Georgia pond

[j.w]

Ha Ha I love that t-shirt too and I need one but then it may give away too many secrets

 

[sissy]

If you want a great smell try lemon grass and lemon verbena third pic is lemon verbena and lemon plants are great for mosquito control .look at how tall my baby bananas have gotten .I think they grow 3 or 4 inches a day .

 

[tbendl]

Yeah I have 2 large banana's in my yard, they completely died last winter and are now over the fence, you can kinda see 1 in the corner of this picture. I was really glad they came back and then astounded at how quickly they grew. Any good plants, besides carnivorous to keep flies away?? That's what I need. I do like the lemon though, might see if I can find some of that.

 

[sissy]

plant a baby one near your pond and lemon verbena and lemon grass only deter them because of there smell ,Marigolds are good also as long as you dead head them every day they keep blooming

 

[tbendl]

Ohh thanks sissy.

 

[j.w]

You can also plant Pelargonium geraniums (Martha Washington) plants near any areas you want to keep flies away.
Here's a story that was in the Seattle P.I.:

Got flies? Here's a beautiful way to repel them.

On my Friday evening "Gardening With Ciscoe Live" TV show on Northwest Cable News, one of my callers wanted to know how to keep flies out of their house.

Other than using screens, I had little to offer as a solution. Then, by coincidence, the next caller happened to be an Austrian woman who offered that the real reason why Austrians plant pelargoniums (Martha Washington geraniums) in their window boxes: They are an attractive way to repel flies.

I admit I was dubious, but decided to try it. Pesky little flies used to swarm in circles between my house and garage, embarrassing the tweetle out of me whenever someone came to see my garden. After I planted the pelargoniums, the flies disappeared.

Try planting a bunch of Martha Washington geraniums where you have fly problems. Even if it doesn't work, maybe the visitors will notice the beautiful flowers instead of the embarrassing flies.

Why do Geraniums Repel Insects?
Geraniums repel insects due to the oils that the plant secretes. One of these natural oils is citronella, which is widely used in bug repellants and candles to drive away insects.

The plant belongs to the genus pelargonium and is commonly known to discourage mosquitoes, Japanese beetles, cabbage worms, rose chaffers and leafhoppers.

 

[Veloth]

Fantastic ponds. I really like the stream.

 

[haver79]

Very nice! Love the stream too!

 

[Amy]

Thanks all for the compliments and cnyle for the info on quilt batting filters. I will definitely do a search for that. Also, I will hold off on a uv sterilizer for now and see how it goes. In saltwater tanks, people use them to combat ich.(though I never have) Does anyone recommend one for this reason? Or are they mainly used for algae reducers?
The main plan for the small(upper) pond is to fill it with plants for natural filtering. I also put the water celery and parrots feather in the stream bed and plan to get a floating net or 2 to put plants on in the lower pond. The upper pond and stream bed are lined with river rock. I figure that allows tons of surface area for nitrifying bacteria. Also, I know it's common for new fish tanks to go thru algae blooms while cycling, I assume this is true of ponds.
Thanks also for all the info on plants. I planted 2 "cold hardy" banana trees already and am glad to here they are doing well in Virginia. They should definitely do well here. Also, will get the lemon plants for "skeeters" and geraniums for the flies. Any recommendations for yellow jackets? Tey have been horrible this year, I have never seen so many before. So much for the theory of a good freeze keeping the bugs down. It has been the opposite this year. My mother and I had the pleasure of disturbing a large nest yesterday and have the stings to prove it!!!

We have had amazing marigolds and zenias this year. Planted from seeds and they have bloomed for months now. I am saving the seeds again, and they will be around the pond next year. I have some pennyworth, an ivy and some other plants that I am hoping will spread around the rocks.
I have made a little progress with the planting and adding rock I will try toget updated pics this weekend.

 

[sissy]

I had sick fish from people that were told wrong info about ponds and they had 3 that had ich and I used a uv because I read it helps and I have the feeling it is true because 2 weeks later all the fish looked much better and after a month they looked normal again .I bought the 9 watt on ebay for one stock tank and the 18 watt for the bigger stock tank .I thought for sure that most of there fish would not make it but only lost 2 of them .I never used a uv in my pond but after that I may try it out because of seeing what the uv did for there fish .I have since bought another 9 watt and replacement bulbs .This way I will be ready for next spring when new baby fish are born .If I am going to give them away I want them to be as healthy as possible

 

[Amy]

Wow! I am wondering what kind of wrong info would cause ich. Too small of a pond causing stress? Poor water quality? I hate how people will deliberately lie or make up answers when they don't know to get sales.
Anyway, I think I will plan to add a uv filter in the spring. I keep wondering about all the unexpected "outside factors" that might happen with a pond.

Also, does anyone recommend snails? I think I actually had one or 2 on the roots of my cattails when they came in the mail.

 

[sissy]

I had trapdoor but my koi just sucked them out of the shell and ate them .Bird droppings I think could add to any problems also ,not sure about when they bath in a stream .I have lizards here and they eat bugs but have seen them eat fish eggs and frog eggs and seems they do not go any where but in the stream ,not sure about all there poop .I see it and clean it up .Toads can squeeze a fish to death .I got rid of the toads because I caught it eating baby fish .Frogs my koi eat and suck there insides out and i get the joy and trying to get all the rest out of the pond so it does not cause water problems .I used my plant holder made out of window screening and a pool noodle for catching baby fish yesterday .I throw some fairy moss in there and they swim into the slits in the window screen and I yank it out and into the stock tank they go .I got 10 or 15 of them yesterday .They move to fast and I could not count them .They were about half an inch long .

 

[Amy]

I made a little progress on rocks/plants. Still got a long way to go. Couple of pics snapped tonight thru the windows. Sorry about the screen.

 

[addy1]

It takes time. You have the problem I have a slope. If you can dig into that upper hill where the liner is showing. Make a shallow shelf (8-12 inches) right below water line, Use that shelf to stack rocks on it. You will be able to keep stacking rocks to cover up the liner and the slope. That is if you want to................ The rocks to the right of the picture with a bunch of plants now are covering up liner and a 4 foot wall that is part of the slope. The one bare area is the stream waterfall.

The rocks near the waters edge you can see are flatter, they are covering up the liner at the edge of the pond.

 

[Amy]

Thanks addy. It's good getting all these little tricks to make it look better. I have to get tons more rock.