redvan
Newly Registered
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2010 9:59 am
Location: Queens, NY

Been wondering....

I've been thinking about building a pond/waterfall in my yard for some time now and only after reading these threads, have I decided to go ahead with it but I have a few questions:
1- Does the location of it really matter to the prosperity of the pond and it's wildlife and plantings? (This is important to me because I want to build it behind my garage which gets the morning and early afternoon sun only, then it's shady.)
2- How deep should it be to protect the creatures that may take up residence there during the winter should they hibernate? I'm not thinking of Koi, but maybe frogs and whatever else may decide to move in and I certainly don't want them to freeze solid.
3- What about diameter?
4- I live very close to a very large park and have trouble now with raccoons and possums defecating all over the place in an effort to mark their territory. How will this affect my pond. (I keep them at bay now with motion sensitive sprinklers - man they work great!)
5- I feed the birds heavily because they need to eat and they liven up the place and a watering hole for them seems nice.

I'm on Long Island, New York
Red.

Koilady
Full Member
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Aug 25, 2011 6:29 pm
Location: London, Ontario Canada

Hi Redvan. The location of the pond is very important especially if you want to grow water lilies. They need at least six hours of sunlight. Also, you must make sure that leaves are removed immediately so that they don't pollute the pond and the most toxic tree to a pond is the Walnut tree. A lady from our Pond Club (Forest City Pond Club) put her pond under a walnut tree and the only solution we could come up with was to put a covering over the pond and that worked well.

In my opinion, I think that a pond should be at least four feet deep to keep water creatures which frequent your pond alive.

The diameter is entirely up to you. I found that when we got into the pond hobby and I saw my first Koi, I fell in love so you might want to build one that is at least 1,000 gallons. We ended up with 14 ponds where we imported and bred Japanese Koi.

Predators around the pond are a big problem. Raccons aren't too much trouble as long as the sides of your pond are straight and deep so that the racoon can't enter the pond. Herons are a different matter. They creep up slowly to the pond and can dip their heads into the water about 18" to catch fish. You can stop Herons from getting too close to your pond by putting some fishing line on small sticks around your pond. They have to lift their legs up and if they hit the fishing line, they won't go any farther. King Fishers are a different matter. I've never had a problem with them but because they can fly and dive to catch their fish, it would be a good idea to put up some netting up around the top of the pond to stop them from feeding on your fish.

My Husband puts up feeders for the birds and they were also able to have a bath in the little waterfall we provided.

I live in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.

Your's Koily, Lorraine

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rainbowgardener
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Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Location is important, but it depends on what you want to do with your pond. I have a little artificial pond, just about 50 gallons I think. We had a lot of trouble with green water all the time, despite fountain and filter, until the lilac bush it is next to got bigger and shades it. Now it is too shady for the algae. Would also be too shady for things like water lilies though.

Re the raccoons etc. We had a lot of trouble at first with fish disappearing from our pond, probably due to the raccoons, but maybe other creatures as well. We put one of those structures in it that they sell as fish tank decor. Ours is just like a big diving bell that they can swim in and out of and hide in. Since they had a hiding place, we haven't lost any more fish.



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