Comment on we must protect them from exotics
PancakesCantKillMe@lemmy.world 1 day agoThank you for the comprehensive reply! I am curious: do the ponds not produce mosquitoes as well?
I live on a hillside and creating water spots might get tricky on our rocky soil. It could be done I suppose, but it’ll have to be the next place to try.
The forest must help. We have some thick western red cedar groves and do have a lot of dragonflies at times, but no water other than birdbaths. I love seeing them scanning the hillside and the few flat spots we have. I’m always rooting for them. Funny about the frogs. I like em too, but we don’t see many. Lizards and snakes mostly.
Thanks for the Ted talk! 😂
shalafi@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yes, the mosquitoes lay eggs in the little ponds. I sincerely wish them well!
But here’s the trick, the fish, dragonfly nymphs and tadpoles EAT them! Hell, the tadpoles and friends even eat the algae that naturally grows. Water’s clear! No pump!
The thing is avoiding tiny bits of water where the larvae are left alone, old tires and the like. Give nature a chance in a fair-sized pond, nature does the rest.
Best thing I learned this year was when I buried the 150G pond; nature takes over fast. I expected it to be a muddy mess for a year and more. Nope! Water is crystal clear and loaded with tadpoles! Lord knows what else is in there, but the plants I snatched off the rivers and creeks are thriving already! Took a knife and chopped and planted a load of bamboo off the 10G pond today. Bamboo’s fun to build with.
I mentioned fish. Well, I threw some feeder goldfish in my home ponds and some (best I could figure) native mosquito-eating fish in my swamp ponds. No care, no food, a few seem to be hanging in there. Hard to tell in the deeper ponds and natural ponds, they dive deep to avoid the heat and predators. Whatever. Fish are good. And they’re .10 pence.
That’s a lot of exclamation points. Fuck me. I’m excited to talk about it. I’m regenerating my local ecosystem! I’ve failed a time or three. God knows what happened to the crawdads I seeded. Whatever.
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 1 day ago
I hope youre prepared for what managing bamboo entails.