Moving pond to new location

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/819429/ Those are some pictures of the pond that has given me so much joy in the last 4 years or so. Now it is time [due to familial reasons, story elsewhere] for shifting the contents of the pond into a new hole that will be dug up soon. So now I have kept the contents ready in barrels. I've left the fish there to be removed at the last possible moment when the new pond gets ready, since I still have some access to the old pond, in the other half of the premise where a partition wall has come up, dividing the property into two. I hope the water lilies and the fish survive the displacement. I'm going to add the same water into the new one as I believe there are some advantages. Do let me know, BTW.

Here are some pictures. I can't see this sight - but it is inevitable. Such a well settled pond.

It was at its peak of its quality a few months back.

That's the partition wall, I've now brought the contents to my side. Have kept some water lettuces and young water lily plants in the trough there, the bigger water lily plants in the cut barrels.

I see you have put your new cement container to good use already. The water lettuce looks quite at home there. As far as the plants and fish suriving, they are more adaptable than you think and should do just fine. I am sure the new pond will be great. Please share pics with us of your progress.

For sure, tetleytuna. I'll keep this thread moving.

Makes a sad scene. It was opposite when I laid it! The same scene when removed, does not look good!! Those are extra plastic covers, sheets I put in for extra cushioning. There was so much of roots that had slid down the side of the liner into the ground. Some had pierced and gave a bit of a problem in the last year. Hope you have followed my thread on 'stone trough'. That has a water lily plant now!

Coconut tree stump being removed with great effort. Highly fibrous root system. I've told him to dig a couple of feet and this pair has agreed to dig the hole for the new pond for me there Sunday. I've to choose the shape. This new pond will be bigger, contrary to what I'd guessed much earlier.

Dinu, I think your new pond will look great. Think about it, now you will be able to do things you couldnt do with the old one (like choosing a different shape or deph). I can't wait to see the progress. And also how great to find someone who is willing to help you with the digging, even for pay. You dont see that here. Please keep us post it.
~Dulci

Thanks Dulci. This is a picture I took from the first floor window. Note the area marked red. This is roughly where the pond is planned.

Dinu,

Looking forward to more pictures of your pond. The picture you posted looks like it's going to be really nice and a lot bigger than what you had. Keep us posted.

Carolyn

Aw, it is coming along....wowow...looks good already..and you will make it even better then the other one....Keep up the good plans..Dinu.....You are succeeding...for sure...

smiles..Diana

Carolyn and Diana,

Surely I'll picture the progress of the new location. The man asked for a fat sum today and after much negotiations he seems to come down on his quotation this evening. He has begun the digging. I'll mark out the shape once he removes the excavated soil and all the fibrous roots of the coconut tree and also thick roots from an almond tree close by. The soil will be used to raise the ground level on the southern portion of the premise as it has now to be raised to match the level of the south-west.

Dinu

Looking forward to watching the progress.

I've chosen a location for the pond where an old coconut tree has now been removed and all its thousands of hard roots are. This is slowly being removed and I'll have to later trim them. I may also have to put in an extra layer of sieved soil for the base for cushioning the plastic liner in such a manner that the weight of the water will not push it down and get pierced. Another anticipated problem may be the rotting of the roots after a couple of years which may make the soil in that area to sink down at least a bit. But the tree-remover says the main fibrous tree portion has been removed and that there is not much danger of the soil sinking due to rotting and also from the work of termites which may eat up the dead roots. He has to dig up a further 4 inches or so to remove the roots and then I'll see how the bottom of the pond will be. Also, I've to decide on the shape. A bean shape is more likely. Notice the roots removed. They are quite tough as well, though hollow-looking. I'll have to do some soil-masonry to bring up the desired shape with a couple of levels. The depth now is 2 feet from the top.

OH, it is coming right along....thanks for the pic...and update...going to be beautiful...I am sure....smiles..Diana

Dinu is that soil as loose as it looks? Now I am getting ideas to make my lil' pond a "bit" deeper. LOL

This is so nice to watch. Keep posting.

