"stephane wrote in message
I'm thinking of getting a pond in my back yard. What kind of
maintenance
am i looking forward to?
I'm thinking of sub plants an fish with a pump. What are the
dayly,weekly,monthly things to do?spring and fall?
If anyone has experience with water ponds and little river please help me.
It would be very helpful.

Where to start? Trying to think what I do but it's automatic after so many
years.
What type of pond do you want? A nice clean fishpond, wild/nature pond.....

Daily... feed fish during the late spring/summer months (water over 50°F),
check everything is OK with them, check pump is still running OK.
Clear any floating leaves off especially in the autumn (with a net).
Weekly...Check pump filter is clear/clean. Top up for evaporation losses.
6 monthly...After leaf fall...Clean out pond with a pond vac, removing all
detritus from the bottom including dead pond plants. Spring...same again
and check for sickly fish, Anchor Worm and other parasites like Costia do
their worst now.

Bet I've forgotten something.

Oh, and get a good pond book** BEFORE you start digging or buy anything or
even decide where you are putting it. :-)

**A lot of these are rehashes of old books so look for ones that mention
filter systems, bottom drains, automatic refill, pond "Hoovers",
etc...common modern pond items (that aren't compulsory) that don't appear in
the old books.
--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

While you will find people here who are knowlegable about ponds there are
pond ng's.
rec.ponds and alt.garden.pond.chat come to mind. There is always a wealth of
info .

stephane Boutin wrote:
Hello to all

I'm thinking of getting a pond in my back yard. What kind of
maintenance am i looking forward to?
I'm thinking of sub plants an fish with a pump. What are the
dayly,weekly,monthly things to do?spring and fall?
If anyone has experience with water ponds and little river please
help me. It would be very helpful.

thanks
stephane


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.476 / Virus Database: 273 - Release Date: 24/04/03

Oh, and get a good pond book** BEFORE you start digging or buy anything or
even decide where you are putting it. :-)
Bob

Good advice. I've recently given up on a raised (walled) pond I made in the corner
of the garden three years ago and am now converting the area to a raised flowerbed
for shade loving plants. It was just in the wrong place - barely any sun, all the
pond plants died and the water was permanently green except in Winter. I'd tried
all the remedies from Barley Straw extract to algae coagulating sponges and other
chemicals but the bottom line was - the pond was in an unhealthy location.

Last year I dug a new pond next to my Summerhouse, and the pond plants are
thriving there and the water is clear as a bell. This pond gets sun most of the
day. The goldfish seem to prefer it too - no problems with fungus infections so
far.
--
Drakanthus.


(Spam filter: Include the word VB anywhere in the subject line or emails
will never reach me.)

we've a round pond, 6' in diameter. I spend about 10 mins every 3 weeks
cleaning the pump filter in the summer and two mornings a year in spring
pulling out all the excess weed, plants etc. Also about half an hour every
couple of weeks in summer clearing off the duck weed. really it will vary
depending on how big your pond is and how rampant your plants are. (Also the
fish are fed and checked each day in summer)
Hayley