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I Miss the ponds my parents had when I was growing up, remember helping to build them.
I remember them freezing over in winter and will always remember when one of our dogs was standing on the frozen pond then suddenly, the ice breaking and watching her go through the ice with a big yelp and then jumping out and standing at the pond barking at it as if it was the ponds fault.
Does anyone else suffer from something eating their frogs?
We had a wonderful population of frogs and since last year they've all been killed. Lost the final female last night. 😔
Over 50 frogs killed (that we've found) same pattern every time, happens overnight and they/it only eats the heads.
Any ideas? We're in town so realistically it can only be foxes or cats. Can't be herons as it happens overnight and I presume they would actually eat them.
going to net the pond and see if I can save the last few frogs.
Mine is a seething mass of frog-sex, followed by post-coital sunbathing.
There is a local cat whose kink is apparently watching them, and maybe eating a few. Thinking about fitting a hinged board at the edge which drops it into the filth if it gets too close.
Things have kicked off this week. Lots of shagging frogs and maybe a dozen newts.
@pictonroad
That can only be cats I would say a heron would just take the lot.
And mogli has newts I'm not jealous at all 🙂
After a bit of pond TLC a few weeks ago (mainly pulling out lots of algae and leaves) and sorting out the water level, I thought it was pretty dead in there. I was pleasantly surprised then when I was having a tidy up yesterday and saw three frogs out and about! Closer inspection revealed quite a lot of insect action, a load of tiny snails, some tiny shrimpy jobbies and some wiggly larvae things. The few plants I managed to pick up when I dug it last year are doing well, so it's given me a bit of a nudge to get a bit more planting done around it and keep on top of the leaf fall a bit more regularly to keep it clean. Waiting for a sunny afternoon to try to get some pics.
I've neglected my pond due to the arrival of daughter no. 2, but looking to get it back on track.
I've got two main problems, 1 the water is green, 2 there is a tonne of sludge so I have to keep taking the filter to bits and hosing out the foam every 2-3 days.
UV bulb in the filter had failed so I replaced that.
Are any of the anti-greenwater or anti-sludge products worth using? I've looked through quite a lot on Amazon and they all seem to have a good chunk of people saying they don't work.
We’ve used barley straw to keep the algae under control. Won’t reduce the sludge though, so I raised the pump off the bottom of the pond so it wasn’t clogging up the filter.
I have been scooping some of the sludge out gradually by hand. Looks great now.
We've got far too much pond weed & algae!
We dug ours out in lockdown
Plenty of tadpoles though and a few frogs, we have a problem with crows dropping bits of scavenged food in to soften it up, like discarded KFC!
Anyway last month we had 3 dragonfly larvae crawl up and make the leap to their next stage
Kimbers - we have the same problem with a crow softening up stale bread. I have to dig the sodden mess out, but then the rat comes along and scoffs the bits left.
The tadpoles are turning nicely into froglets. The tadpoles seem to be eating anything and everything now, evening devouring water snails.
The barley straw has done its job and I can just keep clearing the weed by hand.
Hoping for some dragon flies or similar in the next few years.
Found hedgehog poo by the pond edge, very chuffed.
I have been inspired by this thread to put a tiny (very tiny) container pond in our small garden. The container was an old rectangular bucket from work that we used for applying PVA with a large roller. I've got some gravel and some rocks so there is an escape route for accidently swimmer. I'm going to fill it with water from the water butt. I was going to get a couple of oxygenating plants and stick them in too. Any suggestions? Hornwort? Needs to be readily available and, ideally, cheap.
You can actually buy the plants off eBay believe it or not. Cheap as chips
Good call.
multi21
Free MemberI’ve neglected my pond due to the arrival of daughter no. 2, but looking to get it back on track.
I’ve got two main problems, 1 the water is green, 2 there is a tonne of sludge so I have to keep taking the filter to bits and hosing out the foam every 2-3 days.
UV bulb in the filter had failed so I replaced that.
Are any of the anti-greenwater or anti-sludge products worth using? I’ve looked through quite a lot on Amazon and they all seem to have a good chunk of people saying they don’t work.
Just a quick followup, I used Tetra Algorem and it cleared the green water up a treat.
Need to fix all the other problems and remove the net from over the top, but at least we can see the fish now!
For reference, the depth where the filter is, is about 20-24 inches.
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I was inspired by this thread myself. When I redid the garden I bought a very very small pre-made pond liner and have planted around it. Not much activity at the moment but it’s probably only been left to develop for maybe two months. We have put in a dwarf iris and a dwarf reed, forget-me-not, dwarf lily, three bunches of oxygenators and a horse tail. Apparently, dragonflies may use the iris to lay eggs.
