I did mine today... Pulled most of the pumps and filters out, gave them all a good cleaning, cut down the grasses and irises, and some of the lilies. Cleaned out some fallen dogwood leaves too.
Even did a small water change.
Now its covered with a net, to protect the ponds from falling leaves.
The water temperature was at 69 degrees.. cold enough for me to call it a season!
So, have you started winterizing yet?
Anyone Start Winterizing The Pond Yet?
Hey Terri-
I know it's a year later - but I am in the midst of winterizing (freaking out) my pond now too! Cleaned it today and am going to put a net over it tomorrow.
I have kind of started to panic about my fish. I just set up a 50 gal aquarium indoors for my tropical plants and am contemplating moving my 6 fish inside as well. Any thoughts?
The more I read about wintering them outside, depth requirements, fish age, etc., the more nervous I get about doing it. The temp in the pond is already
Art, I have had fish in 18inch ponds for 20 yrs, I put a stock heater in after all the leaves stop falling so I can take off my tarp. I leave my water lily and parrots feather and river snails in all winter and they do fine. The only thing is I have to have a rod across it to keep the heater away from the side. It does not heat the water it just keeps a hole in the ice. The fish go into suspended animation. I only feed mine from April to the end of Oct. BEV
Bev, that helps, thank you. I guess I am just getting nervous! I also don't see too many zone 5 ponders around here or on other informative sites. Hearing it from you makes me feel much better! Thanks a bunch! Susanne
You are welcome very much Susan. Let me know how things go. BEV
I haven't started winterizing yet. The water temp is still high and the fish are still eating fall food. I don't do much for the winter except pull the UV light out of the Pond. My pond is 10yrs old and I have 20 8-10yr. old fish.'Koi,Shubunkins(goldfish) and what I call Koikins. The Koikins are a crossbreed of Shubunkins and Koi.
New ponder in zone 5. I have pulled the tropicals and from what I know the Koi will be ok. They are still small. I have one white fish with a beautiful long tail and fin, do all fish (not sure this is a Koi) make it thru the winter or should I bring him in. I bought him at a fishing bait shop so I have no idea what kind of fish it is. I am planning on leaving the pump and everything running, has anyone ever done that before. I know I will have to make sure the ice doesn't devert the water, but I think I will be ok.
Joyce
Hi Joyce, I am no expert,but I think your fish will over winter. You might have to turn your pump off if it draws too much water out and freezes, but if you watch closely I think the pond and fish will tell you when to do something different. Good Luck! Lucille
PS. I think a true Koi has barbels on each side of its mouth. If you don't see whiskers then your white fish might be a Butterfly Shubunkin(Goldfish)
Happgarden,
Can you post a picture of your fish? I'd love to see him?
Posyblossom,
Very nice pond. How big is it?
Carolyn
Hi Carolyn, The Pond is 1200 gal. The pic I posted before this post isn't very good but it gives a general idea of the size of the pond. I only keep about a 1000 gal. in it so the 10watt UV light will kill all the evil bacteria and parasites. I am trying to make our property look like a State Park;). It doesn't have a groomed look,just kinda woodsy. I live on Bridge St. in Athens and I am pleasantly surprised to see another Athenian in Dave's Garden. Nice to meet you. Lucille
OH and I forgot to mention it is over three ft. deep where the waterfall hits the surface of the pond and then steps up to over two ft. deep and then has a shallow depth of 18" to 20" depth. I had to carve out steps in the middle because when I hand dug it many years ago, I trapped myself down in the 3ft. section. The only way out was to dig steps. It was a lucky accident because I have easy access to the whole pond now.
Sorry about the finger..LOL they come running when I distrub the water. Does anyone know what the white fish is?
Happgarden,
He appears to be a goldfish of some sorts. Koi have the whiskers and goldfish don't. He is very pretty, does he have a name? We have names for only some of the fish - our daughter named most of the fish that have names.
