Did you know there are worst beasties out there then birds, snakes,
snapping turtles & raccoons? There is a silent pond peace destroyer. A
motion sprinkler won't stop it, fishing line won't stop it, not EVEN an
electric fence will stop this pond nuisance.

My ponding peace was being hammered daily, hourly. I would clean up from
its mess, and within hours it would destroy all my good deeds, it not only
messed up the ponds, but the surrounding area. Though this evil, silent
menace doesn't eat fish, it could kill them from displacement alone, if not
out right poisoning from the dreadful waste it is known to create.

What is this dreadful, silent, and noxious thing, you might ask? Especially
now that I have you shaking in your water booties?

They are rampant throughout the world, but most of us only deal with them
in the fall. Guess yet? The ever dreadful........leaf!

My DH girdled our planted-to-close-to-the-house-by-previous-owners 50-60'
tall Silver Maple, over a year ago. It still manage to leaf out this
spring, including a BIG dose of seeds to the like that the squirrels
couldn't even begin to keep up. (Year before they ate them all, what they
didn't drop to the ground in big easy-to-cleanup clumps.)

Now we've had some very hot weather and it is losing leaves like it is
early fall. I've been out cleaning around the ponds daily, and if the wind
blows, I make sure I'm up early to clear the grated flow thru between the
ponds. Then I continue doing it several times/day if the wind continues.
The tree drops half the leaves on the roof, so even a little puff of wind,
drops them straight down into the ponds.

Since I'm the ponder in the family and I'm going to my sister's for a week,
I knew I couldn't leave this hourly chore to my husband and son, it just
would not get done. They probably would have kept the ponds somewhat clear,
but the surrounding area? I shiver to think what I would come home to. So
yesterday I purchased netting, and my guys connected it to the deck all the
way to the fence. This morning, no GD leaves!

The net is taut (did I spell that right, Galen?) ;-) That hopefully not too
many will stick, and they'll blow off over the fence... where I've already
informed the neighbors I'll rake them up if need be. Better there on grass,
then amongst plants and rock edging. ~ jan
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Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us