My Pond

piggieminder said:
The pond area has matured brilliantly and now attracts bees, birds, butterflys and insects, I am very pleased with how things are progressing. The six little fish in the pond have doubled in size and seem to really enjoy their new home.

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Aw, fabulous! My ponds is a right mess, the surface is now covered in aphids? I have tried hosing them but they keep coming back 😟
 
Wow it’s looking absolutely gorgeous :love:
Arnie the goldfish says she’s coming to live with you! She’s sick of the TV and wants to watch all the wildlife instead :D (me too actually!) x
 
That's great @piggieminder , glad the wildlife are enjoying it. :tu:
My pond appears to have disappeared: 117435
The water surface is hardly visible under all the plants. Duckweed isn't helping, I can't seem to get rid of it. I hope the tadpoles are ok under there. The water level has gone done somewhat due to the dry weather, I'm going to have to fill it by hosepipe soon if it doesn't rain significantly soon :cool::td:
As well as bees on the flowers, I see damselflies quite often.
 
It's still really pretty @Qualcast&Flymo - perfect for wildlife. I've been topping mine up with a bucket of water every day from one of the water butts so I don't have to have a sudden big change of water, it's amazing how quickly it evaporates in this heat,
 
There are some lovely gardens & ponds on this thread :)
My poor pond & garden been rather neglected this year, I've not been able to do anything to either this spring/summer so far :(

Qualcast&Flymo said:
That's great @piggieminder , glad the wildlife are enjoying it. :tu:
My pond appears to have disappeared: View attachment 117435
The water surface is hardly visible under all the plants. Duckweed isn't helping, I can't seem to get rid of it. I hope the tadpoles are ok under there. The water level has gone done somewhat due to the dry weather, I'm going to have to fill it by hosepipe soon if it doesn't rain significantly soon :cool::td:
As well as bees on the flowers, I see damselflies quite often.
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If you do have to top up your pond with tap water, try filling a couple of buckets & leave standing outside for at least 24hrs, this will let the chlorine escape from the tap water, it will also give the water a chance to warm up & be more similar to the ponds current temperature.

After the 24hrs add one bucket of water pouring very slowly(over a stone/plant leaf to break the water flow if possible) then fill up again, do the 2nd bucket the next day, keep rotating the standing water buckets so you're filling the pond little & often.

It will cause less damage to the ponds current eco system & hopefully continue to flourish :love:
Xx
 
Anybody got any ideas? My pond is covered with aphids floating around on the surface. Tried hosing them with water from the hose pipe but they are back again within a few hours. They are producing a horrible greasy scum on the top too, its’s very strange never had this before
 
Other than scouping the scum off with a very fine net (my friend made one from an old piece of voil curtain, wire and a garden cane) I can't think of anything. I don't have that problem, the fish eat them!
 
Bill & Ted said:
Anybody got any ideas? My pond is covered with aphids floating around on the surface. Tried hosing them with water from the hose pipe but they are back again within a few hours. They are producing a horrible greasy scum on the top too, its’s very strange never had this before
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Do you have a picture? Is it water dwelling aphids/insects or land one's like you'd find on say a rose Bush in the garden?
 
I have just swished them again and drenched the pond so the surface water runs out of the ponds with the floating flotillas of aphids but by tomorrow they will be back again so will post a photo when I get home tomorrow afternoon as the little blighters will be back again!
We have an overhanging Apple tree, wonder if they are coming from there? I have an old wine filtering bag that would make a very fine net and have a go at sieving them if all else fails. It’s all very odd, where are they coming from, checked all the plants around the pond and no aphids
 
GPTV said:
Do you have a picture? Is it water dwelling aphids/insects or land one's like you'd find on say a rose Bush in the garden?
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They just look like rose bush ones, if a little pinker, I have no fish to eat them
 
Bill & Ted said:
They just look like rose bush ones, if a little pinker, I have no fish to eat them
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Do you have any plants overhanging the pond that they could have fallen off of into the water?

Frogs or water beetles might eat them if they occupy the pond?
 
We have frogs and newts but they don’t seem bothered in them. The only thing I can’t check for aphids is the apple tree which has a high branch which hangs over the pond, they must be coming from there. It’s too high to check but I will have to remove the branch in the winter if it’s becoming a nuisance
 
:hmm: hmm, can't think of anything else to suggest? Wonder what they are?
 
I think the aphids have been doing well with this weather. My garden is full of them, black fly on the runner beans, mosquito lava in the water, green fly on everything! My water butts have all been covered in a film of little flies and aphids everyday for the last two weeks. I've been topping the pond up everyday with a bucket of this water and the fish have been going into a mad feeding frenzy every time. The fish have become like piggies, everytime someone walks past the pond they think they are getting fed, they get so excited I have to tell them no, no, no like I do the piggies. :))
 
Aphids hate chives so you could do some companion planting near the pond? Also cider vinegar and garlic is good to spray around there they are but idk how it will work with the pond?
 
Cavy Kung-Fu said:
Aphids hate chives so you could do some companion planting near the pond? Also cider vinegar and garlic is good to spray around there they are but idk how it will work with the pond?
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It's interesting that they don't like chives, thank you for that. I have a large clump of chives at the top of the garden that needs thinning out. It's almost finished flowering so I'll split it up and plant some around the veg patch.
 
piggieminder said:
It's interesting that they don't like chives, thank you for that. I have a large clump of chives at the top of the garden that needs thinning out. It's almost finished flowering so I'll split it up and plant some around the veg patch.
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No probs! I don’t even like chives but keep them around for that reason, plus don’t the bees just love the flowers?
 
I quite like chives sprinkled over salad but I always forget about it, I don't think I've actually eaten any for 2 years. I love the flowers and yes the bees are always around them, although we haven't had so many bees this year. We used to get a lot of honey bees which are the ones I'm missing, I'm wondering if someone has given their hives up, maybe lost their bees to the horrible disease that's devastating the colony's. We have have a lot more butterflies this year, some I've not seen before, I keep meaning to get my book out and look them up.
 
We’ve had loads of bees this year, well loads of bumblebees. Haven’t seen that many honey bees actually now that you mention it but as a whole more than I’ve seen in a while!

Seen masses of dragonflies though, enormous and stunning with all different colours and sizes... bet you see loads with the pond!
 
I saw lots of dragon and may flies last year checking the pond out when it was new but I've only seen one dragon fly this year:( I've heard from other people as well that they have had lots of bees so I'm pleased about that even if we don't have many.
 
Yea it’s odd, I’ve seen loads at work when I don’t normally... Perhaps they’ve taken a wrong turn this year! They’ve been magnificent, I’m always a little concerned in small spaces though ‘cause I really don’t want to be bitten 🙈
 
Photos of the aphids this morning, there are about 6 clumps, but later on they will produce this horrid greasy scum, it’s probably poop from feeding on the pond weed or algae?

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I've not seen anything like that before. I thought you meant they were dead aphids floating on the pond. I have a layer of dead aphids and small flies on the water butts everyday in this hot weather.
 
No these are very much alive and breeding in number floating on the surface, it’s so strange. I don’t mind the aphids just don’t like this greasy film they discharge 🤢
 
Gosh, it looks lovely! I’m most envious, you have lobelia cardinal there, what a gorgeous colour they are, I’m going to get some next year for my pond. I’ve just grown umbrella rush from seed and planted that in the marginal area.
 
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