Converting pond

[Froggirl1]

I am new to this forum. I am thinking of selling my home which has a 10 X 10 lined frog pond about 2' deep. I am concerned that a new owner will not care for the pond or the aquatic life, ie frogs, insects, as I have done which is why I have stayed longer than I want. My entire back yard is planted in natives with a wooded corridor behind it with a storm drain creek that empties into a lake two houses down so it is a wildlife haven for the 17 years I have had this pond. My realtor said most people will not want a pond anyway so I was considering filling it in but want to protect the frogs and insects. Just as a side note, I live in a subdivision of people who pretty much kill anything that moves and spray and apply chemicals to yards and plants or have commercial companies do it. Turf grass with yews pruned like boxes is the common theme. Given that, it is doubtful someone will be attracted to the area who would be a good match for my naturalized yard. I feel responsible for the pond though because the insects and tadpoles are captive while the frogs can hop down to the creek as long as someone doesn't harm them first. May sound crazy to some but that is me. I've been reading on ideas of what to do as well as contacted a few pond people. My pond isn't a lot of work as I let the pump run all winter with a small heater to keep a hole. No fish to manage. However, I would like ideas of what to do to change it from a frog pond to a bog garden, rain garden, regular garden, pondless waterfall, etc...any ideas are welcome and most importantly, how and when to safely remove the insect habitat at the bottom and the frogs and tadpoles, etc. I am in Illinois close to St. Louis, MO, for geographic reference.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

It’s hard to leave an old place behind. We sold our house a year ago. We had to fill in our pond before putting the house on the market. I had a lot of garden plants that were special to me, but I had to leave them behind. I was devastated when I drove by the house in the spring....and the new owners had completely re-landscaped the front yard But, it wasn’t my house anymore, and I had to accept the fact that the new owners had different tastes, etc.

 

[j.w]

@Froggirl1
That will be hard to leave behind. Might be kinda hard to take it w/you, I mean the bugs etc. If you can make a pond where you are moving to maybe the old owners will let you come back for them. If not then not much you can do. You would prolly have to drain it way down and net out all the life and transfer a lot of the old water to the new pond so they would all feel at home. Then when empty the new people can do what they want w/the empty pond. Would be great if you could take the old liner w/you when you make the new pond. You would have to keep the life you took w/you tho in a kiddie pool or some sort of container while you installed the pond again. Would be quite the job but people do it w/fish so why not other life? Or you could transfer them to the storm drain pond and start over w/the liner attracting new residents.

 

[CometKeith]

I am new to this forum. I am thinking of selling my home which has a 10 X 10 lined frog pond about 2' deep. I am concerned that a new owner will not care for the pond or the aquatic life, ie frogs, insects, as I have done which is why I have stayed longer than I want. My entire back yard is planted in natives with a wooded corridor behind it with a storm drain creek that empties into a lake two houses down so it is a wildlife haven for the 17 years I have had this pond. My realtor said most people will not want a pond anyway so I was considering filling it in but want to protect the frogs and insects. Just as a side note, I live in a subdivision of people who pretty much kill anything that moves and spray and apply chemicals to yards and plants or have commercial companies do it. Turf grass with yews pruned like boxes is the common theme. Given that, it is doubtful someone will be attracted to the area who would be a good match for my naturalized yard. I feel responsible for the pond though because the insects and tadpoles are captive while the frogs can hop down to the creek as long as someone doesn't harm them first. May sound crazy to some but that is me. I've been reading on ideas of what to do as well as contacted a few pond people. My pond isn't a lot of work as I let the pump run all winter with a small heater to keep a hole. No fish to manage. However, I would like ideas of what to do to change it from a frog pond to a bog garden, rain garden, regular garden, pondless waterfall, etc...any ideas are welcome and most importantly, how and when to safely remove the insect habitat at the bottom and the frogs and tadpoles, etc. I am in Illinois close to St. Louis, MO, for geographic reference.

Hi and welcome. We sold our house 4 years ago to the very first people who saw it. We received a full price offer because our house was priced correctly and was in excellent condition. The buyer’s son sat at our pond on the day of the showing and he really liked it. I was convinced the pond “helped” make the sale. I took most the fish and left about a dozen along with a pump and filter and gave them some instructions how to maintain it and offered to help if they needed it. Two months later one of the owners called me. He was going to fill in the pond so he could build a larger garage and wanted to know if I wanted the rocks and leftover fish. When I saw it it was the saddest thing I ever saw. It was totally covered with leaves and had almost no water. I think we put more weight on the value of our ponds than buyers do. Buyers are looking at the house and yard but it doesn’t register on their radar the value of a pond or the work it requires. I would recommend that you do whatever makes you happy because whether it’s there or not will make little difference to a buyer.

 

[cas]

However, I would like ideas of what to do to change it from a frog pond to a bog garden, rain garden, regular garden, pondless waterfall, etc...

