Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Design and Construction => Topic started by: hubballi on April 03, 2011, 17:39
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After the advice here I bought a liner and made my own wildlife pond. Now I need some creatures to inhabit. I have planted Comfrey, Foxglove, Nettles (to help give shade to the logs and provide attraction for the bees/hover flies) and water forget me not (in the margin) as well as put in my Marsh Marigold from my old smaller tub. l have a yellow Iris to go in but need to get a container for it. It can take over if your not careful. I also want to get a lilly and have some duckweed (not too much though)
Can anyone tell me if I have a chance attracting damsel flies at all ? It's south facing.
(http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/marb67/Shape2.jpg)
(http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/marb67/Liner2.jpg)
(http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/marb67/Pond2.jpg)
(http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/marb67/Wild2.jpg)
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Nice pond, the damsel fly may turn up if there is another pond with them nearby. :)
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When I started my ponds over 10 years ago the nearest water was 1/2 a mile away but we had damsels and dragons inside two years and we now have them by the hundreds,Damsels that is. Even a tiny amount of Duckweed introduced into a pond starts a constant battle to keep it in check and there is only one winner!
Smud6ie
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Nice job Hubballi!
I had a water boatman in mine within 2 days of filling it but that was in late summer.
Have to say I seem to be the only person on the planet who has failed to grow duckweed in their pond (it could be because it's got goldfish in it which you definitely don't want to introduce to a proper wildlife pond!)
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Can anyone suggest what to plant around the edge where the soil slopes down as I would like something that would attract hover flies as well as making a nice natural edging.
No creatures to report as yet :-(
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I left one of those large rubber trug/bucket thingies outside the day before yesterday, it rained overnight and in the morning there was a 1/2 size frog sat in the middle. :)
Luckily the chooks did not see him first.
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one of my favourite marginals is flowering rush (butomus), well-behaved small reed-like plant with pinky 3-lobed flowers.
Arrowhead (Sagittaria) is another good marginal
Lilies are tricky in small ponds like this but you could look at Frogbit as an alternative?
What oxygenators have you got? Avoid anything like canadian pondweed. My favourite is water crowfoot, fine hair-like leaves underwater, with small surface leaves like tiny lilies and white buttercup flowers
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Can anyone suggest what to plant around the edge where the soil slopes down as I would like something that would attract hover flies as well as making a nice natural edging.
No creatures to report as yet :-(
Hover flies seem to like anything flowering in our garden.
We built our pond about 8 years ago in the summer on a natural sloping garden. We used railway sleepers for the retaining walls. Within a week we had dragon flies and damsel flies visiting. They both love laying their eggs around the pond and the dragon flies seem to prefer to lay theirs onto the wood sleepers.
JayG
Have to say I seem to be the only person on the planet who has failed to grow duckweed in their pond (it could be because it's got goldfish in it which you definitely don't want to introduce to a proper wildlife pond!)
I disagree about not having goldfish in a wildlife pond. We have had goldfish, grass carp and golden orf in our pond since we built it and we have newts, frogs, dragonfly nymphs and all the usual bugs. We even get bats skimming the surface for bugs. The goldfish even breed which is just as well with the heron helping itself now and then. :ohmy:
(Edited to clarify quote)
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I disagree about not having goldfish in a wildlife pond. We have had goldfish, grass carp and golden orf in our pond since we built it and we have newts, frogs, dragonfly nymphs and all the usual bugs. We even get bats skimming the surface for bugs. The goldfish even breed which is just as well with the heron helping itself now and then. :ohmy:
My goldfish are scoffing the poor tadpoles as I speak and I'm desperately trying to think of some sort of drift-netting arrangement to try and confine the remaining ones to a safe corner of the pond in such a way that the fish can't reach them! Although it's got marginal and underwater plants there isn't enough cover for them (probably partly related to the size of the pond which is only about 8'X4')
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Goldfish will not eat many toadpoles but even an inch long fish will stuff itself to the gills (witnessed) with tadpoles.
Dragon and damsel fly nymph are more fish food , if any survive in a goldfish pond it is because the fish did not find them!
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My goldfish are scoffing the poor tadpoles as I speak and I'm desperately trying to think of some sort of drift-netting arrangement to try and confine the remaining ones to a safe corner of the pond in such a way that the fish can't reach them! Although it's got marginal and underwater plants there isn't enough cover for them (probably partly related to the size of the pond which is only about 8'X4')
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Our pond is really big and the fish have never bothered with the tadpoles, well not so I have noticed. Ours is still frog spawn but we have masses of it. Think there is so much more for them to eat in the pond they don't bother with the tadpoles.
