My pond project is under way

[Rairdog]

Very nicely done Applestar.... yay

[applestar]

Thanks, Rairdog.

I can't help doing a quick headcount every time I walk by

The frogs are growing and I'm seeing at least two tiny green frogs -- so maybe the tadpoles I bought finally grew up? I know DD saw a tadpole with four legs and a stub of a tail last week or maybe couple of weeks ago, and I posted a photo of the big tadpole with long tail and back legs.

A couple of days ago, I heard a distressed cheep, cheep sound and looked to see if there was a baby bird, and it was one of the little green frogs on the rim of the purple dinosaur sandbox/future bog-gravel filter, making tiny jumps and heading for the big pond. Apparently it got scared when I walked by and was trying to reach and jump into the pond.

The bigger ones are getting more colorful, with brilliant yellow-green mouth/jawline, some with bluer looking heads, and this one with white chin and belly:

[imafan26]

This came up recently so I am asking. How much maintenance is required on the pond? I know if it is balanced it requires less but if there are leaves and debris in the pond how often do you have to clean or drain the pond? Do you use skimmer and how often do you have to clean the leaves out? Do you have to deal with algae. Here algae is in the water so there is always algae in pools and ponds. Do you have to treat the water before you add fish? How much maintenance on the pump?

[applestar]

I don't know the answer and I tend to want minimum fuss -- but my impression is that it will depend greatly on size of the pond and its construction as well as how high tech the filtration, etc. systems are. There are so many different types and sizes of pumps, too. As well, it will depend on whether it is a fish-containing pond. It will also depend on how clear you want the water to be.

I do often read about weekly skimmer and monthly filter cleaning etc. maintenance when pads and other filtration media are used.

After looking at various filtration designs, I'm opting for natural gravel/bog bio-filter and simple waterfall/stream aeration in addition to the one air pump aeration. When I finally get one, I'm going to get a fairly powerful utility/waterfall type pump that can handle unfiltered water with simple mesh debris excluder. I want a natural bottom to accumulate/develop over the liner, so I wont worry too much about fallen leaves and algae except to make sure the pump keeps working. I do have an idea for floating debris/protein skimmer -- I want to incorporate the air lift pump in it -- but thats a back burner BIG project.

Right now only significant mechanical in my sadly neglected pond is a 4" air disk and Whisper (I think 3000 but it might be 2000) air pump, but the frogs and the tadpoles don't seem to mind.



I hope others can answer your questions.

[applestar]

We are watching the tadpoles develop by bringing them in the house and keeping them in this simple set up. There are maybe 1/2 dozen tadpoles in here and at least 3 of them have tiny feet/toes sticking out next to their tail.

[imafan26]

My neighbor had a concrete pond that he made but it had just one fish in shallow water. The whole thing was shaped out of concrete and I think the deepest was maybe 6 or six inches, no plants no cover for the fish. He had to drain it and clean it every couple of weeks but it was definitely not a balanced pond.

[applestar]

[applestar]

The frogs are awake

[applestar]

It's raining pretty steadily today, so no gardening outside.

I was looking out of the window at the pond and thinking about what I want to do, including building the airlift pump skimmer/waterfall. Last year, my plans hit a snag when I discovered the snake hiding in the fold of the liner where I wanted to dig.

Yesterday morning when I was watering (for no reason as it turned out ), the snake slithered out from under the insect screen hoop tunnel protecting the Asian greens in the SF&H bed, so it does roam around. DD saw it on the patio a little while ago.

Those Green Frog are GONE. Have not seen them for a week or more. Don't know if they decided to go walkabout, something went wrong with the pond water ecology (it looks very clear) or the snake ate them all one by one... or maybe the heron that overflies my garden once in a while on its way to the community pond about a mile away stopped by for a snack? Maybe it was raccoons?

[ButterflyLady29]

I can verify that snakes do eat frogs and toads. I had a toad hanging out around my back door one year. One day I walked out the back and saw the poor toad hanging part way out of the jaws of the large resident garter snake. I cried. But life happens and unfortunately that is part of it.

