exposure to the sun, the space available, the different depths of your pond, the water characteristics, and in general, the climate zone in which you are located. In this case, if you would like to activate the Growth Guarantee, in addition to the photos of the placed plants and the water test, you will have to send us all this information to confirm whether or not the plants are compatible with your pond.
Five important conditions to fulfil:
1- NO animals that can destroy plants (turtles, herbivorous fish such as amur carp or other unidentified potentially herbivorous fish, geese, ducks, nutria).
The Growth Guarantee does not apply if the plants may come into contact with aquatic animals that destroy the plants, such as herbivorous fish like amur carp (which are grey-brown carp), trachemys turtles, ducks, geese, nutria… In that case the plants must necessarily be protected and isolated from the animals, otherwise they will be destroyed or eaten.
If you have goldfish and koi carp I recommend in any case protecting the submerged plants as explained in the Red Manual (Aquatic Plants Quick Start).
If you have koi carp over 20 cm in length, it is also advisable to protect the water lilies from being uprooted by placing stones on top of the soil of the water lily basket (to be removed as the water lily roots and grows filling the basket), as explained in the same manual.
It is your responsability to check that the plants are planted correctly, both once you have placed the basket in the water and also afterwards, checking for example that there are no fish digging in the baskets or other animals causing damage.
If you want to avoid having any problems with fish, I recommend Medaka, which are harmless fish both for the plants and for the balance of the pond (they do not foul the water).
2- NO plants placed in the shade or indoors
Water plants need sun in order to live and grow. In addition, water lilies need a lot of sun in order to flower abundantly.
On the information sheets of each plant you can find information on the minimum sun exposure (e.g. 4 – 6 – 8 hours of direct sunlight on average in the middle hours of the day). Very few plants tolerate shady conditions.
In addition to the overall exposure of the pond to sunlight, it is also your task to check that each individual plant receives the necessary sunlight (e.g. a new water lily in a lake already full of water lily leaves or other plants is unlikely to receive the necessary light).
If you have purchased an Easy Pond kit by providing us with information on sun exposure or you have purchased the Pond Consultation service, then we have already made the necessary evaluations for you and you have therefore received the best plants according to your context.
3- NO anti-algae products in water
The Growth Guarantee ends if you put chemical products in the water, especially anti-algae products. Although it is mentioned on these products that they are harmless for aquatic plants, actually they are harmful (years of experience) and they will cause the death of some or all plants.
4- NO water with abnormal characteristics
We do not guarantee the plants growing in abnormal water conditions, such as brackish, sulphurous, or excessively calcareous or hard water. Sudden deaths of ALL plants are not covered by our guarantee, as they can certainly be attributed to water anomalies.
If you have purchased marsh plants, water lilies or lotus flowers, enclosed with this brochure there is a test strip that changes colour on contact with water and measures the main water parameters (including pH, GH hardness and carbonate hardness KH).
If you use water from rivers or irrigation canals, or rainwater, you will certainly have no problems. If you use potable water from the aqueduct, we have rarely encountered problems. If, on the other hand, you use water from your own well, you are much more likely to find anomalies. The abnormal values most frequently found in well water are high pH and hardness.
In this case, all the more reason, it is necessary to test the water parameters immediately with the strip we have enclosed. If there are any abnormalities in the water, you must follow the instructions contained in the test brochure as soon as possible (e.g. use a pH reducer) and to test the parameters again, in order to activate the Growth Guarantee.
The enclosed test strip comes from Tetra’s 6in1 Test, which you can also find on our website.
For optimal plant growth, the pH must be between 6.5 and 8.
The total hardness (GH) must be between 6 and 16. Higher values indicate a water hardness that is too high and therefore harmful to plants.
5- NO plants planted without soil
We do not guarantee that plants planted without soil will take root. To set up your pond, you should follow the instructions contained in the green-pink manual “Quick guide to setting up your pond in balance”, then use field soil and slow-release fertilizer. If you do not intend to use fertilizer, you must ensure that you use fertile soil.
So if you intend to place the plants in gravel without soil, in sand, in nothing or with other strange ideas, of course, we do not guarantee that they take take root.
Timeline of the Growth Guarantee
The guarantee covers the rooting phase of the plants, starting from the day you receive them (it does not cover the entire lifespan of the plant).
The rooting phase is understood to be the phase from the day it is planted till the plant is healthy and vegetative, i.e. larger than at the time of planting.
In the period between May and summer, it would be enough to define the rooting period as two to three weeks, but since many people also buy plants in autumn or late winter, we have defined the rooting period as three months, even excluding the winter months, from November to February, from the count.
By “vegetative” months we mean the period from March to October.
Here are some examples.
If you receive the plants on 15th June, the guarantee is valid until 15th September.
If you receive the plants on 15th March, the guarantee is valid until 15th June.
If you receive the plants on 15th September, the guarantee is valid until 15th April.
If you receive the plants on 15th November, the guarantee is valid until 31st May.
When and how to send photos to activate the Growth Guarantee
In order to be eligible for the guarantee, you must send us photos of how you have planted all the plants, within one of planting in the pond.
Thereby we can confirm that they are positioned correctly, or we can give you suggestions to make quick changes. Any plants that are incorrectly positioned could quickly die.
We require:
– photos showing all the plants placed in the pond, also to understand their sun exposure;
– and photos showing each planted species in the foreground, with the final water level.
Photos must be comprehensible and focused on the plants in order that we can understand the planting depth.
Here is how the photos to be sent should look like
Detailed photos of water lily and minipond
Detailed photo of Iris pseudacorus and Glyceria maxima Variegata
Photos of a pond as a whole, with water lilies, marsh plants and submerged plants,
Photos of a pond as a whole, with plants for moist soil, marsh plants, submerged plants and water lilies
Photos of a mini pond set-up
We do not guarantee the survival of tropical plants from one year to the next, i.e. those 2% of plants that are marked on our site as tropical, i.e. not frost-resistant.
No replacement of plants already replaced is foreseen.
With reference to an order of plants, there is only one free shipment of replacement plants.
Lotus flower
Lotus flowers start to vegetate from May onwards (remember that lotuses need at least 8 hours of direct sunlight per day).
If the lotus flower rhizome does not start to vegetate, report it to us only in the period between mid-May and the end of May.
In June it may be too late to send you a replacement rhizome (if it is not possible to send it, we will send it in the spring of the following year).
How to notify us if any plants had growth problems
Send us a comprehensible photo of the plant’s rhizome (or what is left of it) via email or WhatsApp within the 3 vegetative months.
It is strictly forbidden to send photos every day or week. If it is cold or if there are big fluctuations in temperature, the plants will take a long time to vegetate (this is why we give 3 months as a Growing Guarantee and not just one month).
With a purchase of at least 100€ you gain access to Aquatic Plants Gold Exclusive and enjoy the following benefits:
- free shipping (in major European countries, or discounted in other countries);
- assistance services for 12 months;
- opportunity to activate the 100% Growth Guarantee (on water lilies, lotus flowers and marsh plants, recommended by us through the Easy Pond Kits or Pond Consultation, or chosen by carefully reading the plant data sheets on the website and planted according to the printed manuals included in the shipment);
- detailed videos on how to grow aquatic plants;
- practical printed manuals on how to plant aquatic plants correctly in order to sort all your doubts out.
Do you have questions about order management and shipping?
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