It is still quite fascinating to see the bug population develop but nothing glamorous yet.
Sadly my pond seems to be a death trap for baby sparrows. I'm guessing they fall in and get too wet and cold to be able to fly away and get fed. At least the magpies are thriving.
While we are on the subject what's a no chemical way of getting rid of duck weed the more you pull it out the faster it grows.
Its all getting a bit low ... deep part just behind the ship.
Hey all
I actually bookmarked this thread a couple of weeks ago and forgot to come back and seek the collective wisdom of STW.
To be honest I was completely blown away by how clear some of your ponds are!
We moved in to a house a couple of years ago now, most of the focus has been inside the house but we've turned our attention to the garden more this year.
The previous owners had two ponds, we emptied and filled one pond and retained the other.
Last year we emptied, cleaned and re-filled the remaining pond but we can't seem to keep the water clear all we have is a thick green water.
So far we have:
- Installed a water blade to oxygenate (runs for an hour or so a day)
- We've added water lilies and other plants in.
- Earlier this summer we added a UV filter which is on the same timer as the water blade (so ran for an hour or so each day).
Last week I've set up the UV filter to run seperately and have had this running for a week 24/7, at the moment I've noticed very little improvement in the water clarity.
What would be your next steps?
Last week I’ve set up the UV filter to run seperately and have had this running for a week 24/7, at the moment I’ve noticed very little improvement in the water clarity.
What would be your next steps?
I know you said it looks green in the pond but this can be misleading. Take a pint glass and fill it with pond water. Is it brown or green?
Green is algae, you need to kill it with UV or clump it together with something like Tetra Algorem I recommended earlier in the thread and remove it with your mechanical filtration.
Brown is detritus, bacteria, etc. You need to improve mechanical filtration (for example sponges).
Yellow tinted is tannins, ensure leaves do not rot in the water.
Generally 'cloudy' but not obviously coloured could be a bacterial bloom, especially if it's a new pond. Check ammonia level with a test kit. If over zero, add a bacteria product to your bio-media (assuming you have some, if not add some)
Thanks for the advice.
I checked the water in a glass as you suggested a couple of days ago.
As you say the water is in fact a cloudy yellow rather than green.
We have trees close to the pond so it suggests more a bacterial issue.
We added Pond Klear in to the pond the other day and the water clarity is improving.
In terms of filtration we don't have anything currently, without any fish we didn't think this was necessary but it looks like it is.
Would a flat filter box be sufficient? We don't have any fish in the pond.
I'm sceptical of chemical or mechanical solutions. A pond should reach a natural equilibrium. A bit of patience may be necessary, plants will help once established but a couple of little things probably won't be enough. You may need a large part of the surface to be covered. I can hardly see my ponds right now for vegetation, will prune back the growth at some point. But the water is lovely.
To be honest I’d much prefer going down the natural route with plants rather than adding my devices in to the system.
We’re not interested in keeping fish in the pond, we already see a lot of nature around the pond I guess out frustration is looking at murky pond so looking for a solution to improve the water quality y.
Happy to throw some cash at establishing more plants - neither us have much of a clue!
Would something like this do the trick: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161653029876?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ObC7BRNYT62&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=-HIW4HgORWy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Foolishly, we dug this during the first 40° heatwave.
20ft x 11ft and 4ft where they are standing. Ledges are 3ft deep as we have had problems with herons before.
It's finished now, but problem with the UV means water is not clear, there are 13 koi in there, the biggest couple are about 2ft long.
Just back from 2 week holiday some hopefully be able to sort out UV and see the fish!
Do any of you Pondies have dogs too? i am also inspired by this thread but im fairly sure my dogs would massacre all the frogs and newts giving the opportunity!? 🙁
Not a great expert on pond plants @mikehow but I'd be looking more for floating cover with spreading leaves rather true marginals that may mostly stick to the edges and/or grow upright (eg reeds). You need to absorb a lot of the light and heat hitting the surface. I have something that I can't remember the name of, unfortunately, and also water mint has taken off well. Water lilies of course. And that frondy stuff that floats under the surface (usually described as an oxygenator). Basically I also bought a lot of random things off ebay and chucked them in, one or two vanished but most have settled in.
Marginals are fun and often attractive, of course - round the edges of my ponds I have a growing collection of pitcher plants which are fully hardy, also a couple of sundews, and various other flowering things. With an accompanying bog garden area (in theory, fed by pond overflow, but not so much right now!) that hosts some candelabra primula and a Chilean gunnera, which is restricted in size by the root space. I made the bog garden by digging a hole and lining with pierced pond liner.
@mikehow
Free MemberTo be honest I’d much prefer going down the natural route with plants rather than adding my devices in to the system.
