A Wildlife Pond WITHOUT black plastic! Start to Finish.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มี.ค. 2023
- I'm delighted to announce that I've just finished creating my 3rd pond for wildlife, using geosynthetic bentonite clay liner, and it has been a success so far. In this video, I compare my 2 previous ponds. the 1st was made with standard black polythene liner and the 2nd with no liner at all, opting to gley it with ducks. I then show how I used the GCL and bentonite clay dust to create this new pond, which should go a long way in helping to attract all manner of creatures to the centre of our no-dig permaculture market garden.
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Hiya folks! It's almost a year since I made this pond and it has been a delight to watch it settle and begin to mature. Firstly, I will say that it is holding water better than I could have hoped... In its first few months, we had a long drought and the level went down quite a bit. I was a little worried! Then the rain came and refilled it and it has been up to the brim ever since! It seems as though it took a bit of time for the bentonite to settle and seep into the cracks underneath.
Then secondly, the reason we wanted this pond was to attract more wildlife to our garden, which had been a bare field for over a century at least. We surrounded the pond with a huge variety of flowering plants (Check out our other videos) and our efforts paid off tremendously. The previous year we had seen a few pollinators and a decent amount of ladybirds and soldier beetles after aphids had destroyed our aubergines in the polytunnel. But this year... It was insane! We had countless butterflies or many varieties, including the beautiful peacock butterfly which I had never seen around here. We had hummingbird moths, swarms of bees and hoverflies, dragonflies, parasitic wasps, armies of soldier beetles, and our aphid problems were NIL! The experience has cemented in my mind that water and flowering plants are integral to a healthy garden ecosystem. Though I had been reading about it and seeing it in TH-cam videos for many years, I really had to see it to believe it. The old adage of "build it and they will come" rings very true.
If this is the result from less than a year, it excites me to think what it may be like after 5 or 10 years with matured trees and shrubs for birds and hedgehogs to hide in. It will surely be a great pleasure to watch it all emerge over time.
Where did you get the liner from? Would love to do my own pond with as little plastic as possible but can't find where to buy liner in Ireland.
@michealomainin Hi Michael, there's a company in Waterford called Geoline that will do it. The small pieces aren't on their website but they'll have them if you call them. Bags of bentonite as well.
All the best with it! ~Shane
Thanks anwered question where to get it
@@BoscosGarden have you ever tried to wet the ground an compress/compact the muddy ground so the water doesn't leak? I have see a guy that does permaculture use this method to make permanent ponds(both deep and shallow) and water ways.
@DragonmasterKeel I have indeed... The pond with ducks in the video. Ducks or pigs should do it best over time, but our ground is so stoney. It doesn't seem to work for these small ponds, at least.
Although saying that.. the ducks did help a bit. The duck pond holds water most of the year but it just can't survive the few bad droughts we've had in recent years.
In addition to the bentonite clay liner you may want to simply dump leaves into the pond... the leaves will water log and sink and together with the B.Clay may a natural pond liner... I've done this several times and it works.
Hi David, Definitely a good idea! In my other pond that's surrounded by trees, I let leaves fall into it every year and never take them out. I imagine it creates lots more insect habitat/food, and I bet you're right considering the gluey consistency of leaf mould, it probably helps to seal it too. Thanks for pointing it out. I hadn't thought of that before.
Great comment, May I ask how thick is the layer of leaves and bentonite you’re applying to your ponds?
Could you make a part two video with an update of your pond? I would love to see it now!
Honestly, the ducks alone really did a pretty phenomenal job.
Finally the info and related testing I was looking for, thanks for sharing it!
Lots of hard work, and plenty to show for it. Thanks for caring for the wildlife.
My pleasure!
Neat! I'd never heard of GCL/bentonite blankets before but now I'm going to get them for the pond I am digging out. Thank you!
Hi, if you can find clay, then you can fill up your pond with clay and with water about 0.5 meters for a week and shake it with an excavator, this should seal it. I learned it from Sepp Holzer.
I rarely comment on videos, but this is fantastic stuff. I’m saving this to my watchlist for future reference, and looking forward to the follow up this year 👍🏼
Thanks for showing us a new way to line ponds. Great vid. New sub.
That was cool to watch 🙋🏻♂️ thanks for the great idea
You're very welcome!
Very cool!! Never heard of this type of pond liner before. Amazing that its longevity extends into decades. I’ll for sure try this product out in a future tiny pond. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Penny! Honestly, I have no idea how long it will last. It self-repairs by claying up leaks so I assume it will just last until it naturally fills up with silt and debris from the surrounding area.
after ı watched this video i sad ı am definetely gonna make my own pond :D thanks
Brilliant! May it bring you much pleasure! 😊
Great tips! I really enjoyed this 😊
Thanks!
