Secrets to Building Natural Ponds the Right Way (New Method)
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- čas přidán 22. 07. 2018
- Secrets for building a natural pond without pumps, filters and chemicals. Find out how you can build a simple pond that requires almost no maintenance and no electricity costs. Build the pond the right so that there are no algae problems.
Book: Building Natural Ponds www.buildingnaturalponds.com/
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Secrets to Building Natural Ponds the Right Way (New Method)
Secrets for building a natural pond without pumps, filters and chemicals. Find out how you can build a simple pond that requires almost no maintenance and no electricity costs. Build the pond the right so that there are no algae problems.
My lined natural pond has been n place for over 10 years. I do nothing to it, and use no pumps, filters or electricity. I don't even remove the leaves that fall in. The plants do all the work for me and keep the water very clear and algae free.
In this video I give some secrets that will allow you to have the same kind of pond. It is not difficult and anyone can do it.
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![Building a Natural Pond, Step-by-Step [plus tips for making any pond look more natural]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hZ2JrvhUUJM/mqdefault.jpg)
Checked this out before adding H20 to my new (simple) pond.. just to make sure I was OK without a dang pump! Thanks!
You'd be pleased to know, Robert, that we've bought and applied your book Building Natural Ponds, and already have two frogs (that we affectionately call Freddy and Fiona lol) in our new pond. In August this year, we bought a Bermuda plastic pondbase with two variable-depth shelves for £23 from Amazon, roughly 3 feet long, and 2 feet deep and wide, irregular-shaped, with overflow duct, with Soft Rushes (Typha effusus) on a shelf of stones to help dragonflies if they come, and with some Hornworts to aerate the pond naturally (Ceratophyllum demersum).
You make valuable points such as that the submersed water-plants are essential for releasing oxygen into the WATER rather than into the air as do water-plants with above-surface parts releasing oxygen into the air rather than into the water where we want it; and that of keeping the nutrient levels relatively low, with just enough to feed the water-plants, but not enough to feed algae. We have no problem with algae as of late, just a little bit on the sides so far. Right next to the pond, though you don't mention this per se, we've built a hibernaculum for the frogs to overwinter and keep warm, besides helping the slowworms, so we are doing our part in conservation, that one could try, so to enjoy nature for themselves. Thank you. Your book is very good.
Just out of curiosity, sir, how do you view Crop Rotation? Do you mention Crop Rotation in your two Garden Myths books or gardenmyths dot com website articles or GardenFundamentals CZcams videos? If you do, please be so kind to direct my attention to it by a book page reference or link, and I will glean from it any valuable wisdom. The soil microbiologist Dr Elaine Ingham perhaps wisely suggests that, with the right soil biology with bacteria and fungi and a healthy soil food web, Crop Rotation should be unnecessary. With an abundance of the good bacteria and good fungi, they should be keeping the pathogenic kinds to a minimum or non-existent and not supposedly building up pathogens ergo diseases like Clubroot or White Rot with time, right? (is that last point a myth too? lol). This is our second year of getting very good crops, strictly no-dig to not disturb the fungal network. I am wondering: IS CROP ROTATION INDEED UNNECESSARY? We personally don't bother with this pain and can't be bothered with all that hard work lol. I hope that that is the case if done right. Is Crop Rotation also a myth? What is your experience there?
Not boasting here but we are doing very well with a beautiful allotment and garden of healthy Medium Loam soil alive with ground/rove beetles, lacewings, ladybugs, and loads of earthworms per square foot, never using tap-water, working with nature, applying good compost and manure, and your articles have been most helpful in that regard. And of course, with our removable pond; it's very satisfying to see a nice little pond with your help. All good fun, quite therapeutic too. Agape. Andrew (from England).
I am disappointed - you did not name one of the frogs Robbie? :)
I have not written about crop rotation anywhere - yet. It has a place in large gardens that can space crops away from each other. Most home gardens are so small that it is pointless. Moving your tomatoes 20 feet to the left next year has no effect on diseases.
Dr. Ingham has some good ideas and some that are not supported by science. The idea of fungal vs bacterial needs of plants is one that has no support. You might like this: www.gardenmyths.com/teaming-with-microbes-book-review/
Thank you for this beautiful video sir. Im planning to make a natural pond in my backyard.
