Southern pond OK with this cold weather?

[Reedman]

The temps down south are outrageously low!    Any damage so far to your ponds/plants?

[Julles]

I live in Houston.

 Last night, so they say, temps dipped down into the 20's... this was after weeks of 60's and 70's and even 80's. 

I live in the downtown area, so even if it DID get down into the 30's or 20's overnight out in the suburbs, it rarely gets that cold here where I am.  My fish are swimming, albiet not all that fast, and they're not eating as much as usual, nor as quickly.  But they are active and healthy, and my plants are fine.  Lilies still have some pads, but not full, healthy ones like they did during the summer.  Other plants seem unphased.

[cashb]

Even here in south florida tonight it is supposed to be 32 degrees, so I brought in the orchids and other sensitive plants, watered everything, blanketed the horses and I hope for the best   Fish pond went from 78 to 62 overnight and should decline more tonight.  Fish still beg for food....  but no way will I feed them now.  Some plants burned slightly last night with temps going down to the 40's.  Wouldn't have been an issue but we have been in the 80's daytime and high 60's to 70's at night so they had no time to acclimate.  I know you guys up north are snickering!!  I have been looking at the beautiful pics of snowy ponds and waterfalls....  Maybe we will have some frost on the grass tomorrow!   

[tinkster]

cash.. Dont think I ever heard a southerner ask for frost   I can send ya a bunch of snow and some realllllly bad wind and cold.. ever seen that movie where poeple trade houses for a month.. here is one that would trade for some warm right now.


tinkster

[frloplady]

I don't like seeing the farmers get hit with this kind of weather...even hate to hear of you guys losing plants... but other than that after you guys rubbing it in about your 80 degree temps.......

  

[miguynmkoi]

I'm here in Southern California, does that count?     It's unusually cold here, dipping down into the upper 40's and yesterday it even went as high as 76* in the afternoon.    My fish are still begging for food too.  Who can resist those water filled eyes? 

Gearing up for the rain storm of the year, even though it's only the 3rd of the new year (meteorologists here are having a field day).  Every drop counts.  Got my buckets out there under the gutter spouts to collect water for the gardens.  The local mountains are expecting snow at the 4000' level 

We're not hitting 80's, yet, so this isn't considered rubbing it in.  Right? 

[marla]

Annette, you are forgivin this time , only because we are going to be in a warm up for the weekend.  Temps here as elsewhere have been quite nippy, but on the way up, todays low was only -6*F. and got all the way up to 16* however the wind chill was quite a bit lower.  By Sat, they say we will make it 40*F maybe and even warmer on Sun.  May melt some of the snow off the ponds so I can get a peek at the fish and see how they are doing.

[miguynmkoi]

   Still waiting for the storm 

[purplepshn2004]

Hi all,

I live in Southern Alabama (near Mobile).  When we got up this morning at 7 am it was 19 and only got into the 40's (I think).  Right now it is 29.  They are saying low of 25 with wind chills tonight at 18 with a high tomorrow of 55 (maybe).  I have only lived here for a year (from the cold state of South Dakota).  I dont have a pond pond at the moment, my fish are in a octagon bath tub (with liner), an above ground pond we built this summer out of landscape timbers (with liner), and I have two kiddie pools with plants.  All had ice on them this morning when we had to leave at 7:30 am for fiance's dr. appt. and when we got back home around 1:30 still had ice on them.  I poked holes in the ice this morning and when I got home this afternoon.  No sign of the fish, I hope they are ok.  It's cold for here.  But I'm used to it.

Hope everyone tries to stay warm and their fish and plants are ok!

[cashb]

Well it did get to 34 here last night and upon checking the pond temp it was at 52 down from 64 yesterday.  Fish were a little slower moving but still sorta lively.  It snowed (briefly) in Daytona Beach last night, glad it wasn't as cold here.  (No Tinkster, I never wish for frost having been born and raised here!) I had some plant damage as well which is luckily fairly uncommon.  For whatever reason tho, the pond water is crystal clear now and has not been for quite a while.  Happy about that!  Snuggle up northerners, or come on down!

[El Jefe]

Well after temperatures that dropped into the teens for the last two nights my marginals are fried. They look like frozen lettuce.  my saggitaria and Arrow arum are so much goo, as do my Arum Lillies and my Umbrella grass looks bad, other than that my tropicals and hardies seem fine picture tomorrow....
Andy

[Julles]

We had a few days of really cold spell... funny to see all the homeowners scramble to throw sheets and blankets over their tropical plants.  Now it's back up to around 75º, I'd guess.

My fish and plants are fine.

But the warmth is fooling the animals... my turtles have come out of estivation (the chenolian version of hibernation), and are walking around, sunning themselves, and looking for something to eat.  The other day, I found a hatchling, sitting right out in the open! 

It's hard to know if I should feed them or not... Seems like a turtle would know what's best for him, and if he's active, it'd be OK to feed him... But on the other hand, they need warmth in order to digest their food, and I don't know if it's warm enough - or how long this warm spell will last.  It IS January, after all.