Who has a pond? Question for you...update 5-24-16

[fergusnc]

Do y have an aerator/fountain in it? Looks like there are solar powered ones out there. We have a pond that is maybe 1/2 acre at most and I was thinking about the benefits for keeping algae and mosquitos down? Anyone have experiences? Horse and dogs do not and will not have access to pond.

[Rockabilly]

Ducks work good.

[fergusnc]

We have two mallards that are nesting here, a few visiting geese, and a heron. I looked into the duck angle at the waterfowl rescue group, but we have lots of coyotes nearby...worry about tamer water fowl, and no way we have time or energy to add caring for a flock right now.

[Canyon]

You could consider stocking some fish; they eat mosquitoes. Maybe some bass, if your conditions are good for them. Then you could go fishing, in your non-existent spare time .

[fergusnc]

Fish are on the to do/to add list, though won't be any fishing, just enjoying. Vegetarian.

I was thinking of the aerator slash fountain thingy as an addition to the other natural ideas...solar options didn't sound too complicated and were cheaper than I expected...but wondered if they are what you envision or a disappointment example...like a two inch high spray. Honestly don't even know where to look or who to ask about them...so my first thought was, "I will check with The Board."

Bat boxes are also on the very long to do list.

[hoopoe]

If this is a natural pond I would not do anything to aerate. Let the natives do it. Dragonflies eat a ton of mosquito larvae, as do frogs.

You may wish to add more cattail and perhaps a Salix species of native willow to promote habitat.

You fish and game likely has a free program for promoting backyard native habitat. Do not buy ornament ducks, the natives need the space. Be careful on fish choice, they can overrun and pollute a pond.

[fergusnc]

Thanks hoopoe! Out of curiosity, why no aerators for natural ponds? Also, novice question...our pond was man made by original owner...is not fed by any water source...about 1/3 or 1/2 acre in size...do does that make it not "natural"?

We have tons of dragonflies and frogs! Yay!

[hoopoe]

I am of the opinion a natural pond should remain natural. Fussing with the balance of ecology is for experts.

This one is man made Is the pond lined? Does water only enter from runoff and depart via evaporation / absorption

Dragonfly larvae eat a ton of mosquito larvae, they are your friends. Tadpoles too

With no natural flow it might help to have an aerator.

Promoting for birds by having shore shrubs gets you flying mosquito done for. You can get marsh plants; cattail, reeds, etc if they have not come in naturally

They do make pond scuds for mosquito larvae, but it sounds like you have good friendly creatures.

[Tarlo Farm]

So it's groundwater pond. Yes, then an aerator is a good thing to help keep the water healthy for your fish. But they are another item to fuss with. As for your ducks and coyotes, build a little floating island, drop a weight on a line near the center of the pond and your ducks can and will safely next there.

[Rockabilly]

So it's groundwater pond. Yes, then an aerator is a good thing to help keep the water healthy for your fish. But they are another item to fuss with. As for your ducks and coyotes, build a little floating island, drop a weight on a line near the center of the pond and your ducks can and will safely next there.

My husband did something like that. He built a floating raft for the ducks and geese. For floating it he used some old plastic jump standards. The ducks love it! He also built a duck house to raise baby ducks. It has doors that go up and down and easy access to clean plus a big screened in part where they can commune with nature and also be safe. It's off the ground about 3 ft. He raised 3 sets of baby ducks by himself. He would catch grasshoppers for them and he also made salads for them. They eat out of his hand and whenever we are around the barn I feel like Mother Goose with them following along behind me, but that's another story, but yes rafts or island in the middle is a good thing.

[Canyon]

Off track - May I decorate your pond? I'd have a few basking logs for painted turtles, a cove with white pond lilies, and a family of loons.

More off track - When my parents retired to a small farm in WNC, Dad dug a small pool and built a beautiful large fountain off their sunroom. He added a few goldfish to eat any mosquito larvae that might get in when the fountain was not running. Great plan, until they looked out to see a green heron enjoying a hearty meal. Oh well, they both enjoyed bird watching...