So inspiring 🙏🏼
Thank you for this video. I've run into the same problem you, i.e. every contractor I spoke with says I need pumps and filters. I have an existing lava rockwall structure 44'x20'x2' high. I've been using as a vegetable garden. I plan to dig it down deeper to maybe 4' and add liner and floating water plants. In Hawaii I get constant rain, so between water plants and rain, it should stay good quality. Also because it's above ground rockwall, no runoff from rain drainage. I want to raise talapia. Thanks again for this video
Very helpful thank you 🌿🌿👍🏻
I have koi fish that are too big for their tank and living a unhappy and healthy life. During this quarintine, my family is all making a pond in our backyard for them.
Make sure you do it deep enough. Not sure where your from but In winter they will need the depth or they will freeze, plus if you have koi they need some depth anyway
@@4666raptor too bad you have fish, they eat everything else, dragonflies, tadpoals, you know.
What about frying the fish up? Like in China they eat them
Thanks for your videos! It becomes one of my favorite channel! I have a wetland at out backyard. Can we make a pond out of it?
I am a part of the group on fb! Lol. And amazingly my tanks/ponds that I set up as more sustainable ecosystems there is hardly any algae
I was starting to think this was just not gona happen, I was told by an engineer my 50x30 at 5 feet deep was gona cost 50k to construct 🙄
Good stuff
Thankyou for this video, my mam has had a natural pond I made years ago and actually..... It in incredibly healthy but she's now like an upgrade and this seems great. I suppose as long as there are enough plants and not too much poor or dead matter, a good balance, just all be good!
I realize it's quite randomly asking but does anybody know of a good site to watch new tv shows online?
@Jamison Khalil i dunno I use flixportal. You can find it on google :P -quinn
@Quinn Jorge thanks, I signed up and it seems like a nice service :) Appreciate it !!
@Jamison Khalil Glad I could help :)
What about concrete pond with soil liner
My wife and I are so fascinated by your technique and we definitely don't want to deal with the filters and all. Just wondering if you deal with mosquito breeding issues since it's standing water and we live in Canada so I guess 4ft deep for the bottom self should be good enough? Thanks
Add a couple of goldfish for mosquitoes, but to be honest, all kinds of wildlife eat them even in the water.
Frogs would love them
I have maintained natural ponds since 5 years now. The trick is: lily, lotus, aquatic plants and NO FISH (Minimum fosh load).
I have been working on my back yard pond for the last year. It has no liner. I put a few guppies in there that lived through the summer to control mosquitoes> I took some out (4 ten gallon tanks worth ;-) before it got cold (the ones left in the pond just died :( I have to add water often during the heat (sure I have some seep out but less then the grass that was originally there). I use umbrella's stand around my pound so in the summer I have a nice place to sit and shade the surface and in winter I can remove then. I am planning to build a creek so I will eventually use a pump but for know all natural- no liner. In the heat of the summer I did use a air stone to make sure there was an enough O2 for the guppies.
Thank you
Can I use your idea in the pot with natural underground sourcess of water?
YOU ARE AMAZING Mr. ")
I want this, I will add a liner and there is a local place where I can buy river rock and have them truck water. But I don’t want 6k in infrastructure like i lee getting told
Your pond is super beautiful.
I would like to know :
If I buy the book, will I learn how to build a pond in which people can swim, and that uses no liner (either concrete or bentonite clay or something else... but the owner does not want a liner). It's in full sun for 10+ hours a day for at least 8 months of the year. Zone 8b.
The pond/pool will be 50m2.
The book is focused on ponds and not natural swimming pools.
What about linking two small ponds together, I have a tight wet spot next to my fence that has an old filled in well in the way and pump house, I will put a small wooden trough between them to save the winter rains
The previous neighbor excavated all the soil about 2 feet lower to drain the swamp
On the other side of the fence
I asume that in order to keep the amount of nutrience in the water, letting rain water that run thru soil come into the pond is not a good idea, right? If so, is there any way arround this possible issue? I think it would be great to try and collect that rain water in my pond, but wonder about adding to much nutrience
Don't run it through soil.