Lucille,
I am familiar with Bridge Street - I am on Church Street. We started out with a small 90 gallon Walmart pond and then enlarged to an 1100 gallon pond. 2 years ago, we upgraded again and we are finally finished. We are just under 5000 gallons. A friend of ours had gotten a backhoe as a 'toy' and dug it out for us. We are 4 ft deep on one end and 3 1/2 feet deep on the other and it is 27ft long by 11ft wide. Small world - glad to meet you.
Carolyn
Will goldfish overwinter in zone 5, does anyone know?
The goldfish will do great. With my first little pond all I did was dig a hole, throw some liner down and pretty much left it over the winter. The fish were feeder goldfish from the bait store and they and their descendants are still living there. Hubby gave me a gift of Koi for my second pond this year and I had a mass die off from unknown causes. I still have a couple of them and I am planning on putting a stock tank heater in to keep a hole in the ice for the benefit of the koi this winter.
I bought all but one orange on at a bait shop here in the little city I live in. One orange one was given to me and was told it was a koi. He has always been larger than the orthers, but he doesn't have whiskers so I am guessing he isn't. I will put a heater out there to keep a hole in the ice. Thank you for your help. I am colder than you but can't be alot.
Gorgeous backyard, Carolyn. What is that curly tree in the foreground? So neat that yall are so close! Great pictures posy and happ, as well.
Can you tell me, do koi have the whiskers when they are young? I don't see them on mine...but they were definitely sold to me as koi.
Maybe that is the problem our koi is too young for whiskers....LOL I don't know a thing about them except you don't need to feed when it is cold.
Use to live in co spgs on easy street no less....LOL
No winterizing here yet, but soon. I still have water lillies in bloom. I have pulled the tender plants. The koi are active. I've cut back on the food some. Most of all I'm watching the extended weather forecast. When temps are going to go consistently below 40 at night is when I get things cleaned up. I like the skimmer running at least through leaf fall as it helps keep most of the leaves from sinking to the bottom of the pond. The leaves are just barely starting. Fall has come very late here. It will probably come in a rush. I've never run the pumps past Thanksgiving.
We covered ours with netting to keep the leaves out, and I'm gonna look for one of those little heaters that keep a hole in the ice, like dragonfly62 mentioned. Southern States will most likely have them.
I tried the netting thing. Once the leaves came down real heavy and then it rained hard while I was at work. When I came home the weight of the soddden leaves had pulled the net from its stakes and the whole mess was in a tangle at the bottom of the pond. I had some seriously confused koi looking up at me going "What the Heck!"
LOL, like the way you put that! We actually use that temporary plastic fencing like on construction sites, attached to a pvc pipe frame. My Dad built it. I'll get a pic tomorrow and post it.
Carolyn, If you have time, come see my pond. I am at 219 Bridge street. 888-7891. I too started out with a 90 gal. pre- formed pond from Walmart. I have 2 of those now, plus the bigger hand-dug one. I love your pond and the fact that I would meet you here in
dave's
garden:)
Here's the pond cover my Dad built:
KyWoods - Can I hire your Dad? My pond is 20x30. It would be large, but Oh so nice! I'm going to show this to DH and see if I can "inspire" him. I feel some serious grovelling coming on.
LOL Good luck in your groveling, snapple!
Happ,
The koi have whiskers even when they are small. The problem is that it is hard to see the baby koi whiskers until the koi are at least a couple of inches long.
Susanne,
That is a Harry Lauder Walking Stick tree. We lucked out and found ours for half price at Lowes in the fall of 2005. I have enclosed a link for you on this http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/937/
Snapple and KYWoods, we will probably have to start thinking about putting our netting up soon. I know that previously it has been up long before now. It seems the trees are late in changing this year - not a bad thing as we have been able to enjoy the warmer weather and we have been eating dinner outside until just recently.
Posy,
I'd love to see your pond. You will have to see mine too. Small world isn't it? I know one of the places that DH and I go to buy pond supplies indicated something about possibly being on a pond tour next year. Send me a D Mail....
Carolyn