Patio Pond

[Bob_at_Fant]

Hi again frog fans,





this is pond no. 2 which I call my patio pond. Sorry about the quality of the photos but they get worse. Anyway this one is home to a couple of frogs and at least half a dozen adult newts and some youngsters, there was no frogspawn in this pond last year. In keeping with King Edwards request for pond details it's about a metre square in area, 220mm deep with about 50mm of slime at the bottom (and I do mean slime). It had a pump which was not working and which I serviced it but now I feel it's too powerful and probably wouldn't be appreciated by the occupants. It's overhung by a young oak tree and is up against an ivy covered wall so, while it gets sun almost all day it's well sheltered from wind. I believe, like the other ponds it was not maintained so I have been picking leaves and debris out but stopped when a little head appeared with a pained and reproachful expression on its face.

Bob

[Tringa]

Although fairly small it looks a useful pond for wildlife -sheltered and good access under cover. Don't know what the effect of a lot of oak leaves will have, but I'm sure others will.

You could just ladle the slime out into a bucket and fetter about in it for the livestock so you can return them to the pond - its a dirty job but somebody has to do it

Dave

[Billabong Karen]

Ah, that's the kind of thing I am aiming for with my new little pond, Bob.

What was the reproachful little head that popped up, a newt or a frog?

[Bob_at_Fant]

It was a frog, I know I shouldn't anthropomorphise (where's the spell checker?) but as most of them disappear as soon as I approach it was a shock to find one had come out of hiding just to look at me so I assumed I was disturbing it.

Actually I have a serious question about the slime - it is a bit unpleasant but this pond supports more amphibians than any of my others so I wonder if I should actually leave it alone, the fact that I find it unpleasant doesn't mean it's bad for them and presumably it has its own ecosystem. I am trying to remove the debris of which there's lots and I've now put some oxygenating plants in. If the slime is best removed what's the best thing to replace it with? I've heard play sand mentioned due to it's having no nutrients.

Bob

[Billabong Karen]

As far as I can gather, this is a balancing act. The slime supports all sorts of life, and is where a whole load of tiny creatures as well as newts and frogs hibernate. However, you dont want too much decaying matter down there, since the toxins produced can kill everything in your pond, especially if the pond freezes over totally for any length of time. Perhaps since it is a small pond you could just take some out with a bucket (checking it carefully for wildlife), but not aim to get a completely clean pond... Some small stones or clean sand at the bottom would not be a bad thing.

[King Edward]

5 cm of slime doesn't sound excessive, so I think you'd be fine leaving it undisturbed and just keeping a check on the amount of fresh plant debris falling in and accumulating. Some fallen leaves do provide useful habitat for invertebrates, so need need to remove all of them, but not too many especially if you have trees overhead dropping lots in. The slime should also provide a good rooting medium for submerged plants to grow in, so another reason to leave it. What plants did you put in?

I think play sand is good to put over the liner on a new pond, especially on the shallower marginal areas which are more vulnerable to damage and also more likely to dry out in summer, but I don't think it would be of much benefit in this case. What you're doing sounds fine overall.

[Bob_at_Fant]

Thanks, this seems to back up what I've been doing so far. Since all the ponds seem to have been somewhat neglected I've tried to do basic cleanup and add oxygenators which consist of a large bag of Hornwort that I bought from Ebay. Apart from the water lilly I couldn't say what plants exist in the ponds 'cos I'm rubbish at identifying any. The patio pond has two large pots containing a broadleafed grassy type thing and a tray and pot with something that has yellow flowers. The water in all the ponds varies over time from murky to very clear though with that slight tea brown which I've read means too many old leaves rotting at the bottom.

Bob

[GCN lova]

Ive heard that if they turn murky sometimes and clear the other times it is normally a healthy pond.

[Hedera]

It might be a good idea to stop too many oak leaves from falling in as they have a lot of tannin. Could you put a bit of net over it?

[Bob_at_Fant]

Hi Hedera,

yes I thought about this but didn't want to use net in case birds or anything else got tangled up in it. I've just acquired some chain link fencing that I thought might do as although the oak tree is young its leaves are huge but the tree is pretty much bare now. I'll try the fencing next year. Actually my tin bathtub is in a worse position because it's overhung by a Hornbean (I think) whose leaves are smaller and wouldn't be stopped by chain link fencing.

It will be interesting to see if water quality improves noticably next year in response to the clean up

Bob