pond under trees

by maude
(sudbury, ontario)

Today you advised that pond netting could be used over the winter. I have a natural pond site in a rocky hollow but near maple and birch trees. In a heavy rain, it fills up and then drains. The prevailing wind is away from the pond. Can I use a netting through the season so I can turn this area into an actual pond. I'm not interested in fish. Love your site. Don't know where you get the energy but keep up the good work.

Doug says that you could indeed build a pond under trees and use a netting throughout the season. It might not be the best looking idea depending on how you set it up but given that leaves only fall (mostly) during the fall, you shouldn't have to have it installed all summer.

Having said that - understand that almost all waterlilies and other water plants want full hot sun to bloom properly. So growing them in the shade means you won't get blooms and survival rates will be lowered. Also having a lot of runoff in your pond can create variable water conditions that "might" create problems for plants or fish depending on what's in that runoff water (do neighbors spray, etc?)

So - if you don't want plants but simply want a pool of water and don't mind controlling algae mechanically (you'll have to control algae using uv lights for example) then yes, you can have a pond under trees with deep shade of maple trees. Birch are more open and allow more light through - so this might allow some kinds of water plants to live (you're going to have to experiment both with light levels and hardiness given your northern location - it's going to be a fine balancing act)

Or you could not grow plants but do grow fish. :-)

Bottom line - a pond is possible if you want to install liners and landscaping. Maintaining it could become a problem (algae control mostly)

Good luck.