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Goldfish will not eat many toadpoles but even an inch long fish will stuff itself to the gills (witnessed) with tadpoles.
Dragon and damsel fly nymph are more fish food , if any survive in a goldfish pond it is because the fish did not find them!
Probably right there, ours nymphs usually hide in the planters or in the silt. It is the nymphs which we see scoffing the tadpoles. Last year we were sat out at dusk and saw something come out of the pond across the paving. It was a nymph on its way to find somewhere to emerge as a dragonfly. Unfortunately it was intercepted by a frog looking for its supper, what goes around, comes around I suppose. :blush:
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ll the hard work of laying a pond and designing around it to encourage wildlife has so far proved fruitless. I have added water forget me nots at the margins and tipped a few jars of wild pond water into the mix. All I seem to have are little white sperm like creatures that wriggle around like tadpoles (no, they are def not tadpoles). Also, petals from Wisteria and other plants are falling into the pond daily meaning me cleaning with out with a net.
I have no water boatmen, frogs or other creatures. Just a gloopy thick water with patches of bubbles on the surface.
I don't know where to get oxygenating plants from as the wild ponds didn't have any.
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You can buy the plants from a pet shop, the sort that sell koi carp.
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As you're in Cheshire you could try Stapeley Water Gardens http://www.stapeleywg.com/
Great place, you'll find lots of ideas there.
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This is a brand new pond, isn't it?
How big is it (rough volume and depth)? and how much direct sunlight does it get?
Don't despair, heavy algae growth is perfectly normal for a new pond. But, in case there's something else going on you need to look at the nutrient balance:
Inputs:
Are there any sources of nutrients leaching into the pond? Common sources are tapwater (contains a little nitrogen, minimal phosphates), decomposing organic matter (doesn't sound like it from your description, but includes falling leaves and decomposing plant matter) and ground run-off (avoid using fertilisers where the run-off can enter the pond.
The other potential source is compost. Only ever use aquatic compost for planting baskets in the water. It's formulated to contain almost no nutrients, so (in theory) it won't fuel algae growth.
It's essential to minimise nutrient inputs. Scooping out leaves, removing dead plant material, avoiding accidental fertiliser run-off.
Outputs:
Aerobic bacteria in filtration systems can oxidise ammonia and nitrites to nitraes (animal wastes) and anerobic filtration can reduce nitrates to nitrogen. As you're not keeping fish this isn't going to be neccessary, the pond should be able to cope with frogs and other natural wildlife without a filter. It will cope with a very light fish stocking level without a filter if it's large enough.
Uptake by plants and algae. Your soup of algae is doing you a favour at the moment, it's taking up the nutrients in the water and converting them to algae drymass. "Gloopy water" sounds like it could be hair algae. If it is, you're in luck as it's ease to remove by twisting a bamboo cane or stick the the water until it wraps into a mass you can remove (and compost). If you keep removing the algae from the pond to the compost heap you will be removing the nutrients that the algae extracted from the water. Consequently, providing there is no additional source topping up the nutrients, the nutrient levels will fall and the algael growth slow down.
It's important to keep harvesting algae and oxygenators little and often as the real benefit in reducing the nutrient levels in the pond only happens when you remove algae or plant matter from the pond. If you just leave it, then come winter it will die, decompose, release the nutrients and you're back where you started next year. Removing the algae will also allow the other plants to do better.
If the algae is slimey, not at all hair like and forms sheets or blobs.. then you might have cyanobacteria (sometimes called blue-green algae, but it's not an algae and it's not a bacteria). This is also quite natural, but usually indicates very heavy nutrient levels and/or poor light levels. You should be able to net this out when it clumps, and then look to address the nutrient levels and consider if there is enough sunlight on the water.
There is an idea that shading the pond will rid it of algae. Whilst it's true that algae will die when starved of light, they then decompose and release their nutrients back into the water. It over-looks one very important thing; algae is good for your pond. Not having algae when the nutrients are present in the pond to fuel it's growth is worse than having the algae visible. The excess nutrients are worse than the algae. The algae is natures way of dealing with the nutrient problem you didn't know you had.