If you have access to old worn out carpeting you can put that in the hole to protect against and tree roots and other sharp objects. It serves as a cushion for the liner and a barrier to the roots and will hold up for quite a while.

yes we did that once..works great...smiles..
Diana

Okay..... I now have many empty cement bags [actually they are woven from flat plastic thread - know what I mean?] with me. I'm planning to put those in good number at the base and on the sides. The material is as such tough, but I don't know how it would help. Let me see how it works. It can also prevent termites from 'feeling' the pond liner when it scrapes while making tunnels!

That has to be some pretty tough stuff to contain cement. It sounds excellent for a pond underlayment. Plus being made of plastic, it won't rot away like carpet might. I don't know what species of termite you have there but I don't think any of them eat plastic.

Those bags are tough, but roots can pierce the thin, woven material. I'm going to give the liner a smooth and softer base using those materials. My friend, what he had done, you know? Since there was a hole somewhere in his liner and he painted the entire liner with cement where water would be filled!! It seemed to be working for him.

Termites... I hope they stay away, even though they don't bite plastic. But I've seen them destroy rubber soles of old thrown shoes. I wonder why! I don't know what species they are. They are about the size of an average wheat grain.

The area I had earlier marked in river sand was dug up. But since the roots of the coconut tree are too tough to be entirely removed [soil too is clayey a bit], I've decided to shift it a little bit into a bean shape. Digging is still on, with yours truly doing all the work after the above woodcutter did his job which was just half to what I wanted. Now I've to give a shape with different levels inside the pond, by adding some moist earth and shaping it up. I'll give the entire area a mud plastering to make the tiny roots stay back to prevent piercing the liner and have a smoother finish.

There are some roots growing in the direction of the pond that was cut , but it may regrow its smaller branches later. How to prevent this and avoid future damage to the liner? These are about 1 cm in diameter. I cannot remove the entire root as this is from a Copper pod tree 50 feet away, in the next premise, across the road!

Pond digging in progress.. as of today. Digger went behind the camera after dropping tool and rushing back in to get the electronic tool, as soon as he saw a lovely painted lady fly by. He could not get it 'shot'. So he shot this picture and went back to work!! LOL. This is how gardeners are!

I only know one material that will stop all root growth permanently. Copper. It's sometimes used here to contain bamboo plantings in botanical gardens. I've seen it installed. They use large thin sheets 36" wide placed vertically to surround the bamboo area. The bamboo, even the most invasive varieties, stay put in their alloted area. The "bottom" has fallen out of copper prices in the last three months. If it's available to you and is at a price that is affordable it would be a permanent solution to all invading routes. Of course it would be under the liner. Copper is lethal to fish and will kill aquatic plants. Copper sulphate is a common algae killer.

Thanks snapple. I've an old zinc sheet now removed from a tiled part during the house remodeling. I am thinking of placing it under the cement bags but it may be a cumbersome thing to do as it is a bit stiff. I may drop this idea or place a couple of pieces where there may be potential danger. This may help in diverting the roots downwards along the liner and not through it. I'm going to put the old liner also just beneath the new one. Copper is unthinkable as it is unaffordable, being costly here.

Will post a picture soon of what I have ended up now. The last two days I have worked about 7 hours a day!! Body pain! Picking up soil from those heaps in round bottom tray and unloading in an area that needed some filling. No barrows and other tools. Strenous work this! I have given it a bean shape now. I finished up the sides for a smooth finish by plastering it with wet sieved soil. Now I've to measure the size of the liner I need to buy. There will be quite a few folds due to the roundish shapes all round.

I thought that might be the case with copper. I suppose any thin impenetrable underlining, like the zinc sheet, will help in warding off root punctures. That's an awful lot of hand digging. The only consolation is that you'll only have to do it once, plus the satisfaction of a job well done that will provide pleasure for years to come. I'm looking forward to the pictures.

It's an awful lot, indeed. You should see the load of soil that is carried in that tray! A hundred of them emptied I suppose. It makes me stronger! Will post pics soon.

Morning, I sieved soil into a nice smooth one and spread it all over evenly so that it has a cushioning effect once the weight of water falls on it. This evening, even after dusk, I managed to put the new liner into position over the cement bags and the old liner, plus some other waste plastic covers.

