Did I ruin my new pond?

[c2g]

So my goal was to create a wildlife pond - no fish, no filters/pumps... just hoping to attract frogs, dragonfiles, etc. The size is about 14' x 10' with a 8" planting shelf and varying depths ranging from a gently sloped entrance down to about 2' with a 3' overwintering hole. The planting shelf would consist of a mix of a blue flag, golden club, great blue lobelia, pickerelweed, and scouring rush.

I dug it over a weekend and I just finished installing the liner and stone yesterday. I filled it with water and, rushing to get the job done in a weekend, took a chance and (gently) filled the planting shelf with a 2:1 play sand to topsoil mix. (In the picture, the shelf extends everywhere you see rocks on the inside of the pond and you can see the settled soil/sand mix near the surface.) The topsoil was Nature's Pride Topsoil - the cheap stuff at Lowe's - not potting soil. The water turned murky, but I figured it would settle. It did not, and now there's stuff (algae?) floating on top of the water.

Of course, this morning I found out the topsoil was a mistake. This evening, I scooped about 70% of the mix out by hand. The rest is stuck between the rocks or settled in the deep end (can't tell because the water's so murky).

I have a ton of clay left over from the excavation and I can always get more sand. Is there a way to remedy my situation without draining the pond, washing the stone down, and making sure I get every last bit of topsoil out of there before I fill it again? My plan was to plant the shelf in the coming weeks, but now I'm not sure if that will happen until spring if I have to drain it.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

So, do you have a problem with mucky waters?

 

[c2g]

Not at all, unless it's a sign that I did something very wrong. This is my first pond, so I'm not sure.

Wait... I just got it.

 

[Fishylove]

Lol. Ignore him he's harmless
Welcome :wave:
So, just feeling around, how much sand etc. is still there? I'm not familiar with how to built a wildlife pond, assuming the specks are different? But normally pond plants are put in the ponds bare root. Meaning, ie: my pond shelves have large sand stone on the outer edges and then filled with pea gravel and river rocks at different heights. You would then plant the pond marginal plant, bare root, in the pea gravel at the appropriate depth for each plant. If the plant is invasive( a Lot of pond plants are) you can put it in a pot with CHEAP UNSENTED, UN-CLUMPING ( the old type kitty litter) and pea gravel on top of the clay to keep the clay in. You can also do this with water lillys. Note: be sure to get the kitty litter that does not turn to mush ( stays sort of gravely).
Now, there are a lot of ponders that do not like rocks of any kind in their pond, to each his own, I just like rocks , the effect I get is worth spending more time to clean it. In that case, ponders use pots or I believe addy or maybe sissy use black oil pans to plant marginals.

 

[slakker]

I'm thinking without some water circulation or fishes (even just mosquito fish) you may end up having the biggest mosquito farm going in the neighbourhood.

But as for the mucky water, it will eventually settle over time, but again without any filtration... You're likely gonna have a algae problem.

 

[JohnHuff]

A stagnant pond is not a good idea. In nature a stagnant pond would smell bad and would attract a lot of mosquitoes. You will need to have some fish to prevent the mosquitoes from completing their life cycle. And to keep the pond from stagnating and if you have fish, you will need to have circulation. And to have circulation, you will need to need to have a pump. And if you have a pump, you will need filters and do maintenance.

 

[slakker]

This is an interesting idea, it'll be cool to see the progress and how to maintain the system.

 

[DrCase]

Welcome to the Forum

 

[adavisus]

Net the floating sludgey organic stuff out, see how it all settles for a week or two, establish plants, wait for local aquatic opportunists to hop, skip, waddle, fly in.

Frogs, toads, newts, salamanders, turtles, snakes, snails, pondskaters, water spiders, whirlygig beetles, damsel flies, dragonflies, water beetles, daphnia, etc. The usual wildlife

When a healthy population of bugs and critters establish, don't expect a mosquito to last more than 10 seconds on an established pond...

Take care the more invasive brutes don't get a chance to establish, the sort of things which choke a pond

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[c2g]

A stagnant pond is not a good idea. In nature a stagnant pond would smell bad and would attract a lot of mosquitoes. You will need to have some fish to prevent the mosquitoes from completing their life cycle. And to keep the pond from stagnating and if you have fish, you will need to have circulation. And to have circulation, you will need to need to have a pump. And if you have a pump, you will need filters and do maintenance.

