Pond Video

[HTH]

We had a bit of hail yesterday so I figured it wold be a great time to make a pond video.      


This is a holding pond we build 5 years ago when we moved to Oklahoma.  Construction took 2 hours of backhoe time.  Other then prop up the low spots little has been done.

Many of the plants have roots outside the pots.  There is a huge mass of water Lilly roots which is taking up the nitrates.  If it were not for the bubbler churning up the muck the water would settle out and be clear.

There is no forced filtration in this pond.  The bubbler ensures that there is enough oxygen and that the evil gasses are driven off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN8Z-jMrf08

[Jerry]

Nice work!

[SueSTx]

Nice pond...with lots of pads and blooms.

So if you got hail, how much rain did you finally get?

[HTH]

I am glad you guys can see past the hole itself. and the need for dividing.
Ah the the neighbors 2 hunting dogs went for a dip last friday.

Rain... well about 15 hundredths.

[tinkster]

I love your fishies and lilies.  I so want a white/black koi.

tink

[Kittyzee]

Great video!  Your fishies look very well trained to come to your side of the pond while you are there!   

[HTH]

Great video!  Your fishies look very well trained to come to your side of the pond while you are there!   

Up to a week ago these guys hand not seen an net in about 5 years.   I did one swipe with the net while they were feeding to capture 3 to put in the stock tank where I am putting divided plants.  Ended up with about 10 and tossed all but 3 smaller ones back.   The three in the stock tank have not come out of hiding yet.  I guess the lesson here is that the more you mess with the net the less you will see your fish.

There are two daunting tasks ahead for me.  One is dividing the plants and the other is culling the goldfish down to the genetics I want to keep.  The majority of the mix is a deep body fan tail but there were also 5 adult broadtail moors in the mix. I lost the moors due to my stupidity.   Culling is going to be way hard.  There are a lot of nice looking fish that will have to go.

So many decisions.

[Indiana Karen]

Very nice.  I love the look of lilies all mounded up like that...........but know that it means time for the nasty job of dividing.  Lovely fish, especially the black and white one with red head.  If I lived closer, I would be at your back door on culling day!!!

Karen

[Julles]

Really, really nice.

[Kittyzee]

So would I Karen!  I don't cull anything, they're all beautious to me.   

[miguynmkoi]

Jealous of all your lilies blooming together!  You mentioned you haven't divide but did you fertilize to have such healthy blooming lilies?  All the plants in your pond look very nice.  How deep is your pond?
Feeding the fish is definitely a favorite chore here.  Love watching the fish going crazy over the food (if not the chase!).  Thx for sharing a fabulous video of your large pond!

[HTH]

I honestly half expected to get beat over the head and the warm reception rather astounds me.

I have not fertilized.  Knowing that I could not divide them I did not want to encourage growth.  But the roots have escaped the pots and there is a nice mat of root covering the bottom of the pond in places.  The muck from not cleaning the pond seems to be a reasonable source of food.

I used to overwinter my hardies like this.  This image is from 2002 in Colorado, in the following year the pile was taller.  What I liked about this pond wast that the bottom drain came up the backside and stopped about 6 inches below the water level.  To clean the pond all you had to do was pull the cap off and most of the sewer like muck was sucked from the bottom of the pond. 



But my back objects to moving them up and down with the season.  So when I dug this holding pond I made it shallow enough so I can sit the pots on the bottom.  It is a bit less then knee deep.

When we moved to Oklahoma we took the pond liners with us and I have a 50x10 foot roll of never used EPDM that was intended for several linked goldfish grow out ponds. 

This shot shows two of the 4 ponds we had in Colorado.  The back one is the same one as in the previous image with the pots.  This shot is special because it was about this time of year but it was snowing.



The front pond in the above picture had a removable hoop house designed and constructed by my wife and I. The cool thing is you could walk upright along the left side of the pond.

There are a few pages about its construction here.
I miss it.  But we have a lot more wind here and I am still thinking about a solution.

[Julles]

When you said "Colorado," I was wondering how you could have a pond there.  Now I see - looks like it would work great!

[HTH]

Water gardening is quite popular in many parts of Colorado.  We belonged to the PPWGS http://www.ppwgs.org/index.php in Colorado Springs. PPWGS is a great group of people and we had excellent guest speaks including the late Perry Slocum.  On one occasion we made a group purchase trip to Thompson Aquatic Gardens, a commercial koi, goldfish and plant breeder.  Denver has an active pond group, Rocky Mountain Koi Club, and the Botanical Gardens hosted the International Water Lilly Symposium a few years back.

[miguynmkoi]

I have not fertilized.  Knowing that I could not divide them I did not want to encourage growth.  But the roots have escaped the pots and there is a nice mat of root covering the bottom of the pond in places.  The muck from not cleaning the pond seems to be a reasonable source of food.

I can't beat you over the head for something I haven't gotten around to doing yet!  Signed, Anonymous.