[fergusnc]

Hoopoe---no sign of any liner that I can see. An old school farmer owned this place for 50 years before us, and his cows had access to the pond for years, so I wouldn't imagine there would be a liner? It is situated in a place that when it rains very hard, it gets run off from properties further "up" the road from us as well. There is an overflow area that feeds into a gulley and that gulley into a bigger, deeper gully on a neighbor's land (owned by cow farmer/family of our place's previous owner). The family told us there were catfish in the pond for years, though no one knows if any are still there. The man at the farm store thought the safest bet would be to get catfish since that would work well if any still ARE left from years gone by, and that grass carp would live well with catfish. The farm store has a fish truck once a month this time of year….comes from some huge fish farm in Arkansas…I saw the truck last month…quite an operation!

I will do my best to get some photos soon…being a total pond novice, I would say we do have a pretty wildlife-friendly set up…tall grasses and wildflowers all along the slope down into the pond, many trees and woods nearby. Fields around. The grasses are on the slope made by the cows coming in/out for water, so not something that the grass carp would be able to get to.

Canyon…we have rocks that I think turtles would like at one side, and the opposite side has some trees that probably didn't used to be so close to the water, and from what I can picture in my head, I think there are areas (roots maybe?) that turtles can use for sunning. I love lilly pads, but don't they tend to take over a pond?

Re: the solar peered aerators…any advice on what to look for/avoid for a pond that I estimate to be 1/3 to 1/2 acre?

[fergusnc]

Sorry it took me awhile to get back to this..here are a few photos from over the last 8 months or so, nothing really recent, sorry. Just in case you wanted to see the pond in question.

[fergusnc]

and one that wouldn't fit in last message….

[Tarlo Farm]

It's beautiful! I miss my last two ponds.

[Flight]

Gorgeous!!! I would call that a big dam, not a pond LOL.
I imagine a pond as small.

Beautiful spot.

[fergusnc]

Thanks! When we were looking for a place, I didn't want a pond. The realtor was all excited about it, singing its praises. I just saw it as a place that wasn't pasture, lol. Vet didn't want the horses or dogs having access to it if avoidable. I didn't see why the realtor said it made the property more marketable. Apparently it was just a pretty factor, with the wildlife that might come to it, etc. now I love it and totally get it. Our property is basically a 12+ acre rectangle, skinny sides at front and back. The pond is at the very back, and on its right and left are a few acres of woods in total. So my plan quickly became a riding loop to go through the woods and around the pond. Low on that long list, but a plan.

[Chisamba]

I would call it a dam too, or a dambo. because in Zambia the prefix is added lol. Anyway, it is man made, and does not have obvious run off, so i would add a solar aerator. Encouraging natural ecology is also good, as Hoopoe said some natural pond plants would assist in hiding the critters that would bring balance to the ecology of your pond. That said, i have geese, a largish flock of domestic geese, they are guardians, and keep the fox away from my hens, suprisingly, but they also keep the canada geese away but they do not bother the heron. We hear the frogs a lot. however the critters do not keep the mosquito under control, all over in NJ where there are wetlands, there are major mosquitoes, so i am not quite sold on Hoopoes theory of mosquito control.

[LeoApp]

That is a beautiful pond!

[Tarlo Farm]

Don't worry about the critters getting into it. They will do what they do, and they're smarting than we think. I always made a point of having the horses in the pasture with the pond whenever I went out of town more than three days. They could water themselves if my house sitter failed to fill the water trough. My dog heads straight for water wherever we are. The only downsize is a wet dog in the truck. I MISS my pond(s)!

[Alex]

That is BEAUTIFUL!! And so nicely sited among those mature trees... If it's not a constant that it remains at this very high fill level, I'd be careful about introducing certain water vegetation that might begin to fill it up too quickly w/waste material and w/new growth. Cattails, for instance, will choke up a pond really quickly. Do you know how deep it is at its deepest point? I'm assuming that whatever you do to the pond, you want to do it one time and then have the pond simply maintain itself.

[Saddlebum]

Have you thought about bat houses? Bats LOVE mosquitos. I have heard ag. farmers put them up to help with bugs around their crops as a natural deterent.

Love your pond, beautiful. Also, more and more people are putting in ponds. We have a business nearby who deals with installing waterfalls, ponds and landscaping but cannot remember the name of it.

[orono]

There is a pond about the same size at a campground nearby, it is stocked and has a little beach area for swimming. There's an aerator in the middle and it seems to keep the water quite clean. It does not seem to deter water fowl, and there is a resident blue heron who is often along the banks.