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Wow, a very concise and knowledgeable bit of information. I am impressed. :) Ok, the pond gets a lot of sunlight during the day which will explain the algae. I haven't yet tried getting it out so I will have to do that to find out what texture it is.
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Spotted the 2 frogs from last year in the pond today so can't be that bad. :)
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I have tried an aquatic garden center who said they haven't any weed in. I went to another of the same chain and they were selling a very small amount for £5.99. What a rip off !
Going to send out online for some native oxygenaters. Still no pond life :(
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Have you put a sack of barley straw in it to clear the green ?
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Just been out on my bike and got some stringy pond weed and 3 pond snails that will sort out the algae. I even got some duckweed. I love the way frogs heads pop out of it.
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Why on earth would you want to introduce duck week into your pond :ohmy:
and what is "stringy pond weed" ?
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Hope the stringy pond weed is not blanket weed for your sake. :blush: Nightmare to get rid of and it chokes the life out of your pond.
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It's not stringy blanket. It's very like Starwort.
What's wrong with duckweed ? I like the look of it. It's easy to control in a small pond. I have had it before and just scoop it out when it gets too much.
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What's wrong with duckweed ? I like the look of it. It's easy to control in a small pond. I have had it before and just scoop it out when it gets too much.
Duckweed is pretty good at helping with greenwater, it grows fast and it's very easy to net off and add to the compost heap or the borders as a green mulch (nutrient export). It's almost certainly going to arrive in the pond sooner or later in any case. I've even used it in a tropical aquarium before to provide some quick, temporary shading to part of the tank - although it did require an evening with a net and tweezers to eradicate it when it was no longer required.
Blanket weed can be pulled out by wrapping round a stick/cane, and controlled by getting the nutrient balance sorted. Like duckweed it will arrive in due course on it's own.
This spring's a funny spring with my pond this year. The water hawthorn has been flowering for a while now (and smelling beautiful when an evening breeze catches it) but the Elodea has been slow to get going.
I'm still not sure how small your pons is, but I find that Typha minima is a very easy to propogate dwarf reedmace and any plant growing in the water is pulling nutrients from the water that might otherwise fuel algae. Some dwarf irisis would also be suitable, but avoid the native flag iris.
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If the long tailed things swimming around are these then it could be a sign of organic polution, I get them in my comfry and nettle fertilizer brew.
http://ipm.ncsu.edu/ag369/notes/rattailed_maggots.html
smud6ie
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It's probably mosquito larvae.
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I think duckweed cuts down the oxygen as well as the light as there is less surface area of water.
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5 weeks on and still no pond skaters :-(
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You don't state whether you have a filtration system? This keeps the water clear of the thicker debri and creates healthy bacteria, also the water filtering back in either just through a pipe or a waterfall will oxygenate the water by breaking up the surface area ;) if your pond has no filter system or breaking up of the surface area to oxiginate, it will just go stagnant and smelly :(
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No it won't. It doesn't have a filtration. Ponds in the wild, in people's garden's I know have not got one. The plants are supposed to do that.
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Don`t worry too much it much the same happens to the sea around our coast at this time of year, anglers call it May water or May weed. It soon burns the nutrients and itself out.
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My pond is about 8' X 5' (max width - it's semi-circular!) and about 2' deep. It has lots of marginal plants, "oxygenating plants" (hornwort) and a water lily. It is also home to 7 quite large goldfish so it's far from being a wildlife pond! :nowink:
There is no filtration or aeration and apart from the water going a bit green in spring before the plants get going it all seems to work quite well (certainly not stagnant, although that could happen in a pond which was either too small or with too many nutrients for the amount of plant life available to absorb it.)
It is often claimed that Duckweed is a problem if introduced, but it's not unattractive, cuts down the light levels in the water, doesn't significantly affect the exchange of gases at the surface, and is easily skimmed off if it spreads too far (doesn't happen in my pond as the goldfish eat it!) :)
Simple it ain't: as with an aquarium (which I also have) it's not easy getting a "natural" balance in a relatively small volume of water.
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and in terms of filtration, a good snail populations does that - any gunk they 'breathe' in gets stuck together and expelled... freshwater bivalves too if you can find them (pea shells)
M
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There is now a thing almost oily film of green on the surface. I keep netting it out but it all seems to come together again. I have oxygenating plants under the water, some tadpoles I put in a couple of weeks ago and a few snails. Should it clear ? again, no pond skaters :-(
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We had a nightmare with our pond and blanket weed last year. Used barley straw extract which kept on top of it. Had to keep topping the pond up due to the hot weather and used the mains water which did not help.
