The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: suziequeue on February 10, 2013, 08:23:32 am
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We have a large unlined pond which we dug about 18 months ago. It fills from the field runoff and empties into a land drain which eventually goes into the main drain so there is a regular flow through of water. We have planted a few things around the edge and last year we had loads of newts and frogs.
The problem is that there is a lot of algae and other things have rather taken over. I was thinking - is there a best time of year for draining the pond and having a clear out without being too disruptive to the newts and frogs?
I expect I've missed the best time now but anybody got any ideas?
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I was told not to clean out my pond altogether. I've used barley straw tied in bundles to get rid of algae, and the string stuff can be pulled out with long poles twirled round and left on the ground to shrivel HTH
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Hi
We have the same problem, just bought a property with a large natural pond that was covered in (I think) duck weed at the end of last year and the water is looking quite brown at the moment probably from the next door field which appears to be running in to it (I guess with a bit of mud in tow).
We moved in and arranged for a bale of barley straw but as complete numpties didn't check if it was square so we have a big round bale which I believe we have to turn into smaller chunks, somehow, tie with something and chuck in.
Not sure how it works or how much we need to put in nor what to tie it with.
Any ideas?
K
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barely straw releases a natural toxin to pond algea as it decomposes in the water create smallish (say carrier bag sized) bundles and secure with a non degradable twine (baling twine is great) ideally attach to longer bits of twine and chuck in holding onto the end of the long bit of twine secure this to the bank somewhere.
for a small pond you will only need the one bundle for bigger ponds use several at different places round the pond...
once the problem has resolved retrieve the straw with the twine and compost as normal....
for more efficient permanent solution plant bull rushes in the margins as these will draw off the nutrients the algea need to thrive...
problems are worse in ponds receiving run off from fertilised land as its the same stuff that feeds the land that the algea love...
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There is a great book (and web site) from the pond conservation society that has masses of information on creating and managing natural ponds (vs ornamental). A lot of it seems to be about allowing the pond to find it's own equilibrium.
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The pond will mature in approx two years on its own, barley straw will add to the TDS (Total dissolved Solids) and in the long run make it worse. Leave well alone as the pond finds its own way. The newts will love the murky water
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Hi
Soo confusing, I had been advised to use barley straw and then I think on this site read something about natural ponds and not interfering with them.
Didnt know there was a pond conservation site (next job look them up). Our pond I believe has been here for 10's of years as its mentioned in an old book about the area. So probably best to leave it alone, my concern is that there used to be loads of fish in it and between the owner putting it on the market and us moving in there are now no fish (a 2 year gap) and I felt we should be doing something before we re-stocked.
Probably just testing the ph balance will tell us if the water is OK or not and then we need to get rid of the duck weed. We did have some bullrushes and water lillies so lets see if they come back/look healthy this year.
Anyway far too cold out there to do much at the moment.
K
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http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/ (http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/)
Here they are. Loads of information to browse through.
We have a big pond in our new place but has been horribly neglected and is stagnant and smelly with loads of rubbish thrown in it so we are going to try and start to tackle it a bit later in the year.
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The duck weed will use all the nitrogen in the water that the algae is thriving on so leave it for a while, it will help the pond clear.
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I had duck weed in both my big pond and my teeny ornamental one - it seems to have disappeared over the winter - will it have seeded down below and grow back again?
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Theres usually a few that have escaped the cold to begin again in spring :(
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Basically, stillwater flora tends to be either dominated by algae or vascular plants, the presence of one over the other tends to tip the equilibrium.
You tend to find that new ponds have a lot of algae because vascular plants have not yet established. Also, logically, therefore you will find that blooms coincide with warm weather when competition from vascular plants is the weakest - ie spring and autumn.
Barley straw helps, as does waiting till the plants grow/planting more pondweeds and marginals.
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this was us a few yrs ago. our place had a small empty pond when we moved here. so we filled it then got ducks and geese which left us with thick green water. we use to empty - as it is 5m x 10m and 3ft deep - it was time coinsuming. in the end we emptied it and are filling it in.
we do have a much bigger natural style pond aswell with in-flow and out-flow to a river. it is clean mainly but has so many weeds underneath the surface it is v difficult to row a boat in the water.
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We have a pond where the clay for the bricks of the Tudor farmhouse was dug out, so it's been here a while! Some years it stays full, others it dries up. Some years it has lots of pond weed, or not, lots of floating grass, or not. Good years it teems with Great Crested and Common newts, Great Diving Beetles, dragonflies and damselflies and so on, other years it doesn't. Message here is - they always come back, and we do nothing at all!
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Hi
I just want it to look natural and healthy with loads of fish and a variety of ducks, I guess we need to create some type of water flow (not the current farmers field overflow into it and public drain as the outflow that we seem to have at the moment due to excesive rain.
I don't believe it ever dries up as I have found some old info suggesting that many years ago the owner let local farmers take water from the pond in a time of draught.
It is quite large with a little island in the middle (aim to put a duck house there) its about 5 or 6 ft deep and surrounded by trees (some dead as previous owner planted the wrong trees in a dry year), there are a few trees which go back a little way, and we are aiming to create a little woodland walk and cater for pond fishing to act as an attraction to our soon to be holiday lets.
We do have some water lillies and reeds both currently look dead and I am hoping they are they type of plants which die back and grow again each year.
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Be careful what you put in if your newts are great crested. You are not supposed to put any fish in with them as the fish will eat the baby newts. There are quite strict rules about interfering with great crested newt habitats.
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Hi
At this point I am unaware that there is anything living in the pond, when we bought the place the estate agent told us there were loads of different types of fish in the pond (on the market for 2 years in all and sold previously in that time), so we were a little surprised to find nothing, we were told by a neighbour that a van had come along the lane looking for this address saying they had come to look at some fish and we know there was a tenant in the annex who we were told felt she was owed somthing from the estate but was not going to get anything, so we put two and two together and decided she must have sold them.
I had not thought about protected species, and think I may not look them up just in case.
Sometimes its better not to know, although I suspect its not the case.
K