Pond advice

[redleader]

New (to us) house with an established pond. There’s loads of lovely plants and wildlife (frogs) but lots of dead leaves etc at the bottom and to be honest too many plants. The pond water is very clear but no pump. I’ve read that the amount of plants in the pond will keep the water clear but there’s so many plants that there’s hardly any pond. So when’s the best time to clear it out and how much clearing out should I do?

You may have to get down and dirty for this one. If you have a wetsuit it will be ideal unless the pond is v small. You can thin out the pond plants now. They will prob have originated in weighted baskets but will have spread everywhere. Drag, pull, heave them onto the bank if you can and hack each one back towards the basket/pot. Throw them back in when they are an appropriate size. If there is no basket/pot they are probably oxygenating plants. Take a small sample and throw them back in. Marginal plants (on the pond edge) will prob have become overgrown with grass and weeds. If you have a budget I would launch these and buy new. If you don't then leave well alone.

This advice is obviously condensed and omits some technical stuff and you may not get as many pond plants flowering this year but it will get you to a better pond in the shortest time.

Steve

I am leaving my pond clearing til the tadpoles have all left.

You should aim to have about a third to half of the water covered, in general.

I would leave the clear out to the autumn myself, but before the animals go into hibernation as that will disturb the wildlife the least. But you could also tackle just a portion of it now, then leave it for a month or so and tackle another portion and the wildlife would probably be just fine.

You need a pond man. Mine's called Jim

We clear ours in the winter, before the frogs spawn. It's not huge, so wellies and a bucket. Leave the debris on the bank of the pond so that any wildlife caught up can wriggle back in.