This year the blanket weed started early so put barley straw extract in over a month or so and it looked green slimey oil slick on the top. Have had hardly any rain this year so our pond level is about 2 1/2" below its normal level. We are not topping it up and have been rewarded with a clear watered pond, well as clear as a wildlife pond that is. We are hoping for good rainfall on Monday but doubt it will make much difference to the level. Sometimes it is trial and error or just leave it to find its own balance.
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Can you post a picture of the pond for us hubballi ?
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Can you post a picture of the pond for us hubballi ?
They were on his other post Aunty
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=74309.msg866285#msg866285
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Thanks me dear :)
I've turned them into pictures rather than links (that's probably why I missed them :blush: )
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You are always welcome Aunty. ;)
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There is now a thing almost oily film of green on the surface. I keep netting it out but it all seems to come together again. I have oxygenating plants under the water, some tadpoles I put in a couple of weeks ago and a few snails. Should it clear ? again, no pond skaters :-(
Sounds like there is dead plant matter rotting, the film is probably from organic matter decomposing anaerobically on the bottom of the pond. This is a slow process over winter, but once the water warms up and thing get going you can sometimes get a patchy oily sheen. Just keep netting it out.
I am getting confised about the age of the pond, this is your new pond built in April, but you have had two frogs return that were in the pond last year?
Have you still got the greenwater and algae problems?
Looking at the photos, are the bog plants in the pebble area planted in soil, regular compost or aquatic compost?
Please don't add tadpoles to a pond.. let the wildlife arrive on it's own.
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I've merged the two tpoics together as I was a bit confused ::)
Have you put some barley straw in the water ? It clears the algae.
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sorry to hijack your post hubballi, I am having the same kind of problems in attracting wildlife to my garden pond.
My pond in now in its third year. It's about 3' by 6' and at the deep end about 3'deep.
I don't want to keep fish in it and am not bothered about keeping the water clear for appearances. I dug it purely to attract wildlife. I have tried to just leave it to go 'wild' so that hopefully wildlife would appear. But so far just one frog last year, this year no frogs, frogspawn or damselflies or such.
I planted water irises, a tall grass looking thing, and a couple of surface spreading things which died. These were all bought at a watergarden specialist.
The water is now quite gloopy looking and there is a film of very small round leaved weed, Which I assume to be one of the ones you have been advising hubballi on. I don't mind the look of this weed, but if it's what's keeping the wildlife away I could try to get rid of it.
I have a pic of how it looked last summer, and now but I'm struggling to add it to my post.
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sorry to hijack your post hubballi, I am having the same kind of problems in attracting wildlife to my garden pond.
How wildlife friendly is the rest of the garden?
Frogs only use ponds to shelter during the heat of the day and for breeding in the spring. They need a garden around the pond that will provide them with food (insects, slugs, worms, etc).
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My old pond was a sunken round plastic tub full of marsh marigolds and iris. This pond has wisteria flowers hanging above from next door that have been dropping in. I have netted as much as I can out but some have rotted down. As you can see from my pics here the wild end has got logs, nettles, foxgloves and comfry for the frogs to shelter. The rest of the garden has lots of nooks. One strange thing I noticed swimming upside down on the surface of the water was a pale grub like thing a bit like a Caterpillar with a long pointed tail. Never seen anything like that before. I have never heard of a wildlife pond with a filtration system. Can you imagine all the small creatures getting sucked into it ?
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Make sure the comfrey is not in contact with the water as it is widely used as a fertiliser so would contaminate your pond with nitrates.
We don't have a normal filter in ours but have always had a pump which takes the water through an ultraviolet filter. Don't know how effective it is but it is working in ours. It did not help with bad case of blanket weed last year but we have stopped topping up with tap water this year and it is now clear.
The bug soulds like some sort of fly or midgie larvae.
Good luck.
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What about a picture of the long tailed grub,what is the length and thickness of the tail in relation to the size of the body?
smud6ie
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Is it like any of these?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pond+insects&hl=en&biw=1192&bih=587&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=10vaTbCXIYrDhAfr-ZDPBg&ved=0CFEQsAQ
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Is it like any of these?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pond+insects&hl=en&biw=1192&bih=587&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=10vaTbCXIYrDhAfr-ZDPBg&ved=0CFEQsAQ
No, nothing like. I can't find it now so can't take a photo.
