Free Pond Thermometer w/ purchase of netting, cold water bacteria or cold water fish food!
Don't wait too late for getting your water garden ready for the winter ahead! As leaves and temperatures drop, a little preparation now for your pond will help save your fish and plants lives.
What to do for your water plants:
What to do for your water plants:
If you have any tropical water lilies, you may choose to try to winterize them indoors. Such as: putting them in a large heated and well lit (14hrs/day with at least 1500 foot candles) aquarium.
Or, you can try removing the lily from the pond before the first frost. let the lily go dry in a cool dark place for a few weeks. Cut off the dead foliage and flowers after soil is mainly dry and remove the nut-like tuber and wash clean. Then, put the tuber in damp but not wet sand or peat moss in a plastic container with a lid with a few holes poke in the lid for air circulation and keep the container in a cool, dark place(55-60 degrees). Watch for rotting. Then next early summer, repot and place in your warm(70 degree) pond. Or many just choose to treat as an annual flower and replace them with a new one from Nature's Beauty Water Gardens next spring.
Many tropical marginal plants can be winterized too, like cannas and taros. Tubers or bulbs can be stored in peat moss in a cool, dry, dark place. Some like palms, can even grow as a house plant in a sunny room indoors with their feet wet in a saucer of water. Hardy lilies will return next year if the tuber is well under the ice all winter. Trim leaves off of hardy marginals to just above the water level and they will usually grow back in spring.
Your fish need to get ready to hibernate for the winter. At 65 to 55 degree water temperature, feed a cold water fish food that is low in protein and high in wheat germ content. Then quit feeding altogether when the water temperature is consistently below 55 degrees. Feeding during the winter in not advised as it can cause very bad digestive problems because the stomach bacteria in the koi or goldfish has gone dormant.
Keep as many leaves out of your pond as you can, as excessive gasses can overwhelm your fish, causing death. Leaf netting helps tremendously, maintaining your skimmer, using special cold water bacteria (since the normal bacteria goes dormant in cold temperatures). Keeping an opening in the ice during the winter also helps tremendously. Accomplished with a fountain bubbler, pond aereator, floating heater or a combination of these. We have these items available at our store, now open Fridays 9 to 5, Sat. 11 to 5.
Our special now is free pond thermometer with any purchase.
Late fall is also a good time of year for water garden project. We continue to build ponds, pondless waterfalls, even patios and fire pits. Call now to schedule your consltation which is 1/2 price thru December.
Happy pondering,
Nature's Beauty Water Gardens
372 w. College St.
Marshall MO 65340
660-229-3777
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