BBB bog build begins

[yorkshire pudding]

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hello everyone it is time to bog on ! so my plan is to turn this into a bog.

black princess lily rehoused and aerated used an old water barrel.

always good to have a professional to keep an eye on things

emptied and ready for a scrub

a couple of inhabitants

this guy has doubled in size in a year and very friendly.

a few adjustments holes need cutting .

houttuynia, real citrus smelling marginal.

ready for some pipework.

another friendly albino sturgeon called "brain"

pipes in yessssss!!!!!

i went with a cleaning spout.

outlets will increase flow aswell , bonus.

 

[poconojoe]

Looking good!
Great job and thanks for the pictures!

Ha! Good name for that fish! Brain Sturgeon!

You will not be disappointed with the results of the bog.
Did you use bulkhead fittings to run the pipes through the wall of the plastic container?

 

[yorkshire pudding]

hi poconojoe i used tank connectors to run the pipes through, i think thats the same thing, i was hoping to add more info with each picture but my computing skills are very poor ! i will post the next pictures as thumbnails i think i can give more info that way.. i am going with the slits on bottom of pipe i was thinking 1/4 inch every 2 inches. the pea gravel is 1/2 to 3/4 inch when it arrives next week, i am not using a sawsall but an angle grinder. plants ? i have hostas are they ok for a bog ? also umbrella grass, arrum lily,purple iris,creeping jenny,acorus. sadly gravel 1 ton is all me and a wheelbarrow so it could take a while as i want to give it a good wash before it goes in aswell.

 

[Mmathis]

LOL! Brain sturgeon! That is a good one! Nice start, there!

 

[Lisak1]

Love this! Can't wait to see the final product.

Is that a chameleon plant I see?

 

[yorkshire pudding]

hi lisak1, i dont know if it is a chameleon plant we call them houttuynia it is a marginal plant and has the most lovely scent of citrus at evening time i think to attract moths. a quick question do you turn off your bog in winter ? also do they need to be aerated ? hi turtle mommy i see your in louisiana anywhere near new orleans ? i spent some time there back in my navy days. how many turtles do you have ?

 

[j.w]

Yep, common name is Chameleon plant. I had it once in my garden and it went nuts so I was finally able to eradicate it but kept a little for my pond. It did not like having it's roots in just water I guess cuz it did not make it in there. Has very pretty leaves.

 

[poconojoe]

I think all the plants you mentioned will grow fine in the bog. Everything I put in mine grew like crazy.

If you live in an area where the bog will freeze solid, shut it down for the winter. Leave the plants, Just trim them down. Anything that is winter hardy will come back next year. Any tropicals will die and not come back...of course.

It is recommended not to drain the bog because if it dries out, the plants will die. But I don't know if your plastic container will crack from the ice expanding. I'm guessing it will just expand upwards without any recourse. Hopefully someone knowledgeable on that will chime in.

 

[Mmathis]

@yorkshire pudding Running the bog during winter has a lot to do with how likely your pond is to freeze. All of my pumps run 24/7/365. No, opposite end of the state from New Orleans. N.O. is down in the ”boot” (called that because LA is shaped like a boot), close to the Gulf of Mexico. I live waaaay up in the NW corner of the state. N.O. is about a 5-6 hour drive. I have 7 box turtles — it’s a long story.

 

[Lisak1]

We run our bog all winter @yorkshire pudding , but like @Mmathis said much depends on the construction of your pond and the weather conditions you will face. I'm near Chicago where we can get brutally cold weather and sometimes lots of snow, but our waterfall was built to run all winter - it's wide and concave, so the ice won't cause it to get dammed up and force water out of the pond. Keeping the water flowing all winter means we don't have to worry about keeping a hole in the ice, so that works well for us.

 

[Lisak1]

Oh and be careful with that chameleon plant - HIGHLY INVASIVE. Once it escapes into the yard you will spend the rest of your days trying to get rid of it!

 

[addy1]

We run our bog all winter @yorkshire pudding , but like @Mmathis said much depends on the construction of your pond and the weather conditions you will face.

We are warmer, mine gets shut down, bog freezes up , sometimes, we get snow , sometimes, we get cold . My pump is external I usually pull it in late OCT, the bog surface is so large it drops the water temp of the pond really fast. And one power out with cold the pump would be history, it would freeze and be killed.

 

[yorkshire pudding]

hi addy1, i do have a load of insulation that i could fit in around the inner wooden structure i wonder if this would help although we do get cold winters its been quite a while since we have had a mega long lasting freeze(famous last words) also the surface space of the bog is only about 10% of the pond and my mechanical filter is inside so the water doesnt freeze(again famous last words) i think with all you good peoples advice this should work out ok and hopefully the beginning of the mechanical filter and uv's replacement by a larger bog.

 

[addy1]

Mine is about 30 plus % of the surface area of the pond. If we have a cold night the temp of the pond drops quickly. Also my pump, being external, must be turned off. I don't want to take a chance of it freezing up.

 

[yorkshire pudding]

bog update ! so the company delivering pea gravel just informed me my delivery wont be here till next tuesday so that has slowed things down for a while, i dont want to cut the slits in pipes till i have seen the gravel in case its smaller than i think, so will have to do some other things, as with all ponds/gardens there is always something else to do, so i will update when things have moved on.