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Alistair my garden is quite wildlife friendly.
I am not totally organic but don't use a lot of chemicals, I do put organic approved slug pellets sparingly around the most vulnerable and precious plants.
I have two huge compost heaps and lots of trees and flowers. There are a lot of insects, bees, butterflies and birds in the garden. A fair amount of snails present too despite the slug pellets. I had a hedgehog visit the area near to the house a couple of weeks back too. My soil has lots of lovely earth worms, and I see beetles, spiders, woodlice, ants etc on the surface level.
My garden is not terribly tidy, the paths often have weeds and self seeded plants growing on them, there are often logs/woody bits that are too thick to go on compost heap or through the shredder. So I would have thought it would be attractive to wildlife.
The one big negative might be the feline population frequenting the garden. My garden is one of the two largest in the nearby houses and my own two cats and about another 8 cats living nearby frequently play/sleep/hunt in the garden. Despite this I do have a lot of mice and birds as I have many trees and large shrubs.
I have planted several clumps of each of the following around the pond in addition to what I have in the pond : irises, agapanthus, rhubarb, hardy geranium, echinops. However the planting is not very deep yet, around 6" to 18" and around that some bare earth.
The pond is within 18" of a pyracantha hedge, a buddleia tree and some other shrubs.
I expect it's now too late for frogspawn, so could I clear some of the gunge floating on the top of the pond and empty the remaining rain water from my waterbutt into pond to bring it back to original level ?
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Is it like any of these?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pond+insects&hl=en&biw=1192&bih=587&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=10vaTbCXIYrDhAfr-ZDPBg&ved=0CFEQsAQ
No, nothing like. I can't find it now so can't take a photo.
Like this perhaps
(http://schools-wikipedia.org/2006/images/75/7592.jpg)
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I expect it's now too late for frogspawn, so could I clear some of the gunge floating on the top of the pond and empty the remaining rain water from my waterbutt into pond to bring it back to original level ?
You can clear the gunge but be careful with water from a waterbutt as it could be stagnant. Only use it if you know it is fresh. You could try diverting your rainwater downpipe directly to your pond if you are expecting a good downpour. This is what I am currently trying to do as the levels are getting lower every day.
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Is it like any of these?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=pond+insects&hl=en&biw=1192&bih=587&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=10vaTbCXIYrDhAfr-ZDPBg&ved=0CFEQsAQ
More like it but no spikey bits or dark. It's just a white grub.
No, nothing like. I can't find it now so can't take a photo.
Like this perhaps
(http://schools-wikipedia.org/2006/images/75/7592.jpg)
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One of these ? 5WCWhBIig54
they can live in clean water.......................or sewage !
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Yep, that was it.
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Yep, that was it.
A rattailed magot was sugested in reply #25,nearly 30 posts ago!!
If the long tailed things swimming around are these then it could be a sign of organic polution, I get them in my comfry and nettle fertilizer brew.
http://ipm.ncsu.edu/ag369/notes/rattailed_maggots.html
smud6ie
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Yep, that was it.
A rattailed magot was sugested in reply #25,nearly 30 posts ago!!
If the long tailed things swimming around are these then it could be a sign of organic polution, I get them in my comfry and nettle fertilizer brew.
http://ipm.ncsu.edu/ag369/notes/rattailed_maggots.html
smud6ie
That is why I advised against having the comfrey touching the pond.
Make sure the comfrey is not in contact with the water as it is widely used as a fertiliser so would contaminate your pond with nitrates.
Now you know what the problem is you will be able to rectify it. That is if you get enough rainwater to replace some of the existing pond water.
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I'm not sure a problem has been identified. Going back to the photograph, the Comfrey is pretty much growing in the pond in the pebbled bog area. As such it's acting as a weak biological filter and will be pulling nutrients out of the water as it grows. The Comfrey leaves will only be a problem if they are allowed to rot.
The rat-tailed maggot could survive in polluted or stagnant water, but it's not a definite indication of either.
I've already asked the question, and it's not been answered;
What is the Comfrey growing in?
If it's regular compost or garden soil and it's in contact with the pond water then this is more likely to be a problem than the Comfrey itself.