Run it through pipes from your roof or through sand.
Rain water is fine for a pond. Rain water that has run over soil that has been fertilized will add nutrients to the pond. If you don't want than. build a swale around the pond to divert it away.
In a natural, clay-lined pond with no liner, do the plants still extract enough nutrients from the water to prevent algae if they are growing in the clay in the water?
Depends on the clay. Clay can release a lot of nutrients, but this should be reduced after a couple of years.
algae needs sunlicht to grow, makin the pond more than 1m deep takes care of 'm
What about fresh water shrimp to eat the algae?
By far the biggest contributor to high nutrients in a pond is runoff from fertilized lawns. The best way to prevent that is to have a thick ring of wild tall grasses , like prairie grasses for a northern climate to bamboo for a tropical climate , something growing that will consume nutrients and grow tall before they enter the system ,
" biggest contributor to high nutrients in a pond is runoff from fertilized lawns" - only if the pond is not built correctly and if you overfertilize your lawn.
facebook.com/groups/buildingnaturalponds/
There's a large Creek at the end of my street I just built rocks around and area and dug it out
That works but in many places it is illegal to alter a natural stream or creek.
First of all gorgeous stuff, thank you for this information, I am starting a landscaping business and I believe that ponds can be a corner stone of my work, having that biodiverse water in ones back yard will not only be remove excessive maintenence for the client, improve peace and traquility of the space, but even more importantly, the pond itself is sequestering air carbon, and even having holistic positive effects on the above ground plants. This all just makes sense, It's science biitch.
I am curious though you say that ammonium is not plant available and toxic, and I agree, but don't all trees and shrubs with higher lignen, and even stuff like grasses require plant available ammonium to make those complex carbon chains that make up their body? Is it that the organic matter is being consumed by actino bacteria and releasing CO2 and other byproducts, while at the same type stealing up all the nitrite for itself, but eventually other biology moves in to do the job more efficiently and symbiotically? Also, have you observed the fungal:bacterial ratio in your pond, random curiosity? Is my head going at all in the right direction here or am I getting confused?
Plants can use both ammonium and nitrate, but most prefer nitrate.
Trying to measure fungal:bacterial ratios is difficult, and we don't really know what they tell us. I ignore it.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 well I am attending www.soilfoodweb.com and they teach us to do exactly that, using a light field shadowing microscope. Obviously your going to get varying results so you gotta check multiple spots, and understand that biases will occur, but its about the over all spectrum of what the samples look like that we are adressing. also counting protozoa, nematodes, micro arthropods. Now this type of work is specifically for land soil so far, but maaaaybe it could be useful, but your right, for you it seems unnecessary, your pond looks great!
Dr. Ingham also explains that the fungal bacteria ratio is direly important according to this research, which has 1000s of proof positive case studies to date. When you look at an anaerobic weedy field of say dandelion and crab grass, maybe someone just tilled it, there is no discernible fungus at all, it is all bacteria. Old growth forest, the fugal bacteria ratio looks like 200000:1.
So I would whole heatedly argue that the ratio is a key piece of information into solving plant health and successive biome growth, cause we gonna need forests or else mother nature might murder us all very soon, but that is another topic.
So yeah maybe not so important underwater, there is not nearly as much fungus (I believe), but it is nifty to check out all the phytoplankton and stuff just for fun anyways haha.
I enjoyed your video, which I found while researching ponds for dragonflies. My question for you is can I build a natural pond on a 4 foot round hole (There use to be a fire pit 4 ft diameter there). I have a pool about 2 feet from that hole. It seems like every summer, there's a dragonfly that perches on a rope that was above the firepit hole. So, I know that I do get dragonflies in my yard. Thank you.
I wouldn't go any smaller than a 6 foot wide pond, Rosaura. It's just not enough space or water for a pond to function the way it should. With ponds, bigger is always better (90% of the time)
Sure - the ponds can be quite small.
I agree - bigger is always better.
What about adding algae eaters ?
Damn, I guess biology and chemistry is more useful than physics in everyday life
A well rounded, basic understanding of all is best.
