Packing in our Pond and Yet we love it.

We installed our pond about 20 years ago and we have enjoyed it so much to the point we lived by it day and night just to watch and listen to the relaxing sound of water running.

What we installed was a larger pond ( 30 feet by 45 feet) irregular in shape and with a heavy duty liner.
This type of liner we used is also the same type for Reservoirs so it was heavy.

We used a alot of Rockery and our falls shelf was cut from a natural stream bed and it worked so well it is still amazing.

Now to my point, at this time we are filling in the pond and yes we do have a home for all of our fish!

What happened was the weather changed so much I found myself doing non stop maintenance when I should be enjoying the show so to speak.

Wind Wind Wind and then storms storms storms followed by more wind wind wind.........anyone reading this that owns a pond knows that this is not good for your pond.
I found myself spending more time skimming the pond for leaves and any other air borne float ism that I had no time to enjoy it.

We net our pond in the fall to prevent leaves and such from entering the water, but now it is near impossible to keep the crap out as it is so windy every day. Summer/ Spring /Fall /Winter/ It does not matter anymore.

Our trees shred leaves on a daily basis now, by that I mean they are getting ripped off of our trees by the wind.

Maybe this should be in the Rant forum, but I feel it pertains to what is happening to our weather patterns.

Location is at the bottom of Lake Huron.
Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by Iwinder


Do you have pictures?We made a stream and pond, a pump sens water to the pond down the stream and back. A heron came and ate the gold fish last year :-( Things have changed so much, we used to spend part of everyday by the pond, but the weather is never nice here anymore gray all the time and too cool to enjoy it out there.

here is a few pictures of mine...the waterfal is hidden we let the plants get to big..

Have you considered building an L shaped wind break instead of de-ponding your life? I have a natural pond fed by 5 underground springs, with an over-flow PVC pipe snaked back into a small stream behind my pond. I love ponds, they are so relaxing...

Des

well that's a bummer but i definitely notice a change in the leaves dropping year round these days and in my neck of the woods it's not just due to wind. we're in a terrible drought and the summers are getting worse. if we do get a good amount of rain in the spring ( like we have so far this year) then the summer is super hot and we get no rain so everything looks green and nice for a bit then it all goes to hell again. basically plants only live about 3 months of the year here. except cactus. those seem to be doing alright LOL!

Originally posted by Destinyone
Have you considered building an L shaped wind break instead of de-ponding your life? I have a natural pond fed by 5 underground springs, with an over-flow PVC pipe snaked back into a small stream behind my pond. I love ponds, they are so relaxing...

Des

We thought of everything, we love the pond but it is now beyond our capabilities to take care of it.
I just today skimmed the heck out of it and fertilized the lillys and yet as I type this another storm is aproching and sure as fish poop the pond will be a mess again.
Our pumps (bio) and falls now jam up on almost a daily basis.....well not the falls as it runs at about 800 gph but I have to keep an eye on that pump as well.

Regards, Iwinder

Originally posted by pasiphae
well that's a bummer but i definitely notice a change in the leaves dropping year round these days and in my neck of the woods it's not just due to wind. we're in a terrible drought and the summers are getting worse. if we do get a good amount of rain in the spring ( like we have so far this year) then the summer is super hot and we get no rain so everything looks green and nice for a bit then it all goes to hell again. basically plants only live about 3 months of the year here. except cactus. those seem to be doing alright LOL!

What you said above is true to us in just a little bit different manner but no less the same, after 20 years of ponding we know what is different and that is all I can tell you.

Big time difference from now back to when we put the pond in twenty years ago.

Regards, Iwinder

I don't have a pond but I'm so glad to have someone bring this to attention. I'm sweeping leaves every day - still. The trees are not adapting to whatever is happening. They don't lose them before snow hits the last few winters, which causes branches to snap or bend to the extent they don't ever recover. And all spring thus far I'm finding leaves - although green and smaller. It's not just my trees. My neighbors as well. Why would leaves be falling off of trees in the spring? There have been a few good storms but still. And things aren't growing as they used to. No amount of fertilizer is helping.

I've definitely noticed a change.

Originally posted by Dianec
I don't have a pond but I'm so glad to have someone bring this to attention. I'm sweeping leaves every day - still. The trees are not adapting to whatever is happening. They don't lose them before snow hits the last few winters, which causes branches to snap or bend to the extent they don't ever recover. And all spring thus far I'm finding leaves - although green and smaller. It's not just my trees. My neighbors as well. Why would leaves be falling off of trees in the spring? There have been a few good storms but still. And things aren't growing as they used to. No amount of fertilizer is helping.