It's also not been clarified how old this pond is. If this pond is less than two years old, then the best thing it could be given to encourage wildlife is time/patience. It will take at least a year for the water to get itself in balance whether the water used to fill it came from a water butt or the tap.
If it was built after Autumn last year, then it will have been missed this year by the frogs for breeding. And in any case, it would be too new to reliably support tadpoles for at least a year.
An update photo would be useful, the photos posted so far show a rather bleak and unwelcoming pond from frogs point of view. They like somewhere to shelter where they can feel comfortable and hidden from predators. Your marsh marigolds will produce this in a few seasons, but think about some floating plants and introducing a bit more "straggliness" around the margins (perhaps some miniature reedmace such as Typha minima). With leaves that overhang the edge and provide shelter all the way from water-to-soil. Hostas are good. And don't worry about slugs, where there are slugs and water there will be frogs in time. I lose a little early spring vegetation to slug/snail damage, but once the pond warms up and things get going (and in East Anglia this is well into May before this happens) the frogs soon reduce the pest populations without pellets and the summer leaves are safe.
Unless you're going to tell us that the pond is actually five years old.. I think most of the problems aren't really problems and will resolve themselves with time. We're not even in June yet, and ponds are really late-spring/early-summer gardening. The warm spring has perhaps created expectations a little early this year.
Don't buy oxygenator weed.. use your local Freecycle/Freegle group.. come high summer I'm usually giving it away by the bucketful locally, along with divisions/seedlings of the marginals and even the excess goldfish that have bred in the pond.
Skimming surface gunge and topping up with rain water is a good idea, but only if the rain water is reasonably fresh. If it's been standing a while, if there's debris in the water butt or if it has an odour.. then don't use it for the pond. Locally we've had so little rain that the rainwater we've got left in the butts is too old, contaminated and oxygen depleted to use. If you do have fresh rainwater, give it a good oxygenation - use a bucket to lift and pour back water into the butt so that it pours fast and splashes loudly. By this sort of violent disturbance you'll get some air back into water that's been sitting a few days.
If the worst you do is add tapwater, it's not the end of the world. It will cause a minor algae bloom.. but nothing compared to the bloom you'll get using the wrong compost for aquatic, marginal or bog planting.. if you do use tapwater, use a hose and make the most of a moderate jet of water to disturb the water already in the pond to get some air into it. Unless we get a torrential downpour in the next couple of weeks I'll almost certainly be topping up my pond with tapwater.
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You are probably right but I was going by the size that my comfrey has grown to Alisair. Where it is positioned and with the high winds we have had I think it will be in the water. It would have to rot as you say but mine tended to do that quickly with wind damage and dangling in the water. We moved our comfrey plants from around our small pond for this reason and started to get all of the wildlife/insects etc. that were in our larger pond soon after. The type of soil would be a major problem as you say, it is not worth cutting corners when planting in the pond. It costs more for water correction treatments in the long run.
We are still waiting for a decent amount of rain and our large pond it about 2 1/2" below normal level but it is deep enough not to give us any worries just yet. Am practicing the "rain dance" just in case though. :lol:
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I would say the presence of Rattailed magots was a very good indiaction of organic polution given the fact they need rotting materials for food.It would be a very poor adult fly that layed its eggs in clean water where there was no food for its offspring. :)
This is copied from the link I pointed to in post #25:
smud6ie
Feeding Habits -- These flies are attracted by colorful flowers (especially yellow) as well as by odors of decay. They do not suck blood. Rattailed maggots feed on decaying organic matter in stagnant water or moist excrement.
Damage -- Rattailed maggots are very rarely pests. Occasionally larvae appear in alarming numbers in dung pits or animal waste lagoons. Even so, they pose little threat to man or animals. However, a few rare cases of entericpseudomyiasis (intestinal infestation by fly larvae) have been caused by this species.
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As you can see by my earlier photos the pond is new this year hence the post "My New Pond" ;) The date of the post will indicate how old it is. I think marsh marigolds are planted in ordinary garden soil that is well weathered but they still grow lush year after year.
Where the liner ends to the right is covered with stones and after that the comfry is planted in a pot, dug into the soil so it has no contact with the pond whatsoever. The corner has grown considerably and we now have very lush tall nettles for cover as well as foxgloves and more logs. I will get an update pic ASAP.
