Jim Nelson

During the past 35 years I have traveled the world as a member of the scientific fishery community. My education and background training is in pathogenic microbiology and biochemistry where I developed fish vaccines for the aquaculture industry. During that time I gained an appreciation for how damaged the environment became around activities including fish culture and human habitation and farming practices. The pond standard now is a hole in the ground with water in it. The best way to treat disease is to improve the environment and the best way to do this is using natural components.

Pond Restoration

by

Glug, I know you have lived in bad frog houses.  Your cousin, the newt often is the first inhabitant in mud bottom dead ponds.  How do you make a good frog house?  PonDoc has very easy methods to restore a pond.  I have touched on each of these methods in previous blogs so will link … Read more

Birds Bees Flowers & Trees

by

Glug Froggie, Ancient Chinese written 3,000 years ago on bamboo describes birds being good for ponds.  Birds normally roost over water and their droppings fall into the water.  Speculatively, because birds eat mainly cellulose, the microflora of birds has cellulose digesters.  These are natural pond bacteria. The pond bird ecosystem is extremely complex and requires … Read more

Pond Weed Management

by

Herbicides Don’t Work! Dear Froggie, I know you love the weeds.  Native pond weeds although unsightly are wonderful.  They provide habitat for many of the pond inhabitants.  However, they do get out of control. There are basically two kinds of weeds, the natives and invaders.  Both require the same treatment: replacement.  You want to eradicate … Read more

My Pond Turtle

by

Dearest Gluggy, I bet you have had the impudence to sit on her highness’s barge.  It is a wonderful craft.  She tows it to the sun and basks for hours diving occasionally and chewing the grubs from her throne making it perfect turtle furniture. It is an honor to have her highness come to live … Read more

Pond Fishery

by

Dearest Green Gluggums, Most ponds are built by fishing enthusiasts.  It is always the first question I get, “What kind of fish can I have?”  Because a pond fishery is so much more than fish and water, this is a difficult question as most ponds are little more.  A fishery needs a balanced ecology to … Read more

Plant Pond Engine

by

Dear Glug, Solar energy powers the pond.  If you build a pond, you can provide planting beds for water plants constructing the pond’s engine (see Pond Physics).  The engine is a river run rock shelf completely around the shore edge.  This shelf should undulate so as not to have wave action.  And it is at … Read more

Pond Geology

by

Gluger, Have you ever wondered why things are shaped as they are?  Why do trees look like trees? Or mountains look the way they do?  There is a reason.  Everything we see is made of either polymers of carbon or silicon.  They both have exactly the same symmetry forming perfect cubic bonding.  We are seeing … Read more

Pond Physics

by

Froggie, I know you lack the ability to control your temperature where some hard-hearted call this cold blooded.  You gain all of your energy directly from the pond.  We need to understand how the heating/cooling system works so that you are not too warm in the summer or too cold in the winter.  Excess heat … Read more

4.5 Billion Years in Pond

by

Dear Almighty Green One, In the last couple of letters, I have addressed bottom ecology.  The story of the pond begins in the bottom with the little beasties you eat froggie.  It provides your sleeping bed where you are now.  It is too cold now but spring is coming; besides there is nothing to eat … Read more

Crayfish Pond Cleaners

by

Dear Glug, Homes need cleaning and so do ponds.  The janitor of a pond is the common crayfish.  The crayfish is the largest invertebrate in the pond.  It is easy to obtain them; however you need to be cautious. You can get crayfish by trapping them in local streams or hand collect them.  Or you … Read more