Prepared your Pond for Winter

By the Pond Woman

Indicators of autumn are arising in all places. Leaves are turning colours, birds are gathering for his or her flight south, pumpkins and apples are being harvested and the blankets are being put again onto the beds. Sunscreen is being traded for sweaters and sweatshirts. Water lilies and different vegetation in your pond are slowing their development and fading. They’re preparing for dormancy. Fall is upon us. Time to begin getting ready our ponds for winter and our fish for his or her lengthy winter’s nap. Transplanting and dividing of your pond vegetation must be left till spring. Now could be the time to take away all fading foliage from marginal vegetation. I don’t trim my marginal vegetation down till after the primary frost. In areas the place the water lily beetle is prevalent, they love nothing higher than the dying foliage of your marginal vegetation the place they’ll cover for the winter. Don’t fertilize your vegetation anymore. Take away and produce indoors your tropical marginal vegetation earlier than the primary frost. To guard your hardy water vegetation, decrease them to the underside of your pond.

Now could be the time to put in a protecting web over the pond in case you have quite a lot of falling leaves. Plastic chook netting is on the market at most backyard facilities. You possibly can insert a stick or backyard rake right into a potted plant to offer your web the next level, like a tent. It will permit the leaves to be swept from the online. Don’t permit the online to drape into your pond. Fish and frogs can change into entangled within the web. Take away the leaves usually from each pond and web. Maintain them picked up out of your yard in order that the wind doesn’t blow them within the pond. Restore any damages and leaks earlier than winter. Reseed your biofilters with micro organism. It will assist preserve good water high quality throughout fall. I take advantage of a product by Microbe-lift referred to as Autumn Prep. That is for winterization of your pond and works in water temperature underneath 55°F. It can assist to decompose the leaves, scum, sediment, and different natural matter throughout fall and winter. It’s also all pure, unhazardous and nonpathogenic and incorporates psychrophilic which is a chilly climate micro organism. You should buy this at nearly any nursery that sells pond provides. There are different merchandise on the market however I’ve by no means used them. Take away all lifeless leaves and such out of your pond. When you’ve got a skimmer you’ll want to clear it at the very least as soon as day to forestall blockage.

Begin feeding your fish meals that’s larger in carbohydrates and decrease in protein. Carbohydrates will fatten your fish up for the lengthy winter. Your fish don’t hibernate through the winter. Their metabolism slows down because the water-cools down. If we fatten them up earlier than we give up feeding them they may have sufficient to stay on by the chilly winter months. Begin feeding your fish solely as soon as a day till the water temperature stabilizes under 55°. DO NOT FEED THEM AGAIN UNTIL SPRING WHEN THE WATER TEMPERATURE WARMS UP ABOVE THAT POINT. Even when we now have some heat days throughout winter, don’t feed. A number of new pond house owners misplaced their fish this previous winter as a result of they may not resist the temptation to feed their fish. Now your fish don’t have the quilt of the vegetation to cover from predators. Maintain an eye fixed open. The herons can nonetheless get to your fish by a web. Strive some fishing line round your pond, about six inches from the bottom. Crisscross the road throughout your pond additionally. A milk carton, massive planter turned the other way up with a gap within the aspect, drainage pipes or the rest that your fish can cover in will shield them from raccoons and different predators. Be sure that there aren’t any tough edges in your fish to chop themselves on. I take advantage of 4 massive pots with a laden sheet of plywood laid on prime (non-treated wooden). This provides my fish someplace to cover underneath for security to really feel protected and likewise protects my vegetation. You may as well use a liquid shade to darken your pond. This may even hold the burst of algae down within the sunny winter days and early spring.

Clear your filters and retailer any pumps or gear you received’t use through the winter. Keep in mind to retailer oil-encapsulated pumps in a bucket of water that received’t freeze to maintain their seals from drying out. Place your de-icer or bubblers within the pond. No matter methodology you employ, keep in mind to at all times hold a gap within the ice (pond) in order that the gases can escape. Your fish will survive in as little as 18 inches of water so long as it doesn’t freeze stable.

Benefit from the fall colours however don’t get caught out within the chilly.

The Pond Woman / Darlene Jennings

President, Mid-Michigan Pond & Water Backyard Membership

MSU Superior Grasp Gardener

Learn how to Select a Pond Web site
Designing a Pond
Edging for a Pond
Pumps
Spring Cleanup
Crops
Summer time Cleanup
Waterfalls
Water Gardens
Winter

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