As we have had a bit of rain in the North West I will do what you suggested. Great advice :)
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The garden soil the marsh marigolds are in is not advised, even well-weathered soil will provide enough nutrients to fuel algae growth. If you want aquatic compost on the cheap, googling "mineralised substrate" will yield some DIY tips.
It wasn't clear from the photographs where the comfrey was sitting in relation to the water, and your earlier mention of frogs returning to the pond from last year muddled me up whether or not it was brand new.
Skim off the top, remove any debris that's fallen in ("decaying organic matter" is dead leaves and bugs) and give it a good aeration as you add the top-up of fresh rainwater (stagnant is just a lack of oxygen). I'd be tempted to repot the existing plants in the pond, removing the garden soil and using an aquatic compost.
There's a couple of non-chemical products you can add that help get the friendly bacteria established that help a pond deal with breaking down leaves, etc that fall in. I can't remember the names but they're made by Microbe Lift.. basically they're Yakult for ponds. And get a request in on Freegle for some oxygenators..
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As we have had a bit of rain in the North West I will do what you suggested. Great advice :)
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I must have been doing the wrong rain dance, will have to look up the one for the North East!! :wacko:
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As we have had a bit of rain in the North West I will do what you suggested. Great advice :)
I must have been doing the wrong rain dance, will have to look up the one for the North East!! :wacko:
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It worked but look what we have had to resort to because we haven't had any significant rain for ages. :ohmy:
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It has since cleared and looking very healthy :)
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Here it is now and all the green surface growth has gone. The balance seems to be right now as half covered by weed and half clear.
(http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy311/marb67/DSC_0044.jpg)
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That looks lovely :)
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That's looking much better. The duckweed will help with nutrient export if you let it multiply up until it covers about two-thirds of the surface.. and then net out back to 1/3rd and compost what you've removed.. let the colony multiply up again.. repeat all season.
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Thanks :-)
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That is looking great now. How are you keeping the level high, have you had to top it up as ours is still about 3 inches below its fill level? This is despite plenty of rain unfortunately the wrong type, drizzly persistent but not pond filling!
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Your pond looks very inviting hubballi :D
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It's now August and still no pond skaters :(
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Update, never had any pond skaters but found some water boatmen. Will I ever get pond skaters ?
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Give it time, they'll come :D
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Looking at my pond, will that size attract them ?
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I don't see why not hub :D One of our ponds is about the size of one of those big buckets with rope handles, about 2ft in diameter and it's full of wild life :D If you know someone with a pond you could get some water or plant from them to help introduce water life :D
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With the walls around your pond, it's possible skaters might not find it on their own. I'd wait a few weeks til they're active and then visit your local pond. Best way to transport is in a bag of pondweed - trying to shift them in bucket of water can lead to casualties
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Do you mean net them and put them in a dry bag with weed or put water in the bag too ?
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a dry bag with weed...the water would just slosh about possibly causing injuries.
Only applies to the surface dwellers - skaters, water crickets ad water measurers.
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Still no skaters over a year on :-(
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Maybe they are speed skaters and just too fast for you to see! ::) :lol:
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What have you attracted hubballi?
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Nothing as yet :(
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You have done everything right so it is a mistery why you are not invaded by all the normal bugs.
We seem to have loads of damselflies hatching at the moment but they are getting gobbled up by Blackbirds and Sparrows. :(
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Still nothing. Even no sign of our 2 frogs from last year. The pond is healthy as the weed keeps growing when I remove some. The water is clear. Lots of ram's horn and pond snails. :(
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Wonder if you have some sort a predator that is gobbling them all up! :unsure:
We introduced some fish and plants from an old pond to ours when we first did our pond. After a while we found this prehistoric looking bug about the size of a 50 pence piece. Looked like something off The Mummy or Alien, sort of beetle looking but with a bit of a tail so we disposed of it. Recently saw a picture of it online and think they are quite rare. :ohmy: People keep them in aquariums normally but I can't find the name of it now.
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Scarab?
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Just found it argyllie, careful though they have been found in Scotland! :ohmy:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-10801707
:lol:
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Oh yes! I saw a news item on those, I think it was aired as an item on Landward?
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I doubt if hubb's got Triops shrimps in Cheshire, and anyway they're not particularly voracious. Quite possible to get Great Diving Beetle - or even more vicious, their larvae - in a small pond. Am i right in recalling the garden is quite enclosed? maybe the wildlife is just not finding it....a trip to your local pond with a net and bucket would seem to be in order.
sav
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I collected water from ponds last year.