Fantastic pond! Going to be digging one myself this year and will definitely use that liner, thanks!
Nice one! 👍
I haven't seen this technique before. Very interesting.
Thanks! 🙂
Thanks Shane got some good tips in that for our pond ... fingers crossed it goes well 😆
Nice one! Have fun with it. They're a wonder to watch develop and mature as time goes by.
Thats really interesting. Seeing more methods of gravel and/sub soil. Be interesting to see how yours works out and how much it cost
Great job well executed and the tidy garden your running is a credit to all involved, just wondering if rockwool could be used as the fiber to hold the bentonite clay this would eliminate the plastic from the whole scenario.
Hey thanks! Yes, I have wondered this myself but haven't found anybody who is producing such a product. I might at, some stage, experiment with using raw sheep's wool + bentonite since I can get it locally and free.
Great idea to use GCL. Would be interesting to see if a thick layer of cardboard instead of GCL would work in the same way!
Thanks! I was thinking I'd try just raw sheep's wool and bentonite next time, but cardboard underneath that would be a good idea.
nice!
Brilliant video. Subbed.
Myself and my husband are going to dig a new pond this month and definitely going to use this stuff instead of black plastic liner.
Brilliant! Welcome aboard! Best of luck with your pond. It's a really enjoyable process. 🙂
Yup Irish Im Irish too!
Doing something similar out my back garden after ordering a ton of bentonite. After digging a usual stepped edge pond I started to sense stepped edges were perhaps not ideal for sealing with bentonite, and then found your video! I’ll look to smoothen out the edges in to slopes so thanks for tip. Have you ever tried just bentonite clay? I didn’t get that bentonite fleece you used. I may look into that
Nice! I was told not to slope anything above 45°. I haven't tried just using the bentonite by itself and didn't want to chance it with this pond, but I might do an experiment with my other leaky pond in the future. It all depends on your soil and how rocky it is. Hope it works out well for you. Don't be too worried if the water goes down a lot at first because it takes time for the clay to settle and seep into the cracks.
Pen in some hogs and let em root 😂 thats how they used to set ponds in Arkansas back in the day
Please make this video so that we can save it to our playlists
Not sure why you can't. It should be possible if you scroll through the buttons or press "..." on a PC
Clay is wonderful stuff. Your pet litter is made of it., so save it. Geofabric made of natural fibres helps the clay settle in.
It's now 9 months since you uploaded the video . I'm sure lots of people would appreciate a quick update ...... is it still holding water ?
If you felt inspired to leave a sentence or two at the top of the comments section that would be a terrific end for this video . Thank you.
I will do just that. I am planning to do a full video update sometime in the next year if I can but for now, I will, like you said, leave a pinned comment update under the video.
Fabulous job it looks brilliant. I dug a pond out last year but the rain filled it up before I could line it. Its going down now and would love to do something similar. Is it possible to get a link to those products. Thanks for sharing your channel is great to watch. Heather county Mayo
Hiya Heather, thanks for the feedback. 🙂 I got them from a company in Waterford called Geoline.
@@BoscosGarden thank you.
Love your garden and your videos super thanks Bosco
Much appreciated!
Hey, great video. I’m restoring a 30m stream in a Japanese garden. This could be a way to fix my cracks especially as Earth moves and will split any mortar. What do you think?
It is definitely worth a shot. It took this pond a few months to properly settle. The water went down a lot during the dry early summer but once it filled back up after some heavy rain and the clay settled in the cracks, it has stayed completely full ever since. It has so far way exceeded my expectations.
Subbed
Thanks!
Looks great and I love that you get the even distribution of the Bentinite with the fabric. Have you had any difficulties with planting though? Will that not break through the Geo fabric and cause a breach?
Not at all. That's the beauty of the clay. It just seeps down into any holes and fills them up over time. Plants are happy to root into it without any problems. You can check out some of the videos I made later in the summer when the perimeter of the was filled with plants and the water level was up to the brim.
@@BoscosGarden i didn’t see any other videos i’ll take another look and thank you
Slower explanation would be good. What does he mean something about clay dust on seams and then more bentonite on top?
Put the bentonite dust between the sheets where they overlap, and then cover the top with more bentonite dust.
Informative, thanks. What do you think of EPDM liner?
