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Talkback: How to maintain a garden pond

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I have a new pond built this March 09 I have oxygenators marginals a water lily and a water hawthorne in the deep water but they have not got going yet now I have algea which is very green it is not blanket weed I cant pull it out will putting in barley straw help untill my plants get big enough to cope with excess nitrogen would putting in a pump help although I did want a natural pond to attract frogs etc.
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  • mrawcliffemrawcliffe Posts: 1
    very useful
  • jenhuntjenhunt Posts: 1
    That's a really good tip, but how does one get rid of Duckweed (you know the little green single 'leaf' stuff)?

    I have oxygenators and a filter/oxygen pump feeding a little fountain, but can't seem to clear the duckweed short of spending hours with a seive!
  • amethystpixieamethystpixie Posts: 6
    very useful - thanks! have had a wildlife pond for years and no problems but have developed excess algae this year. After watching this I had a thought and followed the dog outside. He is weeing and it is running into the pond causing nitrate levels to increase. I have moved him away and also put in some barley straw. Hope the frogs appreciate it!
  • shortshort Posts: 5
    I've just bought a tree fern. It's about 4ft. Where is the best position tp plant it in my garden, or is it best left in a pot? I live in south wales. We get sun at the back for most of the day then it disappears behind the neighbours house in late afternoon.
  • dottiesuedottiesue Posts: 7
    I'm emptying a pond can anyone tell me what to do with the dirty water? Is it ok to use it on the garden?
  • WakouWakou Posts: 21

    I know that this is a very old thread, but I am surprised that no-one has replied to dottiesue above. So if anyone passes by, looking for an answer to her question; yes. Yes yes and yes!

    Pond water is perfect for the garden and pot plants.

  • Chrissie12Chrissie12 Posts: 24

    I have a pond with a water fountain, I noticed the other day that it looks as though there is washing up liquid in it!  There isn't though, I wondered if this could be some kind of algae?  I will try to get it off the top of the water if I can, not very supple I'm afraid!! ( Me that is, not the water! ).   

    Just wondered if anyone knew why that might be happening?  I have frogs and newts in the pond, I don't want anything to hurt them of course....I also have water Lillie's and water Irises.

     Thank you folks.

    X

  • carol1951carol1951 Posts: 30

    I cant help with the "washing up liquid" problem, I've never had thatimagebut I was wondering if anyone could tell me if I can start thinning out my oxygenating weed yet. It's a wildlife pond full of young newts and I don't want to upset them. It's Canadian pond weed, a present from a friend when I was starting out (beware of Greeks with gifts etc) and it's very vigorous! I'm sure the newts etc are walking on top of it!

    Thanks X

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,069

    If it's taking over you can pull bits out Carol. It can be a bit too vigorous, especially for  a small pond, but it's harder to get it out of a big one. We had frogs mating on top of ours at last house. image 

    Leave the pieces you remove at the side of the pond for a few days so that any resident wildlife can get back in the water. You can put it in your compost bin afterwards if you have one. image

    Just looked at that previous post and I suspect that it's just the blanket weed starting into growth  - right time of year. It 'explodes' as soon as the water starts warming up in spring.

    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,441

    If your pond isn't too big you could take out some of the weed a bit at a time and put it in a bowl of water and gently remove the baby newts to another bowl and put them back when you've done.

    If they still have external gills (feathery bits sticking out) they need to be in water to live. Keep a watch out for other desirables as well, dragonfly larvae etc, 

    Looks like we all missed Chrissie's question, sorry Chrissie. Water is never pure, there are all sorts of things in it. A fountain stirs it all up and mixes in air and it all froths up.



    In the sticks near Peterborough
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