I have a pond that measures about 5 feet by 3 feet, is there a way of
keeping leaves out of the pond whilst letting wildlife in and out? At the
moment I have a net over it weighed down my bricks, stones & plants with one
corner in the most sheltered area raised by a couple of stones... is there a
better method as leaves still find their way in. Also, if I add some water
snails is there a certain number I should aim to keep their population below
to keep the toxins down from their waste?

TIA

Dave

Ðave wrote:
I have a pond that measures about 5 feet by 3 feet, is there a way of
keeping leaves out of the pond whilst letting wildlife in and out? At
the moment I have a net over it weighed down my bricks, stones &
plants with one corner in the most sheltered area raised by a couple
of stones... is there a better method as leaves still find their way
in. Also, if I add some water snails is there a certain number I
should aim to keep their population below to keep the toxins down
from their waste?
TIA

Dave

More info needed. How deep is the pond?
Have you got fish in it, if so, what and how many?
Is the pond planted?
If leaves still get in, can you not use a finer mesh net?
As to water snails, personally, I'd avoid them altogether.............
keeping their population down requires killing them....sorry mate, can't go
along with that.
You will find friendly people with answers to most pond questions
here.............
http://www.forums.pondlife.eu/forum/index.php
HTH
--
Pete C
London UK

"Ðave" wrote in message
news
I have a pond that measures about 5 feet by 3 feet, is there a way of
keeping leaves out of the pond whilst letting wildlife in and out? At the
moment I have a net over it weighed down my bricks, stones & plants with
one corner in the most sheltered area raised by a couple of stones... is
there a better method as leaves still find their way in. Also, if I add
some water snails is there a certain number I should aim to keep their
population below to keep the toxins down from their waste?

Same size as my pond, which is situated under a loquat tree so it's quite
shaded. I do tend to get a lot of other leaves as well in the autumn so I
sometimes put a net over it in the winter, held down with rocks.

I've had fish for over 25 years (some of them the originals) and now have a
population of something like 15. Only a few frogs (over 200 in the late
80's) and toads, but lots of newts. My frogs have declined drastically
because we live on an island surrounded by roads, however I still have a few
frogs and had some tadpoles this spring.

I wouldn't worry too much about leaves. If you have a lot of trees around,
you can just put a net over your pond in the autumn.

Re pond snails, they increase and decrease, depending on the ecology of your
pond, and are not really a cause for worry, since they will eat a lot of
rubbish in your pond. Then their excreta can feed the plants you have.
Whilst out walking a year ago I found some plant growing in a stream on the
local golf course and snagged a bit of it, and my god does it keep the water
sweet. It grows like mad, but the water is so fresh, so I suppose it eats
up all the detritus left by the snails, fish, newts and frogs.

I have another smaller pond nearby dedicated to water lilies, and when I was
cleaning it out I discovered it was full of dragonfly larvae. I was only
cleaning it out because it was full of leaves :-)

Enjoy your pond, it will have a life of its own anyway.

someone