I haven't used it but I've heard it's quite difficult to work with, needing multiple people, or even machinery to lift it, maybe I'm wrong. It's supposed to be more durable than the standard black plastic liner so I'd use it if I had to do plastic but I really can't fault the GCL.
@@BoscosGarden Thanks for insight. Is there not a concern the GCL won't hold water as well as a true liner, even with the added treatment? I'm about to build a pond in a field so still figuring things out!
@Edward Garrahy I was sceptical too before I tried it, but at most, this has gone down about 5cm since I put it in over a month ago. Ponds naturally do that. I collect rainwater from our rooves and can give it a top up if needs be. This pond is very open, so I'm expecting a good bit of evaporation in the mid summer until I manage to get more trees on its southern side.
The nice thing about the GCL and bentonite compared to black liner is that it gets better at holding the water over time, as the clay finds leaks and fills them in, whereas the black liner is completely leak proof in the beginning but inevitably will deteriorate.
@@BoscosGarden Nice, definitely an interesting idea/system!
Hi there, I just came across this video as I'm trying to get hold of some GCL pond liner that isn't 2.5m x 40m. Could you share where you got this from. Most of my searches are showing up fruitless. Cheers. Joe
If you're in Ireland, there is a company called Geoline in Waterford. It's not listed on their website or anything. I just called them. All the best with it.
Great love it. Great vid. It’s nice to have an idea and someone’s done it and can educate me on how to do it. I really want to make a natural pond. Had no idea you could buy sheets of clay. I’m excited now. Can you please tell me where you bought from? I’m having trouble finding it.
Thanks very much! It seems there's only one company in Ireland that sell it. Their name is Geoline, and they're based in Waterford.
@@BoscosGarden Thank you for responding. Will check it out. Keep up the great work. ❤️
@@BoscosGarden I built a small one, not with the clay sheets yet but, I’m so happy I just had to share with you. Bees are already drinking from it, native bees, I saw a dragonfly perch on a branch I placed there and birds have been hanging out there too. Who knows what else when I’m not there. It brings so much joy, and so pretty to look at.
@@mr.melontoyou Delighted to see this. It is immensely interesting watching it develop and mature over time. It's just over half a year since I dug the pond in this video and the influx of life in that part of the garden has been incredible. It's now full of many species of water beetles, water snails, little masses of swimming fellas. Not so sure what they are but I'm sure they're something else's food! 😆 3 types of dragonfly here this year, hummingbird moths and TONNES of bees and butterflies. The next job is to put in more shelter for small birds since the spot is a bit too open for them. There are far less of them bathing in this pond compared to my 4 year old pond in our herb garden.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience and enjoy it as it develops further!
@@BoscosGarden it’s beautiful. Watching the plants grow in and the animals that come. So glad to know there are people out there that care for appreciate and enjoy the environment as much as I do. I love your channel and will continue this journey with you. Can’t wait for future vids. Much respect.
Looks great, did you source those GCL sheets in Ireland?
Thanks! I got them from a company in Waterford called Geoline.
@Bosco's Garden Thanks for the video Shane , some great ideas.
@@jaysullivan7039 Cheers!
Great video, did you ever try with bentonite alone, or a mix of different clays?
Not yet, but after the success of this pond, I might experiment with my other larger one.
@@BoscosGarden great, looking forward to seeing that!
Do you use the top soil you’ve removed elsewhere on the farm?
Hey Karima, I used it to build the beds around the pond. The subsoil however is just in a pile at the bottom of the field until I find a use for it.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I'm trying to look for a distributor of these liners in the Netherlands but they're telling me its not possible to make the bentonite water proof unless you bear it down with the weight of at least 50cms of earth.. How are you experiencing it to hold the water with only such a thin layer of earth? And if things are holding up well, do you have any recommendations for distributors of this product?
I have yet to see it be put through a drought of a month or more since it has settled in. As I said in the pinned comment, it went down a good bit in the long drought early last summer before settling in, but it still held a decent amount of water at that, and since then, it has been up to the brim constantly. I expect that in a dry spell, the water level will drop a bit again, which I wouldn't mind, but I very much doubt it would ever empty completely even in the driest of years. I got it from a company in Ireland called 'Geoline' but I'm not sure about mainland Europe. Make sure you get the small sheets, though, as it is quite heavy and will need machinery to move the large industrial rolls.
Where’s a good place to buy these sheets? Homedepot gives me flooring and Amazon gives me arts and crafts
It sounds like you're not in Ireland, so I'm not sure, but keep looking, I guess.. Maybe try a pond supply specialist? All the best.
Thanks for sharing. Did you do a costing/price difference between this and the butyl or EPDM liner? I'm sure you did so do you fancy sharing??? just a ball park/rough difference please. Thanks.