If you are thinking of selling, I wouldn't put the time or money into any of the above. If you talk to any realtors, I think they would recommend just a well maintained yard. Those of us that love nature, gardens and ponds are not the majority.

 

[Froggirl1]

Thank you for all your responses. I understand people will do whatever they want when they buy the house which is why I want to take out the pond. I agree that spending a lot of money on a conversion is not the goal for me, but what are some ways people have filled in ponds? I will absolutely not leave the pond for someone else to fill in. I created the environment for those wildlife and I will take the responsibility to make sure the ones who are captive in the pond are not harmed. A pondless waterfall is likely a more expensive conversion vs. taking out the pumps and leaving the liner to fill in for a bog garden. Then if someone digs everything out for a swimming pool for example then they are taking out dirt and unfortunately backyard habitat, but they are not harming aquatic life unable to leave the pond. I don't really want a pond at the new house right now so transferring all life to a new pond is not an option. I just wanted ideas on how people have removed aquatic wildlife and converted their ponds and what time of year is safe to move aquatic wildlife, ie spring before tadpoles or fall before all life forms hibernate. Do you gradually fill in the pond as it is with water in it and the insects and frogs all move gradually to the surface and leave on their own or do I need to drain it down low and all life will gradually leave on their own or do I scrape the bottom sludge to transport to a creek and put the frogs in the creek in my woods or actually take them to the lake 2 houses down (unfortunately full of bass) or do the frogs move on their own an easy distance to a creek once I start filling in and/or draining the pond? Unfortunately the creek is storm water runoff from the street and that pollution is not good for frogs but there is a lake 2 houses down that the creek drains into. Do I fill with gravel and/or dirt for a bog garden? Lots of questions.

 

[Mmathis]

We hired a guy. Found him through another guy. As it turned out, he was a police officer, who liked working dirt, doing demos, etc. He only worked off referrals, so we were fortunate to have found him. He had all of the equipment. He dug out everything that needed to be dug out and hauled it off for us. What could go in the ground, concrete, rocks, etc., he pushed into the pond-hole, then added tons of topsoil and graded the backyard for us. Then we had a landscape company come out and lay sod. You would never have known there was ever a pond there , kinda sad, though. The hardest part was finding someone who would lay the sod for a reasonable price!

 

[Froggirl1]

Thank you for your response. I will fill the area in with native plants which will be the easy part for me as my entire back yard is native plants with pathways, no turf grass at all. The pond is in the middle of the yard with small waterfalls coming down a slope in the yard so I was thinking I could keep the waterfall structures to serve as steps to the top of the slope to access the garden and the pond could be a bog and leave the perimeter rocks in place and the liner and fill with moisture-loving natives. First I have to get the pond converted.

 

[JamieB]

I'd begin by hauling buckets of the pond water with associated wildlife to the lake. Take the bugs and tadpoles as you do so, just a bucket full at a time. This way the lake won't have a sudden upswing in say tadpoles or dragonfly nymphs.

 

[Lisak1]

I feel responsible for the pond though because the insects and tadpoles are captive

I'm a little confused - why would you think anything that showed up on it's own is captive in your pond?

 

[Froggirl1]

I'm a little confused - why would you think anything that showed up on it's own is captive in your pond?

Good question. Because the nymph stage dragonflies and tadpoles and other nymph stage creatures cannot navigate land or air until they mature. The adult frogs and snails will find their way out eventually but I will give them some help if I can.

 

[Froggirl1]

I'd begin by hauling buckets of the pond water with associated wildlife to the lake. Take the bugs and tadpoles as you do so, just a bucket full at a time. This way the lake won't have a sudden upswing in say tadpoles or dragonfly nymphs.

Thank you for that suggestion! Hoping no rain will thwart my efforts when I start that project. Thanks to all the responses. It has made me more confident that eliminating the pond is the best thing to do as I have read your stories of what new owners want and will do if the pond is left behind. As frogs are disappearing due to over development and people fearful of standing water anywhere on their property, it is hard to take out an amazing wildlife feature but I thought I would be here forever and honestly didn't think the liner would last for 17 years...I was told 15. It has helped the frog and insect population while it was here. Kudos to all of you who keep going with your ponds and helping the wildlife population recover and thrive. This is a great forum...I wish I had tracked it down sooner because no one I know can talk ponds.

 

[Mmathis]

Remember that still water will host mosquitoes, so may want to keep a small pump going as a fountain.

 

[Froggirl1]

Remember that still water will host mosquitoes, so may want to keep a small pump going as a fountain.

Yep, that is true. As I bail water out it will go below the skimmer box intake at which point I have to shut off the pump. I might see if I can get some of those tablets to kill the eggs or larvae if it doesn't hurt the aquatic life and I don't think they do. Thanks!