Planting media

Question:
Do ogon sweet flag, oenanthe fist, and pontederia cordata pond plants, need soil?
I purchased these plants in soil but don't really want to introduce soil to my patio pond. Is it necessary or can I rinse the soil off and place the roots with stones, in a basket?


Answer:

You can plant in any media from rockwool to kitty litter. Little stones will work just fine.

Water Lilies and Frogs

Question:

What water lily is best for frogs?
the pond is 1 metre and a half long 1 metre wide.


Answer:
The frog does not care. He just wants a lily pad to sit on. Pick the lily you like best and enjoy it.

Pond Pump Size

Question:

IF I HAVE A 12 X 6 FT POND THAT IS 2 FT DEEP.  WHAT SIZE POND PUMP DO I NEED?
ALSO IF I'M  GOING TO HAVE KOI FISH, FOUNTAIN AND WATERFALL WITH THE 12X6 FT POND WOULD I NEED A PUMP FOR FOUNTAIN AND PUMP FOR POND?

Answer:

I would use at least a 3500 gph pump with a bio filter. I would probably buy a smaller pump for the fountain....maybe 450gph depending on the height of the fountain.
Koi like a deeper pond than 2', so consider that in your digging. You might want to stick with goldfish. Having koi means massive filtration systems and lots of maintenance.

Pond losing water

Question:
My water level dropped really fast in my pond.
My pond is abot 800 gallons and this morning.  I woke up to find that there was a 6 inch loss of water.  (BTW it rained really hard that night) and after I came back from school there was about the same amount, so i know it's not a leak. The day before the water level was stable.  I have never had this happen before, so could you kindly tell my why this happened and if it is normal ?

Thank you for your time.

 Answer:
First turn off your pump, then fill the pond. Watch it for 24 hours. Then turn on your pump and see if you can see where the water is leaking off the back.
If you have a fountain, the water can be blowing out if you had a storm. If you have spitters, the water can be drooling out of that. No water leaks that fast, so it's the pump.
Check all connections, but chances are a rock tipped and water is falling off the back or the side.

Dividing water lilies

Question:

I cleaned my pond.  The roots on my lily are massive.  Can i cut them back without killing or damaging it?


Answer: 
Sounds like they need dividing and now is a perfect time to do it. Remove the pot from the pond and then remove the lily. It probably has jumped out of the pot by now. If you have to, cut the pot off. Now hose the soil off the roots until you can see tubers. Start separating them. You will most likely have dozens of them. Choose the largest and repot them in something like a dishpan or that size. Trim off the dead pads. Fertilize and put them back in the water. If you want to save corms for friends, just throw them in the pond unpotted and they will be fine until you give them away. They won't grow, but they won't die. The lilies will now flower better and be healthier.
Put this on your to do list for every spring.

Aquatic Plants

Question:
Plants for in and around water.?
If I have a small garden pond, like, 2ft wide by 4 ft long, 1 and 1/2 to 2 feet deep, in an area that gets partial sunlight, what are the best plants to put in the water that will not get to big or take over? What about plants for around the pond (partial sunlight also.)
Answer:
Most aquatic plants are invasive. After all, they are only swamp weeds.
Try some Louisiana irises and dwarf papyrus. Horsetail fern can work as well. Be sure they are in pots and keep them trimmed back. Cut them back at least once a year.
You can plant irises around the pond as well. It makes the pond look bigger. Cannas work both in and out of the pond as well, but can get 4' tall.
Dwarf acorus is a great variegated grass that doesn't misbehave.

How to build a pond

Is it possible to build a small pond in your back yard without professional stuff?

I'm not sure how, but I wanted to build a small pond that would mostly just contain plant-life and be a place for my dogs to play. It wouldn't be large at all, so I was wondering if it would be possible to build kind of a make-shift pond. Like with cement between the dirt and the water, or a tarp buried into the ground. I know that probably sounds silly. But I just want something small that the dogs can play in. Was just wondering if anyone had any ideas or input on the subject.

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  It's easy to build a pond in your yard. Here's how, with photos.
• http://www.pondlady.com/resource/pondbui…
• But as far as something for the dogs to play in, I would buy a kiddie pond from a big box store. You can easily hose it out and the dogs will have a great time.

