Darksaber Pond - My Next Adventure

[Jhn]

Looks great... Second what addy said I have areas of my bog that are ankle deep and other areas are 4-5 inches above the water. I plant the entire bog then the plants go where they want and take over. Don’t do anything with the bog for rinsing.....

Plants I use are water celery, creeping Jenny, water cress, water forget me not, are quick growers for nutrient uptake and easy to remove. Ones I plant because I like them are cannas, elephant ears, iris, hostas...probably some others I am forgetting.

 

[addy1]

I forgot creeping jenny...........
I do have a canna growing and a few iris oh and some lirope.

 

[Lisak1]

Beautiful! Oh my gosh! You will enjoy that FOREVER!

 

[milonedp]

@addy1 @Jhn thanks for the information! That's really helpful and gives me a bunch of new things to research and try.

@Lisak1 thanks for the compliment!

We LOVE it, the only thing we don't like is that the frogs and toads are out of hand. Some nights it's so loud we don't even want to be out there and they have kept us up most of the night a couple times. That's before all the tadpoles have turned and come out of the water so I'm really worried about what it'll be like in a few weeks. Any ideas on that front would be appreciated.

 

[addy1]

. Any ideas on that front would be appreciated.

Nice fat water snake! I still have a lot of frogs, but some have disappeared. They are croaking right now.

 

[Lisak1]

Any ideas on that front would be appreciated.

If it's any comfort at all, in our pond that's always been a rapidly changing situation. Those babies will all grow up and move on very quickly. And like @addy1 said - nature will see the abundance and has a plan. In our case it's always one or two great big bullfrogs. They come and spend a week or two in the pond and clear out a lot of the smaller frogs, then they move on. I don't think they eat all of them, but we have seen them eat their share, so between that and the territorial nature of predators, the small frog population dissipates quickly.

And for the record - I'll take my big bullfrogs over @addy1 's snake solution! But whatever works, right?

 

[addy1]

And for the record - I'll take my big bullfrogs over @addy1 's snake solution! But whatever works, right?

Aww but she is neat looking! And fun to watch!

 

[milonedp]

@Lisak1 @addy1 my wife would prefer the bullfrog solution too based on her screaming through the house last summer when there was a snake on our front porch.

 

[Lisak1]

when there was a snake on our front porch.

Yeah... no thanks. I just learned our neighbor recently added a python to his menagerie. Based on how well he contains his dogs, I'm a big concerned about who might slither under my fence!

 

[addy1]

I had a python at one time, until it got to heavy to handle, gave it to a python ranch, out in AZ

 

[Lisak1]

I had a python at one time, until it got to heavy to handle, gave it to a python ranch, out in AZ

I'm not afraid of snakes generally - just don't want to be surprised by one!

 

[brokensword]

@addy1 @Jhn thanks for the information! That's really helpful and gives me a bunch of new things to research and try.

@Lisak1 thanks for the compliment!

We LOVE it, the only thing we don't like is that the frogs and toads are out of hand. Some nights it's so loud we don't even want to be out there and they have kept us up most of the night a couple times. That's before all the tadpoles have turned and come out of the water so I'm really worried about what it'll be like in a few weeks. Any ideas on that front would be appreciated.

as Lisa noted, most will grow up and either be eaten by predators or move away. The toads and frogs only sing during mating season and that's now passed for you, so it's only a temporary inconvenience!

 

[milonedp]

as Lisa noted, most will grow up and either be eaten by predators or move away. The toads and frogs only sing during mating season and that's now passed for you, so it's only a temporary inconvenience!

@brokensword When should it have passed last night and early hours this morning were terrible?

 

[brokensword]

@brokensword When should it have passed last night and early hours this morning were terrible?

I think the mating season only lasts for 2 weeks, with some sort of high point. I liken the sound this way; near us (suburban setting), they set up a race track about 1/2 mile away. Before then, I had typical street sounds of cars occasionally when someone decides to burn rubber or a large truck passes. Now, routinely and especially on weekends when I spend most of my time relaxing by the pond, I get consistent race sounds practically all day. It's annoying mainly because it didn't used to exist. I've learned to drown out the sounds by focussing now on the waterfalls (of which I now have 2 main ones, a wall waterfall, and an auxilliary pipe output just waiting for my current hollow log to be finished. I'd take 2 weeks of toad sounds over the racing, any day. And, that's why they invented radio/music systems; just turn the volume up on that and the amphibian choir might be dimmed somewhat. Or close the windows and listen to the AC crank!

 

[milonedp]

@brokensword

Two weeks would be delightful this has been going on since mid-April.

Music loud enough to drown them out would probably make the neighbors upset, actually already worried about when one of them is going to complain about the frogs.

There are toads and frogs and the sounds range from screeching to barking. I wonder if issues is that the timeframe of the different species all are different.