Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[beach chick]

anyone done this? cant have a proper pond at the moment, so was wondering whether it would work to plant up a big (plastic) pot with a couple of watery plants.

 

at the moment said pot is full of mosquito larvae, so need to do somethign with it! I did try a solar fountain thingy, but worse than useless as had to keep moving the panel all day long...

Edited August 1, 2011 by Guest

[Egluntyne]

A friend of mine did something like this with several large tubtrugs, as she wanted to provide a habitat for newts. It looked good.

[Bramble]

Hello!! These can look lovely for a while, BUT they do tend to struggle in that the relatively small amount of water they contain means they can get very hot very quickly and then cool down just as quick. They tend to have problems with green water and/or blanket weed which is less than attractive, but I think it's all down to siting it in a good place (which seems to be down to luck) ideally not in direct sunlight, but not in full shade either. Good luck!!!

[lillybettybabs]

I've got an old sherry barrel cut in half that i'm thinking of making into a water feature.

[jasperaliceuk]

If you've got around £30 and the space, a half barrel is excellent. However, a tip for you if you plan to keep goldfish in it its a good idea to line it with a bit of butyl liner. The barrels you can get at most garden centres and Homebase too.

 

Barrels self seal when you fill them with water which is what I did when I first got my barrel. However, all the fish died of alcohol poisoning and despite repeated washouts and soakings the barrel just didn't seem to bet rid of the booze, hence me lining it. It has worked really well - my two fish are fine in it.

 

One is a survivor of the initial poisoning and then he survived a cat or heron strike while I was sorting the barrel and had transferred him to my proper pond for a while. Despite a huge gash in his side he lived to tell the tale and is now named Wellard!

 

A pygmy water lily looks good in one.

 

Sue

[lillybettybabs]

If you've got around £30 and the space, a half barrel is excellent. However, a tip for you if you plan to keep goldfish in it its a good idea to line it with a bit of butyl liner. The barrels you can get at most garden centres and Homebase too.

 

Barrels self seal when you fill them with water which is what I did when I first got my barrel. However, all the fish died of alcohol poisoning and despite repeated washouts and soakings the barrel just didn't seem to bet rid of the booze, hence me lining it. It has worked really well - my two fish are fine in it.

 

One is a survivor of the initial poisoning and then he survived a cat or heron strike while I was sorting the barrel and had transferred him to my proper pond for a while. Despite a huge gash in his side he lived to tell the tale and is now named Wellard!

 

A pygmy water lily looks good in one.

 

Sue

Thanks, I was just going to put some water plants and some snails in it for a while, Would i need a pump if i was to put fish in it.

[beach chick]

I was wondering about a pump too.... hope not because that will put the kybosh on my plan.

wasnt planning on fish though.

[Bramble]

If you are putting fish in, you WILL need a pump - on hot sultry evenings fish will suffer badly from a lack of oxygen in a small water feature/pond, so a pump is an absolute MUST.

However, a pump by itself will not do anything to clean the water/stop algae/blanketweed so if there are no fish, you don't NEED a pump unless you want the sound of water. It is worth bearing in mind though that if you would like to put a water lily in, they don't like water splashing on their leaves, so a pump mightn't be a good option then.

[beach chick]

ah, thanks Bramble! my pot is miles from the house, so cant run power to it (hence the failed attempt with solar panel as I do like the watery noise). so will stick to plants, and put some bricks in so that birds/beasties can have somewhere to balance and drink.

[jasperaliceuk]

Must admit I have wondered about a pump myself - the fish have survived in the barrel for about 4 years without one. Every now and then I do a part water change and refill from my rainbarrel. It has oxygenating plants in it which help and I am using a powder called Aquaclear to keep it clear of blanketweed - so far its working. However, I have noticed they seem to be up at the top in the evenings gasping a bit - perhaps I do need a pump - might look at a little solar one. Originally I didn't put one in because of the water lily!

 

In the severe cold weather there has been about 3 inches of thick ice on the barrel and amazingly the fish have survived. I'm also lucky that my three cats don't seem to want to go fishing and the dog hasn't yet drunk one - as its his favourite water bowl!

 

Sue

[Bramble]

Evenings/night is the danger time at this time of year when it's very hot and humid, plants remove oxygen from the water at night, hence that's when the fish struggle. You just need something to agitate the water surface a bit, but the only trouble with a solar pump is that they may not work at night, which is just when you need them. That said, I think things have improved with solar technology and the newer ones might be better.

[The Dogmother]

I had one years ago they only things that it grew were mosquito larvae

[beach chick]

I had one years ago they only things that it grew were mosquito larvae

 

that worries me... but I was hoping that with the plants enough beasties would come to eat the larvae...

I might just plant things in it, unless I can find a battery operated pump!

[Olly]

This month's Gardeners World has an item about a mini-wildlife pond, according to the cover. I haven't had a chance to read it yet so I don't know if it would help!

[beach chick]

I have just planted it up, following GW instructions online (got rid of my copy before tearing relevant page out!!)

so far it looks rather muddy; the instrucs on the aquatic compost said to line the basket with a hessian liner, which was not in GW instructions. and think I might need to rearrange the depth a bit. shall have a look in a while to see if the mud has settled and might even take pics

[beach chick]

here are some pics - hope they work, I am such an idiot with this stuff...

 

 

 

[Egluntyne]

It looks lovely.

[The Dogmother]

That looks lovely, I hope you don't grow any bugs

[jasperaliceuk]

Very pretty, and love your black cat!

 

Sue