Natural Pond Plant Removal

Question:
How to remove Lilly pads from a pond?
They have taken over my pond and there is no way of fishing in it, the point we even had the pond made, so with all these lilly pads we can't fish. What's the best way to remove them without chemicals?

We do have a boat if that helps.

    

Answer:
Get in the boat with a garden rake. Use the rake to pull out the lilies. If you can use waders, that's even better because you can get the corms along with the pads.
It's a miserable and hot job. Lilies are invasive and when placed in a natural bottom pond, take over in short order.

tabletop fountains

Question:
 In my garden I just have a glass bowl on a slab of sandstone and decorative rocks around it and I'm using it currently as a birdbath but I was wondering is there a really easy way to make a small waterfall into the bowl?

Answer:
There is indeed. You can find small pumps often at Hobby Lobby or similar craft type store. You will need somewhere to plug it in, and a way to hide the cord after you put the pump in.
Your biggest problem is going to be keeping the water from splashing out. Maybe water can just flow out and over the bowl.

Gravel in the Pond Bottom

Question:

Can I put driveway gravel in pond after washing it with water?
It is not pea gravel or river gravel though. It is gray and blue.


Answer:
You can, but you will regret it. The fish poop and debris collect in the gravel so you have to remove the gravel to clean out the pond.

Blanketweed

Question:

What is the best treatment green pond weed? It's like green cottonwood.

Answer:
Blanket weed is what you have. It's difficult to get rid of and Koi will not eat it. You can add barley straw bales to help get rid of it. Microbe-Lift PL works too and won't hurt your fish or plants. I have also dyed a pond black, waited three months and the blanket weed was gone. If you feed your fish, you are also feeding the algae. If you have koi, think about changing to goldfish, so you don't have to feed them.

Pond in a Box

Question:

Is it possible to reinforce a cedar planter with pond liner in it to hold 40 gallons of water?
How would you go about building a rectangular planter to be a water garden?

Answer:

I would start with 2 x 12" 8 feet long. Use metal brackets and screws to hold them together. Put the liner in the box. Use a 1" x 2" top piece of lumber to hold the top in place. Just nail them in, but NOT until you have filled it up with water. Don't worry about wrinkles. They disappear from sight after you get plants in there.
If you are using an existing box, do the same thing. Be sure to measure the bottom and both sides, then add a foot of liner so you have enough of it.

How many gallons of water do I have

Question:
Square and Circle Pond Calculator PROBLEM..?
I just want to ask how to compute POND SIZE, IDEAL STOCK LEVEL OF FISH, PUMP SIZE and LINER SIZE..???

My inputs are LENGTH(meters),WIDTH(meters),DEPTH(meter… and WATER TURN OVER PER HOUR..


Answer:
For gallons in pond, multiply width x length x depth, then multiply x 7.5 to get gallons.
In a circle, the formula is pi x the radius squared and then multiply x 7.5 for gallons.
A safe bioload is 1 linear foot of fish per 25 square feet of pond surface.
Have a pump moves all the water at least every two hours.

How to figure cubic feet

Question:

This is a working fish pond, with five tier waterfall. Will keep waterfall, and small recovery pool, but want to fill in the majority of pool, which is kidney shaped, 29 to 30 feet wide by 8 feet at widest point, and 7 feet near tips. All depth very close to 4 feet. I need this stable, what is the best filler to use? How to find this answer? There must be a formula to determine the contents of a pool. Just been away from school and math too many years.Thanks.

Answer:
I would use soil, clay even. To figure out how much, multiply width x length x depth to get cubic feet. If you need to, convert that to cubic yards, divide by 27.

To figure out how many gallons of water in your pond again get the cubic feet and then multiply times 7.5 as there are 7.5 gallons of water in one cubic foot.

Snail Eggs?

Question:

What are the clear eggs on a lily pad leaf in my pond?
I have a container pond in my back yard. I have pretty recently redone it. there are 5 goldfish, and a couple of frog tadpoles. I have water mint, another flowering plant and a pond lily, along with a few floating plants. I was looking at my lily, and under one of the pads there are two "strips" of clear eggs on the back of the leaf. I am sure one of the plants or something could have laid eggs there, but the goldfish are far to young for this. The only thing I could find on the internet was maybe snail eggs, but the pictures really didn't seem to fit. Any other ideas? What would be natural to Northern California?


