First Autumn - leaves galore.

[James_Pond]

This is the first autumn for my pond and, of course, it's filling up with leaves.

It's a wildlife pond, so no fish at all and no filter or water feature just plants to keep it healthy.

I'm taking the approach that, with the best will in the world I'm never going to recover all the leaves that fall in the pond, so whilst I'll pick out any big ones and any day that it's particularly bad, I'm not going to worry about picking out all of the leaves.

I presume that it's actually a good thing to let some fall in and sink to the bottom.

Is this the correct approach?

 

[Mmathis]

How big is the pond and what plants do you have growing? I have not idea what the correct approach would be, but I do know that when I see a still patch of water, I can usually smell it, as well. I suppose there is a limit or a balance that has to occur and this just might be something you're going to have to experiment with.

 

[James_Pond]

My pond is roughly 3m x 1.5m. There's no smell and the water is pretty clear. I had some algae problems in early summer, but that's all sorted itself out.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Wait til Spring. Then you will see the effects of accumulated leaves in a pond.

 

[James_Pond]

Wait til Spring. Then you will see the effects of accumulated leaves in a pond.

Good effects, or bad? I'd rather not wait if it's going to be bad.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

It won't be good if there is a real accumulation. You will likely see an algae bloom that will make what you saw this Summer trivial.

 

[James_Pond]

It won't be good if there is a real accumulation. You will likely see an algae bloom that will make what you saw this Summer trivial.

Ok, thanks. I won't wait then, as you suggested. I'll try and deal with it before that happens.

 

[morewater]

Ok, thanks. I won't wait then, as you suggested. I'll try and deal with it before that happens.

Fire a leaf net over it, that'll stop the majority from settling and sinking which will save you the effort of a full-blown clean-out come Spring.

 

[teeemkay]

I second the idea of using a leaf net. It is not easy cleaning up decayed leaves from the bottom of the pond when spring comes... you try to scoop them and they just disintegrate, making a bigger mess.

 

[James_Pond]

I second the idea of using a leaf net. It is not easy cleaning up decayed leaves from the bottom of the pond when spring comes... you try to scoop them and they just disintegrate, making a bigger mess.

How do you get this on safely without affecting any frogs or birds coming into the pond? I want them to come in and not be in danger of getting trapped.

 

[teeemkay]

How do you get this on safely without affecting any frogs or birds coming into the pond? I want them to come in and not be in danger of getting trapped.

My pond is very irregular-shaped, so the net sits on top of the water's surface, not over it, as it is tricky to pin the net down on all ends. Birds can still peck at the water through the net if they are standing on the stones around the pond or by the waterfall. I have never seen frogs by my pond as I'm in a fairly urban area and they are just not around. The only wildlife that got stuck in the net last year was a small garter snake--he managed to squeeze through one of the holes in the net.

I might have hubs help me put the net on today as there are a lot of leaves already falling off our walnut trees and the winds are kicking them up today. I will try to take some pictures once it's installed.

 

[mondotomhead]

I decided last year to do this also. I thought the leaves would be a great place for the frogs to burrow under for the winter. Never again! Cleaning out those squishy, slimy, horrible smelling leaves was something I never wanted to do again. And I had to pick through those leaves for any snails, newts and dragonfly lavae that might be in them.

Get a net. You can see some examples of how others have done this by typing leaf net in the search tab.

 

[teeemkay]

Here's the net I bought for this year--I think it was about $25 on Amazon and includes plastic pegs for installation. Nets are totally worth the money... only a small amount of leaves ended up on the bottom last year (mostly leaves that dropped in before I put the net on), and I didn't have to worry about someone coming over at least twice a day to clean leaves out of the skimmer net if we went out of town.

 

[Mmathis]

How do you get this on safely without affecting any frogs or birds coming into the pond? I want them to come in and not be in danger of getting trapped.

You can do like @addy1 did with her netting -- but hers was more to keep herons out, rather than deal with leaves. You put the net supports where they are several feet off the ground, then lay the net over. She has hers where she can draw-string it tight around the edges. The critters like frogs & birds can still get in.

 

[mondotomhead]

Here's the net I bought for this year--I think it was about $25 on Amazon and includes plastic pegs for installation. Nets are totally worth the money... only a small amount of leaves ended up on the bottom last year (mostly leaves that dropped in before I put the net on), and I didn't have to worry about someone coming over at least twice a day to clean leaves out of the skimmer net if we went out of town.

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I totally agree to use the nets with the larger holes. That awful berry netting you can buy at Home Depot or Lowes catches on everything and its hard to work with. Little creatures get caught in the berry netting also. I had to cut a gardner snake out of one and it was badly cut. NO BERRY NETTING!