Beautiful job! Enjoyed the narative as well as the pics
I am however confused ... Do you like Moss Rose??? Just teasing
I am however confused ... Do you like Moss Rose??? Just teasing
Pool to Pond 2013
- Thread starter joesandy1822
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joesandy1822
Sandy
Huh? What's Moss Rose?capewind said:Beautiful job! Enjoyed the narative as well as the pics
Thank you, BTW!
callingcolleen1
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I have never heard it called a Moss Rose before, here we call it Portulaca, and it loves it hot and dry, and I love this plant as well. Good job on your postings, and I loved reading all your posts.... Good Job on the beautiful pond you worked so hard to create!
joesandy1822
Sandy
Yep, that's it. Portulaca is the "formal" name, and moss rose is the "common" name. I love them because they are so drought tolerant. I didn't want to be watering around the falls too much, so these were perfect.callingcolleen1 said:
And thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed reading it. It's my first time doing anything like this, so I'm happy that people seem to be enjoying it.
joesandy1822
Sandy
I have always wanted a pond with frogs. The past few weeks, I've sworn there might be one in there. I often hear a "plop", like something was startled into jumping in all of a sudden. Then last night, I could've sworn we heard one while we were sitting watching the fish. But I thought it was just wishful thinking.......until today. Look who's hiding in the Four Leaf Clover! Hopefully he won't make a meal of too many baby fish.
Wow that is great. How nice to have the elevated deck so you can have a better view too....
callingcolleen1
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Yes, I see him Sandy, hiding half under the clover, they are so nice to have, I think they will eat lots of flies anyway. I don't think the frog will eat many baby fish, but the dragonfly nymths that I have that live in the pond for sometimes up to five years, will for sure eat almost all the baby fish. I had a whole bunch of red dragonfly nymphs that metamorphosis into a dragonfly and they were all sunning their new wings above the pond high on these white string I have over the pond yesterday.
joesandy1822
Sandy
Oh, that's a bummer, but cool at the same time. I LOVE dragonflies.....but I also love baby fish. And I love frogs too. I guess you gotta just let nature take its course and it will all balance out. Hopefully anyways!callingcolleen1 said:
joesandy1822
Sandy
Thought I'd put this photo here just in case the pea soup returns. The water is clear right to the bottom now, and the fish were having a great time feeding today. You can see the hornwort laying on the bottom. It's definitely alive and not dead as previously thought. Now that the algae bloom is finished, it can get the sun it needs and is starting to pop back up.
callingcolleen1
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I have hornwort too and it will pick up and grow fast now that the sun can shine down on it, as long as the warm summer nights don't turn cool fast next month... what a bummer thought! Lets hope we have a nice long summer!
joesandy1822
Sandy
Ya, I hope it stays warm for a long time yet. I finally have a clear pond. I'd like to enjoy it for awhile before the snow flies. I am kind of looking forward to the changes in the pond over the seasons though, since this is my first one and I'm not quite sure what to expect. I wonder if I will be able to see the fish under the ice? That would be cool, but I suspect the ice will not be clear enough to see through.
I wish you had a photo of those dragonflies drying their wings! I'd love to have seen that!
I wish you had a photo of those dragonflies drying their wings! I'd love to have seen that!
sissy
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What plans do you have for winter ,meaning pond heater or aerator or pump running to keep an opening in ice .If fish are young they may need help through the winter .Planning ahead helps keep you from a total panic
joesandy1822
Sandy
Yep, agreed. We are planning on shutting down the falls for the winter, and using a large aerator to keep a hole in the ice. I think an aerator will be less expensive to run than a pond heater, at least that's what we're thinking at this point. We will also be purchasing a large leaf net to put over the pond once the maple leaves start falling. Will take it off when they are all down and we have them raked up.sissy said:
I will need to ask questions here on what to do with all the plants over winter......as in if and when to prune them back before winter. I know the lilies should be sunk to the deepest part, but unsure about all the plants in the rocks. I'm assuming once they die back a bit, I would just cut them off and leave them alone?
The fish are all probably 2 or younger. And there are babies in there also that these fish produced. There is also a frog in there that we just discovered. Not sure how that will come into play. I've heard of people finding dead frogs in the Spring for whatever reason.
We don't have any type of pond vac yet, and the more I read, the more confused I become. Most people seem to not really like the vac they have, or if they do like it, it's way out of my budget. Come Spring, I will need something to clean the bottom I'm assuming. It will be a bit tricky with all the hornwort. And since this is my first time with the pond and hornwort over winter, I'm not sure how it will come through the winter. A lot may die back, leaving a bunch of stuff to clean up in the Spring.....or not. A lot I will learn as I go like everybody else I guess.
Any advice regarding some type of pond vac?
sissy
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remember to have a back up ,I bought an aerator for ponds and it said aerated up to 8 ft. down and thing froze and broke and bought it on e-bay and not worth a penny and i had it protected and guy would not honor it .E-bay did nothing either .I still had my 4 port one from petco and thing is still working great after 6 years .The worst was when our power went out for 5 days after a big ice and blizzard in 2010 and all I could think of was the pond and only way to keep ice open was with bubble wrap and a plastic bag full of those foam peanuts .Sure scared me .I even heated pans of water in the fireplace and set them on the ice to help melt it .I bought a pond heater just in case and been looking into a battery powered pump .I just use a swimming pool net which if you had a pool you should still have i hope .Pond vacs can also suck up fish .We don't usually get that cold here so that was a real wake up call for me .BE PREPARED FOR THE WORST BUT HOPE FOR THE BEST
joesandy1822
Sandy
We bought a new pool net since our old one was falling apart. So I do have that. I guess I can just scoop out any muck that way.....it doesn't have to be spotless. And with the skimmer going, not much gets to the bottom. That might change since the skimmer WON'T be running over winter. We have a power inverter that can be used if the electricity goes out. It plugs into the car. That would only work for a limited time, of course. So hopefully we won't lose power for any length of time. The only way around that would be a backup battery-powered pump, like you said, or having a generator, which is not in the budget. Or haul hot water, like you did........Oh, I HOPE that won't happen.sissy said:
I remember going through all that stress when we had our aquarium over the years. Every time we had a storm, we would lose power. Our neighborhood is old, and the trees all needed a good trimming around the lines. They did that a week ago, so hopefully that will help some.