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When the leaves begin to fall, cover the water's surface with a net to catch them. The net
lessens debris buildup on the pond bottom, which
will decompose and harm your fish during the winter. Remove about 90% of the leaves and silt that have accumulated on the bottom of your pond over the summer. Leave the rest as "bedding material", so that the microscopic pond life has a place to burrow down into mud and leaves and survive the winter. A pond vaccum makes this task easy and quick! Change 50 % of the water in your ponds near the end of autumn. Partial water changes flush out algae-promoting nutrients, dissolved organic matter and natural acids to improve water quality. If a pond has a lot of suspended matter or the water is tinted yellow from dissolved organics, make two water changes a day apart. The video on the right is a handy checklist of the tasks you should do to winterize your pond at the end of autumn. |
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Remove dying foliage on your aquatic plants to minimize debris buildup. Trim bog and marsh plants before frost hits.
Pull out the hardy water lilies and trim off all the leaves. Put all the potted plants into the deepest area of the pond to prevent freeze damage.
Tropical plants such as lilies won't survive the winter and are often treated as annuals. You can also remove them from the pond and take them indoors for the winter, to save for next season. However, moving plants indoors to a warmer climate may introduce unwanted parasites, most of which are too small to be seen without a microscope. |
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