vp999
Omono
What a rough life U have there Adair...
New bonsai garden, including koi pond!
- Thread starter Adair M
- Start date
I have worked hard to be able to “rough it” in my golden years!
Yep! The bog
works great as a filter. Here’s a current picture:
Water is pumped from the pond to the bottom of the bog, it rises thru layers of gravel, then cones to the surface, then back into the pond over the waterfall.
The plants in the big absorb the nitrates. I do get a bit of hair algae in the bog. About once a week I gather most of it up using a swimming pool skimmer, and toss it. (I’m probably feeding the fish too much!).
I set a bald cypress in a bonsai pot in the bog. It’s loving it!
Today, I’ve seen: 3 rabbits, two deer, a couple hummingbirds, a yellow finch, a red wing blackbird, cardinals, doves, sparrows, mockingbirds, various lizzards, a hawk, oh! The rabbits are back! Dragonflies...
Right now, I have 15 koi, all different. It’s amazing how fast they grow!
Right now, I have 15 koi, all different. It’s amazing how fast they grow!
Ruddigger
Omono
But wait, I thought koi wouldn’t do well in a pond with rocks in it and without a bottom drain.
Are you really sure you saw all of those things, or was it the Pinot Noir perhaps?
I didn’t say it was a white rabbit...Are you really sure you saw all of those things, or was it the Pinot Noir perhaps?
Exactly! I have to careful. With “koi people”, I describe my pond as a “water feature that has koi”. Because to them, a “koi pond” has to be 5 feet deep, with vertical sides, and bottom drains, and a plain liner with no rocks, gravel, or plants.But wait, I thought koi wouldn’t do well in a pond with rocks in it and without a bottom drain.
I’m not in it to have “show quality” koi. Yeah, I want pretty fish, but the pond and fish are secondary to my main hobby of bonsai. I will have to say that the koi appear to be pretty happy. They peck at the rocks, swim in and around the plants, hide in the rocks and caves, dig their the gravel...doing pretty much what koi do. Interestingly, in Japan, they raise koi in “mud ponds”. They’re not sterile at all! Yet, for some reason, once they’re gone from Japan, they have to be kept in ponds with bottom drains,etc? I must be missing something...
But, I don’t want to start a fight, so I just say I have a water feature with koi. Lol!!!
vp999
Omono
How deep is your pond at the deepest part Adair ?
About 3 feet.
Ruddigger
Omono
I’m almost done with my pond build, and I’ve had to start saying the same thing when talking about it with people.
coachspinks
Chumono
Beautiful pond Adair. Re Koi people, they are a unique group when it comes to their hobby/trade/obsession. I do enjoy going to the show in Atlanta each year though.
I went last year, my first time. They appear to be as obsessed with koi as I am about bonsai. There were a lot of them who had an interest in bonsai. Some more so than others.
I am certainly not trying to say that “the koi pond purests” are doing it wrong. They spend lots of money on their koi and want the best for them. They have a different goal in mind. I can respect that.
I happened to watch a YouTube video yesterday featuring a guy’s set up in the U.K., and he had a pond and bonsai trees. The video was taken from the point of view of the guy who installs and maintains ponds and koi, and he didn’t know anything about bonsai. Anyway, the whole arrangement was very tidy, if not sterile in appearance. The bonsai were “finished” trees, some imported from Japan, and the owner said he had a professional in from time to time to maintain them. The pond was a classic “koi pond” with elaborate mechanical filtration. While I would have to say it was all professionally set up, I wouldn’t say it was “beautiful”. Everything appeared to be “engineered”. I personally prefer “in harmony with nature” style.
For anyone interested, here’s a link to the video:
jquast
Chumono
It must be so relaxing to sit out there and just enjoy the sound of trickling water.
jquast
Chumono
I think the same can be said about bonsai people when it comes to wiring, pinching junipers etc......
jevanlewis
Yamadori
I agree! My preference are when koi ponds blend in with the overall landscape. I see this primarily in traditional Japanese gardens, whose main goal is to have a Japanese garden, in which case the koi pond is one part of the garden to enhance the overall garden and therefore has to be in harmony with the surrounding garden.
For the koi pond in the video, it seems this individual's primary goal is to raise awesome koi, and so the pond design is centered around doing that. An over-engineered solution is probably the best way to do that, but the setup is definitely not beautiful (to me). However, he does have some beautiful koi!
If anyone is interested, Shaquille O’Neil got a pond. (A little bigger than mine! Lol!!!). In the video, the guy in the orange shirt, John Magyar, of Universal Aquatics, is the guy who built my pond, using the same principles:
Cadillactaste
Neagari Gal
Very nice...it's really coming along as to settle in and begin to look established.
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