Mosquitoes are my greatest concern, which probably delayed putting int the pond for a year while I went back and forth on having a pump/filter. I'm willing to take a gamble on nature in this case though.

My property consists almost entirely of native plants and I don't use pesticides. In addition to birds, I have tons of beneficial insects, many of which include mosquitoes in their diet. I have toads, and toad can eat over 100 mosquitoes in a night. I get some dragonflies, which feast on mosquitoes. Even without a pond, it's my belief that I have these creatures because of the food source I've provided. Native plants + habitat = lots of insects. Insects = lots of food. I've had a half barrel pond for a few years now. There are mosquitoes breeding in late spring, but I never see larvae after June, and I don't have fish or a filter. Just a mix of plants.

Mosquitoes were a big problem everywhere in Philly this summer. Everyone has them, which is to be expected given the bat population's drastic decline over the past two years. So now I'm giving them an ideal place to breed, yes, and while I will not have fish, I'm providing a dream scenario for frogs, toads, dragonflies, and the countless other pond insects that feed on mosquitoes. No fish to eat their young or to let them ever establish in the first place. No pumps/filters to suck in the good young/larvae. No fish waste to require a filter.

This is the route I'm going as I've read plenty of examples of it working. I feel the fact that I already have an established wildlife habitat to work with will help me get the pond established quicker -- I watched two dragonflies hover overhead as I was filling the pond as if they were waiting for this to happen. I'm putting my money on nature's system of checks and balances since nature seemed to have a good thing going before we came along. I'll be sure to update my progress.

 

[c2g]

Net the floating sludgey organic stuff out, see how it all settles for a week or two, establish plants, wait for local aquatic opportunists to hop, skip, waddle, fly in.

I did that last night after removing the bulk of the soil/sand mix and it seems to be clearing up. Nothing floating this morning. Now I just need to figure out what planting medium to return to the shelf - clay from the excavation or clay/sand mix?

 

[Phil]

Why not use some gravel or 1/2" river rock as a planting medium? It will be more likely to stay where you put it than sand and would be easier to put in the pond than clay soil. I rocked my entire pond (which I know many on here recommend against) with 3" - 4" river rock, and added a few "beach" areas of the 1/2" rock. My lillies are in pots but everything else, including marginals and the taller grasses and reeds are all planted right in the rock. Many of my plants are natives that I collected wild. Not being big into the botany I don't really know what they are, but I have some reeds and some grasses planted in a shelf 12" down that emerge at least 2' from the water. I have had no trouble with them blowing over or becoming uprooted and I was very pleased with the way they spread and filled in this spring from last year when I planted them.

Good luck!

 

[c2g]

Why not use some gravel or 1/2" river rock as a planting medium? It will be more likely to stay where you put it than sand and would be easier to put in the pond than clay soil. I rocked my entire pond (which I know many on here recommend against) with 3" - 4" river rock, and added a few "beach" areas of the 1/2" rock. My lillies are in pots but everything else, including marginals and the taller grasses and reeds are all planted right in the rock. Many of my plants are natives that I collected wild. Not being big into the botany I don't really know what they are, but I have some reeds and some grasses planted in a shelf 12" down that emerge at least 2' from the water. I have had no trouble with them blowing over or becoming uprooted and I was very pleased with the way they spread and filled in this spring from last year when I planted them.

Good luck!

Hmmm, I hadn't considered that option. I will look into that. Given your close proximity to me, you don't take your plants out in the winter, do you? I wasn't planning on it, and I'm hoping to get the pond planted in the next week or so to get an early jump on the fall planting window.

 

[dieselplower]

I plant everythig in gravel. Not the smallest gravel possible, but the kind in bags at a place like Lowes. If you use something super small like sand you will not get any water flow through there. You want water to be able to flow through the gravel, bringing nutrients to the plant.
I would really suggest a pump in there.

 

[HARO]

c2g, you're on the right track with your pond. Many on here will tell you it can't be done, it'll stink, etc, etc, because your pond is different from the norm. I've kept a pond for about eight years with no filtration, no pump, no human intervention. (It did have fish, though!) That pond had more dragonflies and mayflies than all my other ponds combined, and the only fish losses were to a kingfisher. As for the bottom, Europeans tend to spread a layer of heavy garden soil on the bottom to plant into. Once it becomes waterlogged, it stays in place quite well, and looks natural. Clay can also be used, after all it's what lines most ponds in nature! Good luck with your project.
John