Your water garden hopefully required little attention during the summer while providing hours of pleasure. Now that the nights are getting cooler it is time to do some preparations for winter so that the inhabitants can survive the winter and the water garden will come back to live in all its glory in the spring.
Plants
Tropical floating plants should be removed from the pond before they start to deteriorate and foul the water. It is best to discard these plants and plan on buying new ones in the spring. Tropical marginal plants such as Longwood Cannas, Umbrella Palms and Papyrus need to be moved inside and treated as houseplants in colder regions during the winter months. For better appearance trim any roots that have grown outside the pot. Hardy marginal plants just need to be trimmed and moved low enough into the water to avoid freezing.
The quality of water in the pond should be maintained even during the winter months to insure the survival of the pond inhabitants. Removing debris and decomposing leaves with a skimmer net will help prevent oxygen depletion. The pond can be covered with a floating net if falling leaves from nearby trees are being blown into the water by fall winds.
Fish
All feeding of pond fish must stop once the water temperature drops below 48 – 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Cold-water fish such as Goldfish and Koi cannot digest food properly below these temperatures.
oxygen to enter. Floating pond de-icers are the most efficient way to accomplish this. Never open the ice by beating on it. The resulting sound waves can injure the fish.
Equipment
Disconnect, clean and store away external filters. Drain all pipes and tubing to prevent bursting during freezing weather. Electric pumps can be left in the pond if they are located well below the freezing line. In ponds with a large fish population it may be necessary to continue to run the pump to keep a sufficient supply of oxygen. The pump should be moved just below the surface of the water under these circumstances to avoid cooling the lower layers of water too much.
Performing the above steps will insure the survival of the fish and make opening the water garden in the spring simpler and easier. The only thing left to do is a partial water change, if possible. Draining some water and adding new at this time of year helps dilute organic pollutants that accumulated during the summer. And, as a side note, the autumn is a terrific time of year to install new ponds and enlarge existing ones. Cooler temperatures and, usually, less rain than in the spring make fall a good time in many areas for digging and working with the soil.
