The cold weather has settled in now and it's time for you to take a step back from the pond. Maintenance on the pond will be minimal; we have outlined a few areas you should focus on.
Here we are again. There are far fewer leaves on the trees and it’s time to go and fish them out of the pond. It might get cold, and you may have even had your first frost, but try to make sure you are ready for the colder months. This preparation may be key to keeping your pond healthy until January.
Preventative
• Keep up control measures to contain and remove falling leaves to prevent algae issues next season. This means installing a pond cover net and using a skimmer net to continually skim surface debris like leaves and plant debris.
• With the chilly weather incoming, you should consider buying a pond heater to keep an area ice free. They don’t heat the entire pond, instead they keep an area of your pond free from ice to allow your pond to breathe. It also allows toxic gases to naturally leave the pond. Please see our What to do if your pond freezes over blog post for more information.
• Watch out for hungry herons – they will deplete fish stocks quickly. See our Pest Deterrents blog post for different ways to keep your pond safe.
• Continue to test the quality of your water with either the Tetra Pond Test 6-in-1 or the Blagdon Pond Health Test Kit. If your water quality becomes toxic or the pH fluctuates, you will need to know about this as quickly as possible to keep your fish safe as they hibernate. They are less likely to show symptoms for these issues, so testing is key!
• Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature of the pond. This is important, given that your fish will start to hibernate in temperatures below 10 degrees C and you should stop feeding your fish. A PondXpert Floating Thermometer is a customer favourite.
Maintenance
• Remove any blanketweed or duckweed. These can be put into the composting heap; so use either a blanketweed brush or a skimmer net to fish them out. Treat your pond with either the PondXpert Blanketweed Eliminator or the PondXpert Anti-Duckweed to prevent them from coming back.
• It’s a great time to plan a new water feature and if you break the soil in time, you’ll get things done for spring.
• Towards the end of November, raise your pumps from the bottom of the pond to leave the bottom of the pond undisturbed so your fish have a comfortable place to hibernate over winter.
• If you have used barley straw bales or pads, these can be removed and added to the compost heap. Leave these beside the pond for 24 hours before composting, so that pond insects can get back into the pond.
• Remove and drain UVC’s and filters. Expanding ice and glass don’t mix well. These can be left in a dry, warm location.
Fish
• Consider a general preventative treatment (like the PondXpert Total Pond Health) while the temperatures remain high enough for medications to work. Once the temperature goes below 10 degrees C, the effectiveness of treatments is severely reduced. Many fish losses in early spring are due to the rigours of winter and it’s often too late to fix these issues when they become apparent.
• Make sure you use a low temperature fish food like the Winter Wheatgerm Pellets. Fish will struggle to digest summer foods in cold water, and this can lead to digestive problems and fish death. In some cases, undigested food will breakdown in the fish’s gut and cause bloating and buoyancy issues.
• Fish can be fed whenever they show any interest in food, i.e. if they come to the surface looking hungry. However, give them a very small amount of food as excess food can cause fish to become bloated during their hibernation and can lead to fish death.
• Put fresh water out for wildlife. As the weather gets cold, water is as vital as food for the wildlife that gather around your pond. In cold weather, birds need their plumage to be in top condition and small mammals will be interrupting sleep for brief spells of foraging.
Plants
• If you haven’t removed this already, cut back any dead plant material and put it in the compost heap along with any blanketweed and duckweed growth. It might seem cold now, but time spent removing dead plant material this year will be saved removing blanketweed or dealing with green water next summer.
• To provide safe sites for ladybirds and other beneficial insects, do not cut back dense rush and sedge growth until early spring.
• Tender plants should be brought into a frost-free greenhouse for storage in trays of deep mud, damp sand, or in a bucket of water. These can be put back into the pond when the risk of frost has passed; so probably around February time.
• You can still divide hardy waterlilies and pond plants and cut back overgrown marginal plants, if required.
You may also find the below blogs useful:
• Pond Calendar
• Autumn Pond Care
• Winter Pond Care
• Pond Plants Blogs
• Aeration Blogs
• Why is my Pond losing water?
• Why do chemicals in the Pond fluctuate?
• Pond Problems
If you need any further assistance, please email us on info@pondkeeper.co.uk.