Raccoons and herons also are fond of frog dinners.

[applestar]

Not to worry. There have been some um ...repopulation... activities going on ....

[applestar]

Oh ho! Those last two had been VERY busy.

[pinksand]

So many babiesssss!!!!! How exciting.

[applestar]

Tadpoles!

[applestar]

Duckweed is trying to take over the pond.... I hope the little tadpoles are OK.

[rainbowgardener]

If you get a fine mesh net like butterfly net or fish net, you can scoop a bunch of the duckweed out. It is a great, high N additive to your compost pile.

[applestar]

Good idea!

[applestar]

I'm SO happy -- I got the turtle spitter•birdbath working again.

New design for the airlift water intake and air tube connection, since when I tried just hooking it back up to last year's it didn't work.

[applestar]

Tweaked it just a little bit more this morning. Now it actually SQUIRTS every few spits instead of dribbling then spitting.



The frog was closely monitoring the entire time. In fact, when I was bringing up the tubings to make the modifications, they felt a bit heavier than I expected -- I looked down and it took me a moment or two, then a couple of skipped heartbeats to register that there was a frog hanging onto the water intake tubing, almost like he was holding it down

I reflexively and inanely said "Oh! Hello!" ... and told him I was fixing it and will put it right back. At which point, he hopped and splashed away and climbed up on his regular sunning rock.

[applestar]

OK, just ONE more picture, then hopefully I won't have anything else to say about the turtle spitter for a while.

Late yesterday afternoon, the turtle stopped spitting or squirting. It just...stopped.... DD went outside to pick blueberries and reported that there were tiny tadpoles in the birdbath.... I said huh? I didn't put any in there. But I was exhausted and decided NOT to go out and check the connections, etc. because knowing me, I would have turned it into an hour-long project.

This morning the turtle was spitting again. I went over and saw this:



I started to wonder if the tadpoles had gotten into the intake tube and clogged it, especially when they got to the reducer for the turtle's internal tubing.

Later I did discover a dead tadpole in the saucer, so I'm guessing that one was the one that had been pushed up against the reducer until it finally slipped through, along with these other rascally tadpoles that thought it would be fun to ride the tubes.

[applestar]

The turtle spitter was working really well for a while -- in the mean time several small mature green frogs have emerged from the pond. Then it got clogged again late afternoon on Wed. I went to clear it with a jet of water yesterday, and there were teeny-tiny tadpoles the size of match-heads swimming around in the plant saucer birdbath.

Later when I looked in again, I saw a mangled larger tadpole in the saucer which was probably the one that caused the blockage. When will the big taddys learn that they can't play in little taddys' tube tunnel ride?

[rainbowgardener]

That's funny about the tadpoles getting caught in the tubing (a little sad for the ones that don't make it, but Nature provides tadpoles in abundance).
Our previous house we had a little artificial pond with one of those turtle spotters. The spitter and the tubing did need to be regularly cleaned out.

[applestar]

Water Hyacinth and Peppermint I'm letting hang out in the pond are in bloom

[applestar]

You might have noticed that except for fiddling with the turtle spitter and occasionally scooping the duckweed, the pond has been a back burner project this year. So nothing much has changed, but here are views from front and rear --



...I'm hoping to work some more on the perimeter and hide/cover up more of the liner now that the weather has cooled down, before it gets cold...

-- Does anyone know if once the water hyacinth has bloomed and then dipped their heads in the water, they will be able to re-generate from seeds next year even here in Zone 6B? I overwintered some in an aerated bucket in the garage (dark) and a tiny one in the Marimo vase under the bright WWL lights in the house. The ones in the garage died in the deep freeze when the garage temps dropped down to mid-20's°F. So all you see here grew this season from one plant I bought this spring for something like $3, which was the best price I could find -- most other places were selling for $5 and some for $7. Trying to decide if I want to try overwintering again -- Could I find them for $3 again next spring, or would it be worth the trouble to try to overwinter.