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Absolutely no frogs or anything this year even though the pond is healthy :(
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There seems to be no reason for you not to have wildlife in your pond. You might need to take a sample of the water to an expert. There are usually garden centres which specialise in ponds.
Have you asked your neighbours if they have ponds and if they have the same problem?
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I collected water from ponds last year.
I meant to gather some animals to stock the pond, as they don't seem to be finding it on their own. They'll love a healthy pond with no competition!
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Absolutely no frogs or anything this year even though the pond is healthy :(
Is there any bare earth within 4' of the pond? Looking back at your picture I can only see stone and gravel. Frogs will shelter in the pond during the day, but need a decent area of garden to forage in during the night - and nothing too manicured. A neat lawn and gravel-mulched beds is a wildlife desert.
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I think Alastair might have a point. Ours is very, very wild, we cant even see it at the moment, the grass is 3 feet tall ::)
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I am having a job to clear the duckweed as it has now covered 100% of the pond. If I take some out it will fill in very very soon. One good thing is I am composting the excess which would be like seaweed feed to plants :-)
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Have you got a more recent picture hubballi? Showing the pond, but also one showing the more general view of the garden around the pond.
As I posted the other day, trying to diagnose why you haven't got the wildlife you expected is difficult without knowing how wildlife friendly the rest of the garden is. For most wildlife the pond is either a source of shelter or water, it's not going to feed much wildlife directly. The rest of the garden has to provide the food to attract the wildlife that will use the pond.
Frogs need earthworms, insects, etc to eat.. so to attract the frogs you need to attract the food sources.
There's no point transferring in wildlife from elsewhere if they'll just die of starvation. Believe me, frogs will find a pond very quickly if they're in your garden. Ponds do not attract frogs to gardens. The frogs will already be there when you put the pond in. Or they won't be there, which sounds most likely in your case.
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They have plenty of food as I have a good wild corner plus all the insects I now attract. We had frogs when I had less plants and insects AND a very small round plastic sunken bucket. If anything, it's much better than it used to be. This is the first time in 10 years I have seen no frogs :(
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I've just been having a good read all around THIS (http://www.froglife.org/garden/features.htm) site. Some very useful info. :)
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I have put in about 50-80 tadpoles given by a friend. They seem to be doing well. Another thing I have noticed, some kind of pond anemone that moves it's tentacles and retracts very fast when touched. What on earth is this ?
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I have put in about 50-80 tadpoles given by a friend. They seem to be doing well. Another thing I have noticed, some kind of pond anemone that moves it's tentacles and retracts very fast when touched. What on earth is this ?
Wonder if you have some sort a predator that is gobbling them all up! :unsure:
We introduced some fish and plants from an old pond to ours when we first did our pond. After a while we found this prehistoric looking bug about the size of a 50 pence piece. Looked like something off The Mummy or Alien, sort of beetle looking but with a bit of a tail so we disposed of it. Recently saw a picture of it online and think they are quite rare. :ohmy: People keep them in aquariums normally but I can't find the name of it now.
Maybe that is your predator! :ohmy:
I think that you can get fresh water anemones but not heard of them in the u.k. See if you can get a photo of it.
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I have put in about 50-80 tadpoles given by a friend. They seem to be doing well. Another thing I have noticed, some kind of pond anemone that moves it's tentacles and retracts very fast when touched. What on earth is this ?
Could be a hydra ? But they are very small.
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I studied them in zoology about a million years ago :lol:
http://www.waterwereld.nu/hydraeng.php
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Yes, I think it's a Hydra but mine seems to have more tentacles and is anchored to the base of the liner in the shallow area. What an amazing little thing.
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It's not really desirable in your tiny pond.
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Hmmm I don't think I'd be worried about hydras in a pond of whatever size, they'll take a few water fleas but will be self-limiting if food is scarce....
I'd be worried if a Great Diving Beetle turned up in a small pond, but most other predators can be accommodated in small ponds.
Hydras don't often turn up in garden ponds so you must be doing something right hub!
sav
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It's not really desirable in your tiny pond.
Sounds like Hydra envy to me ;)
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:lol: :lol: :lol:
I don't even have a pond.
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Hydras don't often turn up in garden ponds so you must be doing something right hub!
sav
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Or it was introduced with water/plants ?
smud6ie