[fergusnc]

I'm not the best judge of acreage but I'd guess the pond is about 1/3-1/2 of an acre? No idea of depth. It does pretty much maintain its depth, within a foot or two even during a really dry summer last year…as best as I can recall since we didn't live here yet, were just here doing the house gutting and reno.
Yes, I am afraid of adding plants…for that very reason. The county extension guy told me that from years of cows watering in the pond, the bank sloped down on one side, which allowed more grass growing there…but the rest of the way around there are lots of naturally occurring wild flowers and grasses….dragonflies EVERYWHERE.
Bat boxes…on that to do list. We do have some bats, but would love more.
Thanks all…I think it's awfully pretty now too.

[clanter]

use google earth view to measure the pond's area to determine its size

[hoopoe]

If plants have not already colonized naturally ( cat tails for instance) it may not want to/ be able to support them

You can contact your county water district and see if they have native plants available for planting. Our local districts have bare root sales. You can get a large number of bare root starts for very little money. Bare root is usually best planted in the Fall around here.

willow species ( not weeping willow trees, willow shrubs. not sure what is growing in that last photo on the right, might be willow) are easy, they will grow from a bare stick pushed into the ground. Rubus genus brushes which include the native roses and many berry giving shrubs are great for providing food nectar and shelter

You might want to look in to putting a log or snag into the water. This provides a perch for birds, shade and shelter if you get fish and if you are lucky enough to get pond turtle, a place to haul out. A standing snag on or in the water is a place for birds. Think of all those barn swallows lined up on wires. Snags provide resting spots. If something in the treeline to the left has fallen, why not drag it part way into the water.

Allow the edge grasses to grow up

If you want good ideas, look around for natural ponds in your area and notice the details. What native plants grow there?

If I won the lottery I would have property where the house was small and the pond and native environment was big

[Wicky]

Tiny Treo photos to 4 09 140.jpg (36.81 KiB) Viewed 21776 times

Tiny Treo photos to 4 09 136.jpg (40.23 KiB) Viewed 21776 times

This is my friend's pond. And my most favorite place in the world. Sorry it is split into two photos!

[Alex]

Wicky, could I get you to start a separate post about your friend's outdoor arena (or is it a barn?) w/the white cover. I'm still trying to decide what to do about the type of covering for an outdoor arena... Thanx!! And you're right about your friend's pond being spectacular. Siting is everything about water...

[Wicky]

Hi Alex -

It is a Coverall; she put wood ends with windows on it instead of the fabric ones that you typically see. She has a wonderful contractor. The real outdoor is next to it, up the hill. The outdoor frequently washes out in heavy rains, so it is no longer 20x60. If there are other specifics you want to know, I will be glad to contribute.

[Alex]

That's a shame about her uncovered outdoor arena washing out... Has she ever thought about putting a multiple tiered tiling system and multiple layers of plantings of junipers on the upper hillside as well as a catch basin of sorts on the downhill side to help prevent the washouts? Tiling is pretty inexpensive to put in and junipers or other evergreens provide wonderful coverage to slow down and break up heavy rains. That's a very pretty choice to have put wood ends and windows on the ends. It's also probably a stronger, more durable solution than the Coverall fabric option end caps. Thanx for the information.

[Wicky]

She isn't riding in the outdoor much these days - either the indoor, or the trails (where there are deer and turkeys and bears oh my!)

I don't know what she did with the slope originally, but it has been expensive, and since she doesn't use it much, she is not working on it.

[fergusnc]

So for you turtle lovers, wanted to report in...definite turtle sighting today...swimming and sunning on the tree at the one end that sends branches out right over/into the water. I few of them on that tree actually. And they have rocks on the far end that they seem to like? If I can ever get photos before they dive under water, I will share.

[Rockabilly]

Yesterday when my husband was out mowing he found a turtle nest with about 25 eggs in it. At the edge of the pond he saw a turtle. He had to stop what he was doing so he could show me. I have 2 beautiful ponds stocked with fish. I have ducks, geese and 2 wild duck pensioners. One with only one leg and the other with wings that can't fly. I love my ponds. I have pictures, but I don't know how to post them here.

It tickles me that you are so excited about everything on your farm. That's the way I am even after 25 years here.

[hoopoe]

Yay for turtles. A log is for sure needed for the haul out, allows for all water levels, unlike the rocks

remember turtles lay their eggs on land so having some disrupted soils nearby would be good. Your lawn goes all the way down. Allow the areas inside the shrubs to stay more broken and not solid grass ( think native woodland)