Time to Springclean the pond.

The fish have now become active in the pond and are now asking me for food.
So a good time to clean the rubbish and trim the plants,put in the barley straw,change the ultra violet lamp and a general stocktake.
It is a bit early for some but I like to do it before the frogs actually spawn,so I can now leave them in peace......any time now :thumb:
Now looking forward to a happy healthy pond........No chemicals for me.

 

That's funny, I did our little "frog pond" this morning. We had a huge lily in there but the pond is overshadowed by a Japanese acer. So it was very poorly last year (and I hadn't cleaned it out in the spring). When I got it out all the corms in the basket were dead all the roots had fallen off, I was just about to bin it when I saw some tiny new shoots on one part of a corm and a few white roots so I saved it, re-potted it and put it back in. I always put the frogs which are "paired up" into a bucket whilst I clean it out and they go back in when I've finished and refilled it.

 

I spent all day in the pond in a biting easterly wind and must have removed a ton of blanket weed together with a few thousand water shrimps. There's piles of blanket weed in the shapes of small haycocks all alongside the pond.

There's still as much again, I think, but I can't see because the water's all cloudy now.

I'm thinking to myself, What's the point? Let the pond go completely natural and it'll look after itself? It'll be an enormous job trying to keep it clean and I don't have that amount of time. What do the panel think?

 

Cleaning a pond is an ongoing job,not just once a year.
It is supposed to be enjoyed,but if you leave it to long there is to much to do,specially if you have a lake like you do Kindred lol.
I suspect Kindred the challenge of building your pond went without thinking through consequences and upkeep.........A difficult learning curve,but stick with it,when you get the ballance correct things will improve.

 

i'm not touching our pond till the ice recedes off it! it stayed on all day today!

 

So, do I leave the blanket weed as it is (obviously the little creatures like it) or do I relentlessly exterminate it? The water is crystal clear and the pond is absolutely full of little insects.

I presume the blanket weed is very happy too and would like to procreate.

 

It's a good idea to have some sort of "overflow" arrangement with a small pond.
I use a bit of round plastic electrical conduit, cemented in below the edging stones.
In this way I can "trickle change" the water to waste, a couple of times during the year, it leaves it crystal clear if I run the hose into it overnight (as well as giving it an annual clean out).

 

Some light reading for you Kindred.

http://www.pond-doctor.co.uk/longwhatisblanketweed.html

 

if you have a pond filter or pump, then you need to keep the blanketweed under control. if you pull it out by hand, then leave it in little heaps next to the pond so that little creatures can crawl back into the water. a day should be long enough.