Re: Barrel pond plans / questions

Flash Wilson wrote:
On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 21:43:17 GMT, Altum <pt.altum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Sounds like great fun. I have a pond with 3 half barrels chained together and spillways between them. I love it!

I had my work cut out to persuade my partner to allow one, but I
suspect like aquariums they will mysteriously reproduce once in place :)

*grin* All you need is a couple more barrels and a solar pump...

Are you planning to line the barrel? It's safer for the fish/frogs. Pond liner works well. Half-fill the barrel, fold it to fit, add more water go push all the air out, and tack the liner to the edge of the barrel with staples or roofing nails.

Ok - hadn't really thought about it, but what you say sounds easy
enough and probably a good idea. I'll get some.

It's worked pretty well for me.

Not sure about fish, thinking about it - I would like toads (or frogs, or newts, all of which we have in our neighbourhood, amazing
since this is East London) and I thought fish would eat the spawn?
Also, my dog might decide to try fishing. I'm sure he will pee on
the side of it, and drink from the top of it... I'm hoping he won't
get any more involved than that!

I don't know about fish & toadspawn. It's dry where I live, so there's not much chance of frogs. Use a mosquito dunk if you don't have anything eating mosquito larvae. Your water will be still and very tempting to insects. Whatever you do, don't add gambusia. You can't see them, they'll breed like crazy, and they'll eat the fry of anything pretty that you might want to breed in the future. Did I mention how much I ADORE my gold white cloud minnows? :-)

I'd want to know what the plants are in the pack. It sounds like they've left license to give you whatever doesn't sell. ;-) It's also twice as many plants as will fit in a single barrel.

True... they say it's for a 1m barrel, but my barrel's only 27" across.

If I only had one barrel, I'd use one tall marginal like dwarf papyrus or pickerel weed, one short - I love my sweet flag, a hardy lily, a couple bunches of anacharis, and some water lettuce (it's not as invasive as hyacinth and inhibits green water algae).

Do you think I'd be better off just buying the plants individually?
I was tempted to go for the selection because I was expecting half
of them to establish and half not to thrive (based on my experience
with tropicals), and I don't really know what needs to be in a basket
and what doesn't, or how to do it, so I was kind of trusting them.

I know what you mean about tropicals not establishing. A pond is a bit more like a garden, though. I've had only two plants fail. One was an iris that I bought at a garden center, and it didn't look good to start with. The other was cambomba. OMG, was that a mess!

I looked at that site, and I think you'll come out about the same price and get exactly what you want ordering individually. Plus, I doubt they'll send one of the really nice dwarf lilies. All you need for submerged plants is a couple bunches of elodea. It will grow like a weed. You won't even be able to see the submerged plants anyway once the lily gets going. An aponogeton is silly.

BTW, garden centers have a lot of plants that can grow as pond marginals. Ours have lilies too. Just look a the pond website and write down what might grow ahead of time. Rinse the soil out of the roots as best you can and repot in clay or aquatic soil.

Watch out for the plant baskets. I made the mistake of using them last year and now I'm going to have to cut them apart to thin the plants.

So what should I use instead? I presume I should use *something* to
contain them... and do I need some kind of aquatic-friendly compost?
I am a bit confused by references to plants needing shallow water,
and then reading that up to 2 foot deep is ok... not sure what suits
each plant really!

I'm going to switch to cheap, 1-2 gallon nursery pots with holes in the bottom. I planted my pickerel that way and it's doing OK. I put some weed cloth in the bottom to hold the soil in. The only basket that's not a disaster is the canna lily - I lined that one with weed cloth and it seems to have helped.

I use "Schultz Aquatic Soil." It's fuller's earth (clay) in about 2-3 mm pieces. It's pricey, but you don't need much for a pond our size. :-) You could also use fine gravel or clay. Don't put soil, peat, manure, or loam into the pond. Big ponds can handle it, but not ours.

My marginals do best with water right at the base of the plant. I have acorus, scirpus grass, a canna lily, pickerel weed, and a dwarf papyrus growing. The dwarf papyrus is about 3" submerged, sitting on a small upside-down bucket with holes cut in it. (fish refuge) For the rest, I put a galvanized wood screw about 1" down on the outside of the barrel, being careful not to puncture the liner. Then I drill a hole into the edge of the pot or basket. Using a plastic cable-tie threaded through the hole in the pot, over the rim, and around the screw, I hang the planter at the edge of the barrel. If it's a big pot or basket, I use two hangers. The oak the barrels are made of is so hard that the weight is supported just fine.

Thanks for replying, this is completely new territory for me, but
I'm looking forward to it!

Ponds are wonderful fun!

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