10 replies to this topic

[ctrgojo]

oh the blue prefab pond for this thread is named for...
when i first built our pond last spring i thought of course 250 is enough, the blue will fade, the koi won't grow that fast....

its nearly a year later, my two inch koi, when i got home from the 7 month deployment :helm2: are now 10 inches!!

all four of them...

so I had saved some funds for pond building and then the tradgeity in Haiti happened so I'm deployed down here for a bit but should be home just in time for the last frosts to be over nad pond building to hopefully comence.

I have the area all marked out and hands ready at the shovels for the word, we are just down to one last big question: Shouls we line it with the typical 45 mil liner or since we are making it 2 ft under the ground and the last foot block, do about an inch of concrete?

My biggest worry is concrete cracking, but we also have a ton of bamboo and river cane, will it puncture the liner?

I look forward to getting home and ponding agian!
Hope everyone is staying warm this snowy season

[koikeepr]

I have large tree roots that headed toward my liner...they simply route right around the liner. You bamboo and cane will do the same. Don't worry!

[stroppy]

im not so sure about the bambo ...i had some growing next to my pond and it grew straight through the side of my liner ..but my liner wasnt all that thick !

[undrtkr_00]

How thick, Stroppy?

I know around here folks use pond liner to actually contain bamboo and keep it from taking over the whole yard. So, assuming you get the 45 mil stuff, I think you should be OK.

[koiguy1969]

as i understand it..the secret to bamboo is to get the clumping type not the runner type. runner types will shoot runners out and can pop up anywhere.

Edited by koiguy1969, 19 February 2010 - 05:35 PM.

[stroppy]

ive no idea how thick the liner was undrtkr i didnt put it in ...but i do know the bambo come up in several places ... and spread all over the place, if the liners really thick it might be ok, but i wouldnt take the chance again

[ctrgojo]

thanks!
I did not plant the stuff I assure you, it was behind the garage when I bought the house and there was a giant tree in the yard but it was sick, so when I had it removed up poped all this river cane, EVERYWHERE!! I kid you not it grows a foot a day, I get home form duty and theres a dozen knee high sprouts....

I've just about got Nick convinced we should double the size of the pond too, I just hope I score orders to stick in the area a couple more years or at least somewhere stateside so I can bring the fishes with us but we've atleast got about a year and a half to enjoy a giant new pond!

[DrDave]

I dug a deep trench alongside my pond and installed a piece of Hardy Backer board to block the roots from my Coral trees. Also, all my bamboo are Clumpers.

[oldmarine]

Plumbers used to wrap water and sewer lines with bare copper wire to keep tree roots from wrapping around and eventually penetrating the water and sewer lines. Copper ground wire can be purchased on a spool at most any electrical suppy. I wonder if running several strands of copper wire around a intended pond in the dirt prior to laying the pond liner in place would keep tree and bambo roots at bay?

Just a thought.

Happy ponding,

Rich

[ctrgojo]

copper wire? what an interesting idea, I will definatly look into it. I think we're going to dig a trench and do the boards too, better to be over protective then a leaky liner later...

[oldmarine]

It is my understanding that copper will leach into the soil and plant roots will not grow where the copper is. That's why the plumbers used copper wire to wrap sewer and water lines.

We have an old cement pipe sewer line running from our house and out to the alley where the main sewer line runs. I had a tree root problem with our sewer line and had to run a snake down the line to pull out all of the clogging roots. A plumber friend told me to cut fifty pennys into four pieces each. Then to put all of the cut pennys into the clean out trap and close it up. He told me the copper leaching into the sewer line would help prevent any further tree root problems. So far it has worked, I haven't had anymore back ups in our sewer line.

Happy ponding,

Rich