I've definitely noticed a change.

I agree 100% with the above post.

Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by Iwinder

Thank you for sharing the pictures of your pond...here is your pictures!May have missed one.

reply to post by Iwinder


I assume you have thought of this but have you tried a pump driven pond skimmer? I want to get one for our pond but it's not really a big enough pond to justify it.

I woke up to the pond being in a complete mess a couple of days ago, leaves and plants everywhere, then I realized that the Goldfish were spawning and were just manically bashing in to everything creating the mess


reply to post by Char-Lee


Wow that's some impressive planting, beautiful

Originally posted by davespanners
reply to post by Iwinder

 

I assume you have thought of this but have you tried a pump driven pond skimmer? I want to get one for our pond but it's not really a big enough pond to justify it.

I woke up to the pond being in a complete mess a couple of days ago, leaves and plants everywhere, then I realized that the Goldfish were spawning and were just manically bashing in to everything creating the mess

edit on 18/6/13 by davespanners because: (no reason given)

reply to post by Char-Lee

 

Yes we thought about installing some skimmers but the amount of crap that ends up in the pond daily would most certainly overwhelm them.

Our fish have been spawning as well here, for about the last month they have been going wild:-)

The whole problem is the wind, I was not kidding in an earlier post that the tree leaves are actually getting shredded. This has really picked up in the last 3 years to the point we are packing it up.

We will replace it with a hasta garden with a meditation area, it won't be as nice but it will be much easier to maintain.

Regards, Iwinder

Wow that's some impressive planting, beautiful

edit on 18/6/13 by davespanners because: (no reason given)

reply to post by Char-Lee

Starting about two years ago I had to go out even in the rain sometimes and clean the pump so we have the exact same problem. We have about 20 ft stream from the falls to the pond I never had any problems even with all the trees for years!

Originally posted by Char-Lee
Starting about two years ago I had to go out even in the rain sometimes and clean the pump so we have the exact same problem. We have about 20 ft stream from the falls to the pond I never had any problems even with all the trees for years!

Wow your pond is just beautiful and I mean that!
Same here, about 3 years ago I noticed the maintenance was increasing dramatically but yet I was doing what I always did for the previous 17 years now I can't keep up with the junk in the water.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and pictures.....
Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by Iwinder


`Yours is wonderful too, so sad to let it go, ours is made to function like a natural one the stream has water bugs and critters, but if we have to we are thinking to fill it with natural stones and make a dry creekbed and pond,would have to remove the pond liner or it would be a mosquito pool!
You could do that with plants hidden in pots covered in stone maybe? Hate all the decorative work to be wasted.

You could do that with plants hidden in pots covered in stone maybe? Hate all the decorative work to be wasted.

reply to post by Char-Lee

Two plants come to mind here, hens & chicks and four o clocks both like dry sunny areas and both winter well too.

It would depend on how thick your stones are in your stream bed, if not too thick you could plant right in them I would imagine.

Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by Iwinder

It never gets hot here, we are wet and cool all year. If you do undo your pond and use it in another way I would enjoy pictures!

Originally posted by Char-Lee
reply to post by Iwinder

 

It never gets hot here, we are wet and cool all year. If you do undo your pond and use it in another way I would enjoy pictures!

4 Weeks and the work begins, we sure will share the pictures if you want them......I won't be the same without running water but this is a practical move on our part.
Regards Iwinder

reply to post by Iwinder


Hi hope all is going well. I was wondering if you have thought of redoing some of the pond stuff. We are trying to do that almost starting from scratch :-( hard!

I was looking at this one. www.azponds.com...

Looking forward to pictures. carol

Originally posted by Char-Lee
reply to post by Iwinder

 

Hi hope all is going well. I was wondering if you have thought of redoing some of the pond stuff. We are trying to do that almost starting from scratch :-( hard!

I was looking at this one. www.azponds.com...

Looking forward to pictures. carol

There is no going back now, we have decided on what we want and were it will go.
We have to pay for the Rockery being moved as we cannot do it ourselves.

The only thing we can suggest to anyone reading this thread and thinking of a pond is go with concrete with no shelves (the coons can't get in) and get a bottom drain.

The above sentence costs more money than we would ever spend versus a lined pond, but if we had the money we would redo with concrete and all the toys.

Regards, Iwinder