We’re not interested in keeping fish in the pond, we already see a lot of nature around the pond I guess out frustration is looking at murky pond so looking for a solution to improve the water quality y.
Happy to throw some cash at establishing more plants – neither us have much of a clue!
Ah okay, with no fish then @thecaptain 's approach should work nicely. Bacterial blooms will resolve in time and without fish there's no need to hurry particularly.
A question though, how did you have UV running with no other devices in there? Or did you mean you just had it hooked up to a plain pump with no mechanical filtration attached?
thecaptain
I’m sceptical of chemical or mechanical solutions. A pond should reach a natural equilibrium.
Mechanical filtration is simply removing waste before it can break down into ammonia/nitrate/phosphate (aka algae food), plus the benefit of physically straining things out of the water making it clearer.
TBH It's right to be sceptical of pond/aquarium chemicals in general, there is a lot of snake oil about. However the one i referred to (AlgoRem) is simply a flocculant plus phosphate binder and it works very well for green water.
Your approach is a good one for low nutrient input ponds but if you have any decent amount of fish (and therefore fish food) in there, you'd need a metric buttload of plants covering the water to stand a chance.
@sc-xc looks great, similar size to ours. The UV/mechanical filters plus a bit of clear pond treatment in the summer means I can see my fish. But it means the Heron can see the fish too remember. Have you built any caves on the bottom for them to hide in?
Don't know what happened to our water lilies this year. Most didn't shoot at all 🤔
Do any of you Pondies have dogs too?
Yes, and she loves swimming too but has never bothered with the pond, other than drinking from it. She'll sniff any frogs or toads but leaves well alone. I think they can actually be an irritant, so maybe she tried it once and learnt it was a bad idea.
Today this happened and I am chuffed!! https://twitter.com/darwendashers/status/1560953086100836352?s=21&t=Dtdh1B-XB3i4MIWRSAMITA
UV starting to work, here's ours tonight..
Have we all got frog spawn/mini tadpoles yet?
Our frogs have almost filled the pond this year. There was a frost for a couple of nights this week, which luckily hasn't affected the wriggly things in the pond.
I need some more pond plants, as Mrs, Blackbird keeps taking out the soil around some of the smaller plants (in baskets) to help build her nest.
Yup had 12 frogs this year in a pond that's roughly 1mt2.
Lots of spawn of 2 different types definitely not toad spawn
One lot floating and the other about 100mm below the surface and a bit cloudy looking.
No taddys yet.
Have you tried leaving a small tray of mud for the blackbird. We did this and it saved some of the damage to the existing plants.
Bruce - great idea. Will try that thanks.
Bunnyhop
Full MemberHave we all got frog spawn/mini tadpoles yet?
Nothing this year, a heron or a cat killed all but one frog and two fish. 😔
Gonna nab some from my friends pond I think.
On the subject of herons/cats, are there any solutions which don't involve having a net over the top?
Possibly mentioned this before but I've never bought a fish, and yet I have half a dozen that absolutely love to sunbathe. They're getting bigger too.
Also spotted a froglet a few weeks ago, so there appears to be some kind of agreement in place.
bearnecessities - I love your pond.
Our tadpoles are getting legs. The other day I saw two waterboatmen take a large tadpole and start to eat it.
The hedgehog drinks from it, as do many other insects.
To everyone that has a pond, its worth going into the garden at dusk, the area around the pond will have many moths and if you're lucky visiting mammals will come to drink. Last night I was watching 2 woodmice, and several hawkmoths.
Thanks! Funnily enough I was sat out there last night and a moth flew straight into the water, so I scooped it out.
It then flew straight back in.
And a third time.
Our 'poles were legged up and jumping round the garden a long while back. Which is a bit unusual, in previous years we've had some stay as monster tadpoles all year.
Am a bit disappointed to never have had dragonflies or newts in our ponds, but maybe there just aren't many of the latter around locally. We did get a brief visit from a family of ducks (inc. small ducklings) a while back, they must have had a fair walk from wherever they came from. It's all drystone walls and fields round here, a bit of a mystery where they came from and went to! I'm particularly pleased with the pitcher plants though (sarracenia and darlingtonia), will try to take a pic once they are fully grown again. They seem to thrive on complete neglect and a miserable climate.
Six weeks ago, we decided against building a greenhouse, but putting in a pond on a spare bit of ground. A busy weekend digging down a metre, then forming some shelves. Liner, water, plants and we left it. No fish, and unless they make their own way in, there won't be any. Leaving it now to see how it develops.
No photo, will try again!!
Where do people go to to get plants for a wildlife pond? We're thinking of getting bare rooted plants off the internet to try and keep the cost down. Using our local garden centre will put the cost pretty high and we've got a fair area to cover. 14' diameter.