[applestar]

Big frog with yellow underbelly and 4 smaller ones with white underbelly.

[rainbowgardener]

So you've been scooping duckweed. Have you noticed your compost pile heating up more?

Maybe with your little pond, you don't have enough duckweed to make noticeable difference. When I was doing that, at the bottom of our hillside was a big natural pond, like maybe 50x50. So I could scoop out a whole bucket of duckweed/water meal at a time. Heated up the compost pile and then the finished compost would be very fine textured.

[applestar]

You are right, I'm not getting a whole lot, especially since very often, the frogs are among the duckweeds and I stop scooping so I won't accidentally injure them. (OH! I'm sorry! I didn't know you were there!) It's also slow work because I visually inspect each scoopful for movement in case I scooped up any tadpoles.... Sometimes, as soon as I start dipping, the BIG frog comes up and stares at me as if in protest.

Mostly, I just want to scoop out enough to widen the pond aerator bubble circle. What I've been using them for so far has been as mulch for the nearby Kitchen Garden bed of late-planted basil.

[ID jit]

With the turtle spitter / tadpole problem... have you considered putting a slightly oversized filter on the pick up? They are pretty easy to hide and pvc takes krylon fusion well.

Section of 3/4" cross drilled with a bunch of holes, end cap on either side, wrap with aquarium "pre-filter" sheet and secure with zip ties, install a pvc/nylon nipple on one end to attach the pick up hose to it. Going slightly large will prevent the tadpoles from becoming trapped in the filter by suction.

[applestar]

Ah ha! I forgot about this! I’m almost ready to to start working on my pond. Thanks @IDjit


...First frog — he Has been singing his banjo-like song ::)

[applestar]

When I was inspecting the pond for signs of mosquitoes after a week of daily rainfall and planning some reconstruction around the edges, I saw these guys which have been ID’d as dobsonfly larvae/hellgrammites.

Subject: Is this a dytiscus larva? >> dobsonfly/hellgrammites

I saw three of these swimming around in my pond. I was excited thinking they are dragonfly larvae, but the searched images don’t match up.

I’m thinking they might be DYTISCUS diving beetle larvae? They were about 1.5 inches long. What do you think? Anyone know?

Either way, the pond is definitely free of any sign of mosquito larvae.

...incidentally, I noticed the little guy after uploading the photo? What’s that one?

eastern dobsonfly - Corydalus cornutus (Linnaeus)
https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/mis ... sonfly.htm

