Wildlife pond

[olivethegreat]

I made a wildlife pond in a half barrel about 2 months ago. It has plants plus I dropped in some oxygenators. Have struggled to get a miniature water lily but got a tiny frogbit on ebay and put that in.

So far it has over a million mosquito larvae babies and Various other microscopic type creatures. It smells very pondy not in a nice way.

I'm getting a bit dispirited . I've got some watercress coming in my veg box, shall I drop some jn?

Also have logs stacked up the side but still seems a little steep for frogs so may rework that . Inside is a big stick and the plants are on bricks. I might add another brick vertically for access

I have a solar fountain but I think it's no longer working - blocked by larvae no doubt!

I'd like it to stop smelling and I'd like the mosquito larvae to be eaten! Can anyone help?!

How about a few fish? Goldfish, minnows and sticklebacks are all predators of insect larvae.

This article has some advice if you would rather not have fish
ww2.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guides/ask-an-expert/previous/mosquitolarvae.aspx

It's too small I'm afraid - in my experience they need to be considerably bigger than that. I think I've heard 3ft x 3ft x 3ft mentioned as ideal.

picture?

I started a barrel pond a few years ago, and bought a load of live daphnia that they sell as fish food. I tipped a whole bagful of them in there and they helped to clean the water. I put some watercress in too. It does take a while for everything to settle down and form its own ecosystem.

Do NOT put in fish!!!!!!
That would be the absolute worst thing you could do, for welfare reasons as the pond isn’t big enough nor clean enough and because I guarantee you that in a small pond fish will eat absolutely all your wildlife.
There will be nothing alive left.

Most new ponds have mosquito larvae for the first season, they rarely return after the first year.

Daphnia PP mentioned at e good for clearing green water but they will only survive if the water is of a very good quality.
In theory, if you have lots of plants it should be but a smell could indicate an excess of mulm/rotting waste at the bottom which could mean polluted water.

I agree with a PP that it is too small really, though some people do manage to make very pretty and healthy ponds somehow even smaller

I'm not going for fish, too much to worry about and they'd eat all the things I'm trying to bring in!

I think the size is ok, lots of people have container ponds, but it's definitely more of a challenge. I'll have a scrape around with a net and see if there are any leaves etc that might be rotting at the bottom?

Possibly it might need more plants, Also I'm going to try and get a plant to shade it a bit ? Might need a garden centre trip this weekend !

@Powertothepetal thanks you've reassured me a bit re the mosquitos!! I have read that I shouldn't worry and that ponds sort themselves out I'm just getting a bit impatient I think .

The water isn't green (yet), it's a bit murky but it has cleared , to begin with was cloudy but not anymore .

It's just the slightly stagnant smell that is off putting !

I was looking at pond dye but that would kill the oxygenators (but do the same job?) so not sure .

I was looking at my neighbours (fish) pond and they have way more surface coverage so perhaps that's the issue ? The frogbit hasn't really taken (was tiny!) and I just have some plastic water lilies as a temporary covering for now as everything else was out of stock .

What’s nearby your pond? Is there good wildlife friendly cover nearby the entrance to it? Log steps sound potentially quite exposed so planting things can hide in is good. And yes to more steps inside if possible.

@NoSquirrels thank you yes I need to add more pots around it I think. And more log areas and pebbles. It's next to the border but on a massive slab I'm trying to hide.

I've just found a site that has miniature water lilies in stock, also a product called mud muncher as suggests the smell is indeed caused by rotting leaves (I have loads of trees so this could be it). I've also ordered pond gloves so I can have a gentle scrape of the bottom with a net and then will use the mud muncher . Then at the weekend I'm going to go and try and find something to pot up that can help shade a portion of the pond as it is in a very sunny position.

Thanks for the advice, hopefully this will help me crack it. Will post a pic when I've done this .

Barley straw will help clear it.
It does take time to settle particularly if you filled with tap water.
Ultimately about half the surface should be covered with plants, but you need to allow for what you have to grow.
Go for native plants over decorative, and get them fresh from a local supplier.
Make sure there is access for wildlife to get in, but also a way to get out (an easy climb).
Make sure it isn't situated in full shade - it needs sun on the surface for a considerable few hours.

Barley straw is the usual thing for clearing algae, but I read somewhere that lavender stalks also work, and they did seem to

Thanks for all this advice. I've turned my mind to this again today as the miniature water lily and mud muncher solution arrived. I had a little sort out and found a knocked over plant ( think a hornwort) but it didn't look good and the pot was empty , I cleared as much as I could away and added the mud muncher solution. So now I have about 4-5 marginals, a miniature water lily (which will take some time to reach the surface). I had dropped in some netted oxygenators but cant for the life of me find them so am going to go and try and get some more at the garden centre tomorrow.

It's not at all green, just murky (trying to make levels was extremely difficult without vision) and it ABSOLUTELY REEKS of rotten eggs. I'm on the verge of giving up, but I've come this far and sunk money into it. Will oxgenators clear the smell?!! It's really bad . Worse as I was fiddling around and scraping the bottom, but still....