Answer:

They are probably snail eggs if they are in strips. Snail eggs look like a clear jelly on lily leaves.

Growing water lilies

Question:

What size fountain/pond would I need to grow water lilies?


Answer:
Ideally, water lilies want to be about 3 feet below the water surface and in at least 5 hours of sun a day. The size of the pond depends on the number of lilies. A 6' x 9' pond can support one. There are dwarf lilies that can grow in smaller spaces if need be, but 3' x 3' is about the smallest for good water lily health. They do not like moving water so if you have a waterfall, they must be well away from it.
Good luck. Water lilies are often the main reason for having a pond.

Attracting wildlife to the pond

Question:

How can i attract wildlife to my pond?
I have a pond, about 4x4 meters roughly. Its has a range of plants and Lilly's and is in my garden by a river. What can i do to attract any kind of wildlife?? Someone told me to put a bucket of river water into my pond to introduce organisms and start things off that way?? What tips can you give me??? Thanks

Answer:
If you have water in your garden, the wildlife will come. You have created a wildlife habitat, an oasis, if you will. Dragonflies will probably be first, then toads and frogs. Birds and snakes will be close behind. 4 legged critters will come and go. Be on the lookout. You have built it; they will come.

Cleaning a Natural Pond

How to clean a natural pond?
We have just bought a piece of property with a pond on it, I don't know the depth yet but we are planning to use our inflatable fishing boat to try get an idea on the depth. There are cat tail plants growing around the edge and algae on the surface near the edges. There are also fish in the pond though we don't know what kind, we only know they're there because we saw them come up and splash after bugs that were on the surface. We want the pond to look nice and continue to have fish in it. What is our first step? Just digging out the cat tails are skimming off the algae? What else do you recommend? We've heard about blue dyes and probiotics are these some things we should be looking in to?

Answer:

You can remove some of the cattails, but I would not remove them all by any means. The pond looks healthy now, so proceed with care. I would use no algaecides or any other chemicals. You could put some barley straw in to take care of some of the algae, but it usually disappears on its own.
There are enzymes and bacteria you can introduce to the pond, but I would use only barley straw for now. After you have been there for awhile and gotten to know your pond, then consider dyes or probiotics.
The cat tails are providing valuable natural filtration.
Skimming off the existing algae is fine.

Pond Troubleshooting

PONDLADY HELP!

I have a biological filter for my pond but I inherited the property and I don't know how to get it running.

I inherited this property and have to clean out this pond and i am desperately trying to get it up and running. It has a biological filter and I dont know how it works or if it works.  Please help.

• 
  Let's see.
• First find out if your pump runs. Find any cord at all coming from the water or near the waterfall. Trace it to the plug end and try plugging it in. That should start the waterfall. If not, check the electrical outlet including the gfi. Reset it if necessary. If it still doesn't work, pull it out of the pond and see if it's humming when plugged in. If it is, check the impeller to see if it's clogged up. 
• If you have the pump running, it probably is connected to the biofilter already. If the pump has not been running in a long while or the pond has not been cleaned out in a long time, you need to do that first. Pump all the water out - nasty job, I know - and start over. 
• If you can't get the filter connected for some reason, run the pump without it until we can troubleshoot it. As you go and need more questions answered, join us at http://www.pondlady.com and you will have me and lots of experts to help you along.

Small Pond Plants

Question:

I am in Caifornia and have a small container pond (32gal). Any ideas on hardy flowering plants I can add?  Not water lillies. Pond is 14 inches deep x 16 inches wide x 36 inches long

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  Answer:
• You can grow water poppies as a floater, any emergent like the rushes, cyperus or irises. If you are in the shade, grow calla for great drama. To keep the water clear, use submerged vegetation and to keep mosquitoes away, use Mosquito Dunks or a mosquito fish.
• For more info on pond plants, see this article I wrote about pond plants:
• http://www.pondlady.com/Articles/umbrell…