Most of my potted
plants
are already sitting on the bottom
of the pond, so I don't have to lower them for winter.
However, I do trim all of the dead leaves and stems from
everything except the cattails.
This helps to reduce the amount of decay taking place
in the pond over the winter months
(decaying plant matter uses up oxygen required by the fish).
I leave the cattails alone since they are above the water
level; I do clean out any fallen cattails so that they
don't foul the water.
Some pondkeepers clean all of the muck and sludge (nice technical terms, eh?) from the bottom of their pond. I leave most of it in place so that hibernating aquatic life such as tadpoles, frogs, dragonfly larvae and baby snails are not disturbed. It has been my experience that pond sludge won't hurt anything as long as you maintain it at a reasonable level and keep excess leaves from collecting on the bottom of the pond.
The frog fruit planted next to the pond is usually floating on the water by this time of the year (frog fruit is a very aggressive little plant). I trim the frog fruit (and any other creeping groundcover) back so that it is no longer in the water. As it dies back, I trim it back more so that it's completely off the rock surrounding the pond. I try not to disturb the rock around the pond since lizards and other little critters might be getting ready for winter, too.
My biggest problem is the arbor. The arbor is right next to the pond and is full of jessamine, honeysuckle and trumpet vine, all of which lose a lot of their leaves during the fall and winter months. Add to this the crepe myrtles, sweet gum (mine and my neighbors) and other assorted trees and I've got a leaf problem. I though about putting a net over the pond to catch the leaves. I decided against this since I wanted the pond to remain open for the birds and other little critters that come by for a drink. Although the net would not prevent critters from getting to the pond at ground level, it would deter the birds flying in. The thought of a bird getting tangled in the net and drowning was the final straw. No net. So I get out everyday and skim the leaves from the top of the pond.
I keep both pumps, the one for the filter and the one for the waterfall, running all winter. Biological activity in the filter slows down, but still takes place. The waterfall provide a mechanism for oxygen exchange by disturbing the surface of the water and easy access to water for birds and other small animals. My hoses are buried, so I don't have to worry about them freezing. But if the weather turns really, really cold (and it has happened) and the pond freezes over, I will turn off the waterfall pump. If I don't the ice build up on the waterfall will be so thick that the water level in the pond will visibly drop!
Fish & Other Critters
Goldfish and mosquito fish can survive a North Texas winter quite easily (koi survive quite well, too, but I don't have any koi in Lake Big Fish). Mosquito fish will even continue to breed! In early fall I feed the fish more often that during the summer; this helps them to build up for their winter fast. Once the water temperature gets below 50 degress Fahrenheit, I stop feeding altogether. By that time the fish are spending most of their time on the bottom of the pond, just hanging out as their metabolism slows down.
I don't "deadhead" flowers, instead, I let them go to seed.
Many of the birds in the area like crepe myrtle seeds, so my
crepe myrtles (OK, not native, but the birds don't care)
look like sticks with rattles for part of the year.
The berries on the hawthorne, pyrocanthia and holly ripen during
the winter.
The sunflowers die back, leaving gaunt stalks with heads
full of seeds.
With all of this food available, I've usually been able to reduce the amount
of commercial seed that I put out for the birds during the winter.
The winter of 2000-2001 was quite different.
Thanks to the drought the previous summer, there weren't as many natural
food sources available in the habitat.
The winter was also cold (not colder than normal, but after several warmer than
normal winters, it sure felt like it) and definitely wetter than usual.
We even had snow on New Year's Day!
The result was that I put out more food and increased the number of feeding stations.
Having a pond, native food plantings and several feeding stations (OK, at last count I had 2 tube feeders, 2 thistle socks, 1 peanut feeder, 2 tray feeders, 1 window feeder, 1 suet feeder, 1 upside-down suet feeder and a "seed bell" shaped like a Christmas tree ... I got a box of 'em for $0.50 each after Christmas), I am rewarded by hoards of birds visiting on a daily basis. The cats love it too! Particularly the window feeder ... I have seen all 4 cats carefully lined up, watching the finches eat sunflower chips, and becoming very frustrated when they try to pounce through the window and smash their noses on the glass!
Texas is home to many bird species who live here year round as well as those who winter in the state. In February 2001 I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count. Here's the list of bird species that I saw at Lake Big Fish that weekend.
Birding Links
Here are some pictures of a late night snowfall.
The white blobs are big fluffy snowflakes.
I wasn't the only one having fun in the snow.
The fish even came up to see what this stuff was falling into
their pond.
When the temperature drops below freezing for an extended
period of time, Lake Big Fish freezes over.
I keep both the waterfall and the filter pump running all winter
so that even when the pond is covered with ice there are 2
openings for oxygen exchange.
But the waterfall tends to turn into a icefall!
If the cold spell lasts too long I have to turn off the waterfall
or the pond ends up dropping several inches in depth as all
the water ends up creating a
mini-glacier.
The ice has even been thick enough that
Murphy
could walk on it.
Of course, in this picture Murphy only weighs about 40 pounds,
he's twice that big today!
Unfortunately, it's not all fluffy snowflakes and ice waterfalls.
After one particularly severe freeze,
I had to clean the pond of all the dead azolla.
Azolla, also called fairy fern, is a floating plant. The ice
had been so thick that the plants were frozen inside it!
Kind of like little plant popsicles.
Of course, when the ice melted I was left with a lot of
dead, decomposing, plants.
YUCH!
Too much decomposing plant matter is a problem in ponds
during the winter. So I had to get in there and clean it out.
Luckily most of the plants were either skimmable or close
to the edge.
But there were some that I really had to stretch to
reach.
While I was balanced on the edge of the pond,
Murphy
came up behind me and stuck his nose in the back of my neck.
Well, that was just a bit too much.
I overbalanced!
I flailed my arms!
I shrieked!
I looked like one of the Three Stooges!
But to no avail. I fell in!
I must have looked like the Creature from the Black Lagoon
as I climbed out ... soggy sweatpants, water in my snow boots
and covered in dead azolla.
Too bad I don't have a picture.