Hellgrammites tend to be found in relatively unpolluted water. Therefore, they may have value in bio-monitoring studies (Voshell 2002). Perhaps their greatest value may be their contribution to biodiversity in their habitat as predators.

~~~

I also noted that some tadpoles are starting to make an appearance —


— yeah look at the size difference based on the green pot rim ...definitely lunch... ...but maybe hellgrammites will prefer the slower moving snails...?

...life goes on... I might see the garter snake next!

[applestar]

Finally got the turtle spitter back on-line. It’s working well right now, gurgling and double-squirting at rate of once every 3 seconds.

Las year, I used a 10 inch clay flowerpot saucer for the birdbath, and there was constant fights going on... plus the little birds were afraid to go in the water that was apparently a little too deep. So this time, I’m using the largest saucer I could find, and built a shallow “kiddie paddling area”

Full view of the pond. I really want to work on that waterfall area this year ... I envision a small spillway into the upper pond and a sheeting fall down to the main pond —

[Helen051]

Wow, your pond looks very lovely. Such a green oasis in the garden...

[applestar]

I have flowers in my pond!!!

My pond is probably too small for these, but I don’t care. For $10 each color (plus little crowns he accidentally dug up as bonus), they were well worth driving 50 minutes away. Look at the big pond (only about 1/3 of it is in the photo) they came out of.



He called them Waterlilies but looking closer, I think the light pink one is definitely lotus, and the dark pink flower in the original pond picture is surrounded by lotus leaves. White one too? That flower is about 1/3 the size of the light pink.

I didn’t have time to do much more than just throw them in and spread out the leaves. I did bury one 10 inch tuber (very lotus-looking) in gravel and sank it in the white pot for now since it insisted on floating around. I’ll try to get them situated better in the next couple of days.

Oh yeah, and while I was doing that, a HUGE dragonfly flew over the pond and circled around back and forth — I felt like it was approving the pond addition. I would say at least 5-6 inches long and wingspread.... oh I wonder if it was a dobsonfly? Maybe it came OUT of the pond?

[SQWIB]

I have flowers in my pond!!!

My pond is probably too small for these, but I don’t care. For $10 each color (plus little crowns he accidentally dug up as bonus), they were well worth driving 50 minutes away. Look at the big pond (only about 1/3 of it is in the photo) they came out of.



He called them Waterlilies but looking closer, I think the light pink one is definitely lotus, and the dark pink flower in the original pond picture is surrounded by lotus leaves. White one too? That flower is about 1/3 the size of the light pink.

I didn’t have time to do much more than just throw them in and spread out the leaves. I did bury one 10 inch tuber (very lotus-looking) in gravel and sank it in the white pot for now since it insisted on floating around. I’ll try to get them situated better in the next couple of days.

Oh yeah, and while I was doing that, a HUGE dragonfly flew over the pond and circled around back and forth — I felt like it was approving the pond addition. I would say at least 5-6 inches long and wingspread.... oh I wonder if it was a dobsonfly? Maybe it can OUT of the pond?

I'm pretty sure those are all Hardy Water Lilies, the one in the center is a Laydeker

I have the same one and a Nymphaea Red Laydeker
nymphaea = water lily



Pond looks great, I gotta tweak my ponds soon.

[applestar]

Well, the pond is a long way from my ultimate vision of it, but thanks! And I’m glad to hear they look like the hardy Waterlilies you have, because *hardy* was what I was looking for.

Too often, the garden centers sell tropical ones that I don’t have the time/energy to overwinter. And when I was pricing the dormant potted ones this spring, they cost like $25 each.

I was wondering how “clean” his pond was so I asked about the little swimmers that were leaping at the surface then sinking back to the bottom. The guy told me they were tadpoles and that he has frogs and fish in the pond — and showed me by scooping with a giant net and dumping the tadpoles in various stages - babies with just a tail to two legged to 4 legged, and the fingerling sunnies and carp. I’m always relieved to see active frog population in the water since they are pretty sensitive to pollutants. He offered to add the (bullfrog) tadpoles and fish, but I declined... now I wish I asked for the sunnies.

[SQWIB]

I usually drop in a tomato Spike in the pots and cover with rocks to keep the koi off of them.
Mine are about 14" deep from the top and they winter over just fine.

[applestar]

Tomato spikes — what a great idea! Thanks!


...they looked a bit more at home this morning...

[SQWIB]

Tomato spikes — what a great idea! Thanks!


...they looked a bit more at home this morning...

Next year they'll look even better because the stems you have now are long and will be shorter next season, I'm guessing they are long from the depth of the pond they were taken from.
I try to keep mine 14" from the surface so most of their energy isn't spent reaching from deeper depths.

[applestar]

That makes sense. Some of the leaves are trying to push up onto the edge now.... But two new flowers opened this afternoon.



— You can’t see it behind the turtle spitter but the darker pink flower is still hanging in there... the white one and light pink may have been damaged during transport because they didn’t last (But I wasn’t surprised — I didn’t expect him to give me such big plants so I only took a 5 gallon bucket to put them in).

[applestar]

So I’ve been watching the Waterlilies for a few days now and realized these flowers close for the night. They start to close up in the late afternoon once the shadows get longer, and by evening, are mostly closed. In the morning first light, they are tightly closed. I never knew they did this. So cool!