Do I need to build in the sun. I live in a wetland. The area is very wet and then goes completely cracked dry in summer. The spill has a lot of clay and I'm kn a great lake so sand and the like is available. The thing is, it's under trees. A dark meadow like area. Can I do this there?
Most pond plants like full sun, but part shade can also work.
You can get even more natural in your approach to building a pond by building it without a liner. There are a couple of ways which make it possible. I don't want to spoil the fun in research, look it up it's out there for you to find. I will give you a hint. One is with clay the other is with bentonite clay or in powder form. The most rewarding thing you can ever experience is having a Natural body of water in your garden, it's truly a rewarding experience once the hard work is complete and you have finished. Watching your pond age you will notice just how complex and incredible God's creation is.
It's that amazing I changed my profession from IT to building waterfeatures. Now if that doesn't say something nothing does lol....
Most garden soil will not hold water well enough to build without a liner. The soil in my pond is quite sandy.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 Hi yes many ground types are not always suitable and if your soil doesn't have the clay content required it would have to be brought in by truck. However people can try it out by digging a small hole and using moist clay which you compact either with your feet (lots of messy fun) or with a tool. Once finished just fill with water and see how long it takes to empty.... If it doesn't then you have done it right. Great little experiment to do and also with the kids.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 oh just a word of advice, use at least 4 inches of clay lining.... Once compacted you can smooth it out with slightly more moist clay as a last layer and protect it by adding small pebbles and stones. Good to go 😊😄🤗
@@freshimpactco.8698 I really appreciate your comment ❤️. Cheers
Hmm - I think I must be blind, because I don't see the link to the book in the description above?
www.buildingnaturalponds.com/
Have you found a way to do it without a liner, or do you recommend the liner? I joined the FB group but can't really figure out the liner mystery.
That depends on your soil and how much water is naturally added. Try digging a small hole, fill with water and watch. In most soil the water will just run away and you need a liner.
Can you use cement instead? Our New Mexico sun is very hard on plastic.
most people do ponds so to add fishes and be able to see them. if you cover all pond with plants and floating lilies you can have a healthy pond but you cant see any thing
My ponds are not fully covered.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 i mean the bottom of ponds. they have this black film and then they need so much stones and so to make it look ok. if the film was some other combination of colors (plants, stone ) you could use less stones and save space and money
Nice book advertising!
Maybe there is a use for the free algae... Turn it into something useful or sell it to somebody who does.
your head is in the right place.
For a swimming pond you don't want to cover the water from the sun too mutch. You want it warm.
I searched "natural pond construction" and get "plastic liner"!? What a disappointment! The whole point is how to hold back water while allowing seepage but not leakage. BTW, since you wrote a book, I'm surprised your editor/publisher didn't anticipate this, uh, lack of continuity.
Most places can't make their soil leak proof enough to have a pond.
@@Gardenfundamentals1 I bet that's cuz they're making a pond where water hasn't run thru for like ever? I want to do it with a stream, where water builds but excess continues on down, only compromising the downstream flow during filling. Once filled, flow continues as before. Thanks for your vid and reply.
liner? what is natural about a liner?
Everything else about the pond.
Well, common sense should imply that a "natural pond" with plastic linning shouldn't be called a "natural pond". A natural pond must be possible - with clay and linseed, duck poop, plants with roots that seal leaks, etc - since nature has billions of examples worldwide.
The info i'm looking for is about how to create a natural pond using nothing but natural resources. But i keep bumping into videos with people who find plastic to be a natural component.
Still, good effort Mr. Fundamentals, you have at least one foot in the right direction.
visit: facebook.com/groups/buildingnaturalponds/
So did you figure a way to keep it natrual? I'm in Texas I have clay in my yard, I get these videos maybe you have seen them on youtube of people building pools and lining them with slip made of clay and sand mortar & building homes out of bamboo Not sure how long it would hold before maybe seeping out. I guess concrete could be added??
You added a PLASTIC LINER???
Rubber - yes.
Nice mosquito farm
No mosquitoes at all. If you don't believe me, join our Facebook Group which has several thousand people now making such ponds. facebook.com/groups/buildingnaturalponds/
there was some in mine so I added a few guppies until the dragon flies came!
Ignorant