I had a solar fountain but it seems to be blocked now, and I read that water lilies don't like the water moving about so I guess I should leave it out.

HELP

Also, it's so difficult to make steps out, but there is room on a brick out and that has a basket on top, is that enough for a frog to get out? The marginal baskets are fairly high. Frogs can swim right? I've improved the access in and added more pots around it and will work on this a bit more tomorrow. I can't imagine a hedgehog would climb up as the route up is quite steep plus I have a shallow tray right next to it (saw a blackbird having a lovely bath in this earlier!) so I imagine a hedgehog would use this rather than trying to clamber over a steep log hill?

Pics

That looks a very sparse planting. I’ve got an abandoned stone sink which has water and the occasional frog, but I keep it fill of weed and water forget me nots, and it doesn’t smell.

Can you dig it in a bit, so it’s a little lower? You definitely need more plants around the edges, near to the steps. It’s hard to tell, but might the wood pile access steps not be better from the border behind? Then you could plant around it, including a fairly tall plant to provide overhead over when anything is trying to leave or go in.

At the moment your woodpile steps stop really short of the top of the barrel, and your stick/log poking out looks like it’s going parallel somehow. You’d be better if the log/stock was closer to the woodpile steps, and it rested on/near the basket that’s submerged.

You need a frog-eye view of it.

Have you seen this?
www.themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk/how-to-make-a-mini-wildlife-pond/

Basically you need to make one side have almost level access, either via digging it in a bit or piling up earth on one side if you don’t want to lower it completely, or create a series of covered and planted steps e.g. with pots going upwards to the level of the pond.

Similarly to NoSquirrels, I was going to suggest sinking into the ground and placing large rocks around some of the edge for frogs & toads to hide in. Also try to have other "wild" areas in your garden nearby as frogs/toads/newts like to roam around.

We have a small pond under a tree that is full of dead leaves at the bottom but it doesn't smell and we have newts and frogs. Whenever I clean some of the leaves out there's always a newt in amongst it. Frogs would easily be able to jump into there as they can jump straight out of a bucket I've found.
I'd still dig a hole and bury it quite a bit though. I'd not worry about the mossies, they're more likely to attract wildlife but you will have to be patient and wait for it to come.

Is the smell just when you're digging around? Because that's totally normal! I have a mid-sized wildlife pond and detritus from the bottom smells but the actual pond doesn't and is very healthy.

Did you say you have logs in the water as they will rot.

I think you might be fiddling around too much with it, once you've set it up and have plants in you don't need to do much at all. Some rotting matter at the bottom is beneficial. Can you add some pond snails?

Ooh just checked in and this is brilliant thank you all, super helpful! Will have a really proper read and think over the weekend.

Today I went and bought 4 oxygenators in baskets, so the pond is full now . (I bought 4 as that was the deal !) They are all suitable for small ponds. Two are deep level and two are level 2. The stick now overhangs the log pile which I have added some more logs to. I will add some more at the weekend as I still think it's too vertical, will look at all the suggestions .

My next plan is to cover the patio slab next to the one the pond is on with soil and then stones (eventually planting alpines in maybe but that won't be this year)

It isn't too bad smelling now after the clear out . Hopefully the new plants will do their thing. I think there was something rotting which is gone ! Just the odd whiff now. It has a lot of other wriggly things as well as mosquito larvae .

The garden has a (rather successful!) meadow patch but not directly next to the pond. It is close to a a tree which has a lot of long grass and brambles around it so there is definitely some cover . Nearish a bird feeder though but the garden is too small to really distance them and I like to see both from the kitchen

I also want to get some plants to overhang it as I think it's too sunny where it is but I can't yet, have spent too much !

Feeling much more encouraged now thank you all!

Actually I could start the log pile incline from the long grass by the tree and that would give quick cover and is the other side to the bird feeder so safer . It'd look more natural too .

I'm a bit worried about hedgehogs. There are more different levels in the pond now due to all the plant baskets , would one be able to get out if it fell in by clambering over a basket ?

So... I added 3 oxygenators about 2 weeks ago. It still smells but not as much. It also has a miniature water Lily.

The plants seem to be dying, turning brown. The water Lily is mainly submerged but it also has brown leaves.

I'll leave it until the autumn but if the oxygenators die I think i going to have to give up as I can't sink any more money in this. At least one looks on its way out .

Is there anything I can do to rescue things at this point?

Sorry 4 oxygenators for different depths. The ones that have leaves sticking out look to be dying. Feels like I've wasted £££

The birds enjoy bathing in the seed tray I fill with water for them so i might just stick with that .

I have a mini pond which is now on year 2. my oxygenating plants all died but it seems to be doing OK with one iris and some generic pond weed. there were lots of mosquitos the first year, but none now. Plenty of other little water bugs, and there was a newt for a while. I mainly neglect it which I suspect is good - I want it to sort out a balance without lots of work.

So maybe try just leaving yours alone for a bit. A bit of shade might also help your pond - it will get v hot on a hot day in full sun which might kill off little creatures.