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WINTERIZING YOUR POND   

 

FALL CLEANING:  Fall is an ideal time to clean your pond.  If you do it while the fish are still active, they are not likely to suffer any ill effects, and will have a healthier winter environment.  Some experts recommend removing up to 50% of the water, using a pump or a pool vacuum to remove water and debris from the bottom.  If you do this, don’t forget to add the dechlorinator and chloramine remover.

 

If you have trees near your pond, covering the pond with netting will save a lot of work.  Use poles or other objects to keep the net above the water.  If the net is on the water, it will sink into the water with the weight of the leaves and snow and be very difficult to work with.

 

Another option is to build a dome over the pond.  This can keep leaves and snow out, while retaining heat.

 

FISH & CRITTERS:  As the water temperature begins to drop the fish will become less active.  Feed a wheatgerm-based food when water temperature drops below 60 degrees.  This will be easier for them to digest.  When the water temperature drops below 50 degrees, stop feeding the fish, even on warm days during the winter, until water temperatures reach 50 degrees again.

 

You MUST keep a hole in the ice throughout the winter for fish to survive.  They must have enough oxygen to support life.  Deadly gases (hydrogen sulfide gas)  build up under the ice as the organic matter accumulated over the year decays and uses up available oxygen.  If the pond freezes over completely, oxygen to replace that being used is not available and the lives of the fish are at risk.  There are several methods for keeping a hole in the ice.

·        Keep a pump running 2-3 inches below the water surface to move the water enough to prevent freeze-over.

·        Place an air stone to bubble the surface.

·        Use a floating pond heater.  Most units will have a thermostat that turns it on as the temperature approaches freezing.

If the pond should freeze over, DO NOT try to break a hole in the ice!  The blows will cause shock waves to pass through the water, causing damage to soft tissue of your fish.  Place a pot of boiling water on the ice and let it melt through.  Tie a string/rope onto the handle so you can retrieve your pot once it melts through.

 

Other critters, such as tadpoles, frogs, turtles and snails seem to find cover, either in pots of plants, safe places in the pond, or in the landscape near the pond, without anything special needed from us.  Do make sure that the variety of critter you have is winter-hardy.  There are some tropical animals that cannot survive our cold.

 

GENERAL:  Drain all water from any exterior piping, such as auto-fill valve, to eliminate cracking or breaking from the eventual freezing.  Check your water level often and add water as needed to replace any that has evaporated.  If you add more than one inch of water, be sure and use a dechlorinator and chloramine remover at the rate specified.  If waterfall and stream features are left running during the winter, it is important to visually inspect the pond water level to ensure that winter freezes and thaws have not created a water leak or redirected the flow of water somewhere other than back to the pond.

 

WATERLILIES & LOTUS: 

HARDY LILIES – To prepare your hardy water lilies and lotus for winter, remove dead and dying foliage, leaving any new starting foliage.  Lower the pots to the bottom of the pond, so the rhizomes do not freeze.  If your pond freezes solid, or is drained, you will need to remove the lilies.  You can store the entire pot (if kept moist and cool) in a plastic bag, or remove the rhizome and store it in moist peat moss at 40-50 degrees.

 

LOTUS – Cut the leaves only after they have turned brown.  Cold water can get into the hollow leaf stem and kill the tuber.  After all the leaves have been trimmed the plant can be dropped to the bottom of the pond for the winter.

 

TROPICAL LILIES – To save and over-winter your tropical water lilies, allow the plant to stay in the pond until it stops producing flowers and leaves.  This usually occurs in late September or early October.  Take the lily out of the pond and allow it to drain for a day, in a shaded area.  Remove all dead and weak leaves, leaving only the smallest and firmest leaves.  Place the pot in a plastic bag, which should be folded over loosely.  Store in a cool location (55 degrees).  Check the soil to be sure it remains moist.  In January, break open the soil ball and remove the tuber which has hopefully formed.  Clean the tuber carefully and put it in a zip-lock bag with some water.  Store in a dark, cool location (55 degrees).  Check occasionally, rinsing and changing the water. 

In late March or early April, float the tuber, in the bag, in a container of water with a temperature of 75-80 degrees.  When the tuber just begins to sprout, place it in a small pot (3’’), with a rich soil, and add light to the formula.  You will want 4’’-8’’ of water over the pot for the lily to grow properly.  Allow the plant to grow until the leaves are 1-1/4’’ to 1-1/2’’ in diameter.  Gently rinse the soil away and separate the small plants from the tuber, carefully retaining as many of the roots as possible.  Repot the tuber for more plants.  Place the plants in 4’’ or larger pots and grow them until a number of roots begin to leave the pot.  Continue to repot as necessary until the pond warms up, usually by mid-June.

 

MARGINALS & BOG PLANTS:

 

HARDY – Most hardy marginals and bog plants can be wintered over in the same spot they have been growing all summer.  Trim off the foliage that is decaying.  It is best not to cut back the foliage on the hardy plants.  Some of them with hollow stems, (especially cattails), will die out if cut below the water level and the water freezes.  Another method used to over-winter hardy marginals is to clump them together (in their pots) in a winter shady spot and cover with 18 to 24 inches of leaves.  A sheet of plastic between the plants and the leaves prevents them from drying out.  This method can also be used for hardy lilies.

 

TROPICAL – Tropical water plants in and around the pond will either have to go inside and be winter house plants, or be disposed of. (Great mulch!)  They must be taken out of the pond before the first frost.  Some tropical plants do very well inside provided they receive high light levels and are kept in water.

 

LAST:  Check to see if there is anything in the way of the shovel when you have to clean snow from the surface of the ice. (Remember, the white stuff?)  You should remove the snow from the surface so that sunlight can get to the plants underneath.  Luckily, our snow usually melts before we have to do this.  If sunlight cannot get through it results in dead plants, dead fish and a smelly spring mess.