Dinu

This message was edited Dec 16, 2008 10:00 PM

Here is the shape of the pond pit, ready with a smooth surface.

As planned, I put cement bags on the sides and then placed the old liner over it before carefully placing the brand new liner on top. I could not take pictures of these stages, but was ready to take it the next morning. I had connected the water pipe from the tap from which municipal [river] water began flowing in the early hours of the morning and by morning when I got up, it was half full. By tomorrow morning, I hope to see it full. Today I placed the stone slabs around the perimeter.... some more left to be arranged. For comparison, just see my post above from the same angle.

Beautiful! Just an incredibly beautiful job of excavating and shaping. What are the dimensions and depth?

That liner you see there is 18x12 ft. and you know what? It fitted into my dug up area perfectly. After digging, I measured it and found that was the dimension of the liner and lo, I got that standard size. I had dug up as if I knew. Even the levels I created [except for the shape] there was not planned. It just happened as I was shaping it up!! Depth should be about 20 inches or so. I'll wait till water fills to the brim to get the average depth, though the bottom is flat. Luckily, for this shape, slopes and angles, the liner did not require too many folds.

That's remarkable! You've just done an outstanding job. It's an entirely professional installation. You'r really close now to plants and fish. What is the rock work like that will go around the edges? Will you place some potted plants on the outside edge too?

I love it Dinu. So far looks great, i can only imagine it with the plants and the fish, add to that that our friend the winter will not take part of it. :~)

What a wonderful new pond! Thank you for the pics. You have done an amazing job with it. Now that you have all of the hard stuff out of the way comes the fun part of finishing the edges and populating the pool.

And I did that today, tetleytuna. Thanks Dulci and Snapple. Presently it looks like this. I plan to have a 'bog like area' on that top right edge where I've kept a shallow level. I'll keep a canna or some other plant. This evening, my y-DD moved some of the little red fish from the barrel into the pond. I removed the water lily plants and kept it in its new home.

I've a question. The plant of water lily [blue] has grown [4 years] out of its pot and now it has just the roots and the thick 'stem'. Do I need to replant in a pot or can I put it at the bottom using small rocks to hold the plant down? Presently the thing is floating.

I plan to keep a few pots around, but not crowd it because I like to move around it... due to its location. I wanted the wall there, but there are tree roots that could endanger the pond. So I stuck with the original plan.

I've enjoyed seeing your progress, Dinu. What is the temperature there right now? You can grow so many beautiful plants in your climate of 10a, I'm sure. I look forward to see your pond and surrounding area all green and colorful with plants and whatever else you choose to add to your area. Thanks for sharing your experience and the vision you have of a tranquil place to spend your life.
Pam

Oh....how nice it looks...Dinu...You have done a great job..I could set, on that bench and watch it for hours...lol...You will really enjoy it...and so will your plants and fish.....

smiles..Diana.......(((( good job for sure))))

Wow Dinu, it looks much bigger today, the last pic didnt show the edges as well as now that it s full of water. I love it! Are you planting anything in the back between the fence and the pond?

Thanks Pam, WG and D.
The temp. is at 28C to 16C and full winter is not showing its face as yet.... it should have. There is no nip in the air. Pleasant days, occasionally a bit cloudy, otherwise, clear blue skies. It's not also the time to start new plants. Sometimes fog is there. I want to keep that space between the wall, sitting bench and the pond a bit clear for my movement. I chose this time, flat granite stone slabs, all of them found in the premise and most of them retained from our old century-old house remodeling [which some of you know, through my thread in the Prayers forum].

The pond's first day was also the last day of the work. The workers finally took their things away after their 7-month labour [there was no work for about 2 months a week or so at a time, in between]. I was supervising the work running from work [luckily only 10-minutes away on my scooter] and back to tell how exactly things should go. That part of the tension is over now and my work in the garden will begin.

My pond this time is on ground level. The slabs are ground level. I've just dug up a groove to fit the granite slab which I have just placed over the liner at the brim of the pond. As water filled, I observed where I've to adjust the level . I don't want too many potted plants because they ask for too much water, hence too much time and attention. So I prefer most of my plants to be in the ground. Yet, I want to make the area greeeeen.

A shot from my standing position, facing the west yard.