Heya, no problem. It worked out about the same, maybe a little cheaper than the high quality EPDM, which is a good bit more expensive than the standard thickness garden pond stuff. All in all, this pond cost me about €700 as far as I remember.
@@BoscosGarden Thanks very much. Thats very interesting as it kind of seems much more natural and also easier to install - as in I won't need a crew! Any hints on how to leakproof the inlet?
@@helenaoconnor9972 You mean from a spring or stream? I'm sure you could use the GLC and clay in a similar way to form a canal of sorts.
@@BoscosGarden just from a 5" pipe that is fed from the roof gutter. Because of the slope it enters the pond quite low. I did think perhaps I could lag the point at which it enters with a double layer etc. BTW - I tried ducks too previously but they just had too much fun rooting and digging up that I think it reversed any sealing they did! - perhaps I didn't have enough. Thanks again.
Looks great. Never heard of that stuff. Just wondering how much those strips and bags of clay cost?
My Dads 20+ year old pond with black liner has a leak & all he wants to do is keep filling it with water.
Thanks 🙏🌍🌱
Thanks! I'd say that's heartbreaking to have to go pulling it out 🥲
The 25kg bags were €37 each and the sheets were €30 incl. VAT
Where can you buy it?
Where can you get the white clay liner strips?
www.geoline.ie/geosynthetics/
Hi BG; great alternative to those plastic liners. What do you figure the cost was. Not living in Ireland, I hope I can find the GCL in my area. Cheers Roger
Hi Roger, I think it was 700 euro for all the sheets and 5 bags of clay. It worked out about the same as the high quality black liner but more expensive than the standard stuff that garden centres sell.
Thanks for your information. Keep up the good content. Cheers Roger @@BoscosGarden
@rogerkenworthy6380 Thanks for watching!
Shane
All the best Shane. Cheers Roger@@BoscosGarden
Can I get that in Uganda
Where did you buy the bentonite products?
There's a company in Waterford called Geoline that will do it. The small pieces aren't on their website, but they'll have them if you call them. Bags of bentonite as well.
Where did you purchase the GCL?
If you're in Ireland, a company called Geoline. Based in Waterford.
Price wise how does this compare to a standard plastic liner?
Its a more expensive than the cheap stuff they sell in garden centers but about the same as the heavy-duty liner.
Where can I purchase the GCL liner?
If you're in Ireland, a company called Geoline do it. They're in Waterford.
Link to the liner?
www.geoline.ie/geosynthetics/
How did the people before plastic make ponds?
You pen in hogs and let em root for awhile. The crap makes the liner. Seen it done in Arkansas 40 years ago probably
@@onestar1017 Interesting.
So, how to make a pond without black plastic, just some other plastic 😂
Yeah, you might get away with using just the bentonite clay and leave out the GCL depending on your soil, but I didn't want to chance it on this one. At least the GCL pond will never rip and the clay/soil bottom is a lot better for creatures and plants to cling to, unlike slippery black plastic. Looks way better too...
Pen in hogs and let em root. It's one way ponds used to be made.
The liner should be made with natural fiber as usual a swing and a miss from the human
Like I said in previous comments, I will experiment with using raw wool from local farms mixed with bentonite clay in my next pond. Unfortunately, no such product is available here, so it will take some improv and experimentation. Maybe cut the poor human some slack and focus on making your own pond and get back to me with results. 👍
instead of black pond plastic, buy a bag of concrete, i made a small pond with concrete and i never had any problems
Hmm.. Have you had a heavy frost? I've seen a few concrete ponds that have cracked over the years.
@@BoscosGarden yeah every year basically, and never had any problems with cracks, and this pond is at least 25 years old, not very deep though
@@CinnamonTroll246 very cool! I’m looking to make a concrete pond too- how did you make yours and what size?
@@hello.elliot its fairly small, maybe 1x1 meters, and 20 cm at its deepest, i just dug it and then used like 10 cm of concrete allover, there was rock where i had started to build it but ut was ok, it actually helped making it look more natural, maybe the rock under the concrete helps it from cracking also, but i bet i could have dug some deeper and still have it intact, i know my father had deeper ponds than that made from concrete that he made for his ducks
@@CinnamonTroll246 oh very cool! And even more so that some of them are older than 25 years and still holding water going strong. I have shale rocks in the hole that I’ve dug so maybe that’ll help in have a strong foundation and some sides for the concrete to grip and seal into it to last a lot time. Do you grow water plants or bog plants in any of your ponds?