Finished winterizing...

[Kristin F.]

..and the water is COLD! Brrrr.....
I did cut down the lilies and all the marginals as well .. some of the plants in the mud pond are still untouched by the "cruel scissors"..

The fish have been eating "easy-digest" food for a couple of weeks - they are pretty fat actually and seem to be in good shape for "hibernation"

I shut down the pump at nights but let it run in daytime when it's warmer.
Do you shut down your pumps during the nights when temperatures drop?
Or do you let your pumps run 24hrs?

Here are photos of today ..
















There is still algae in the stream..





Yup, strange to see the pond so "naked and empty"...

..show me yours??

[EagleEye]

Sorry, don't have pics today, maybe tomorrow.
Yours is DROP DEAD GORGEOUS!

I brought my marginals and house plants in last week and now it is going to warm up. 
Oh well, my fish are fat as hell. They will be comming in in another month to their winter lodging. (indoor stock tank) I'll probably cut my lilies down tomorrow and cut off the iris as well. I have to remember to stop feeding the fish!

Steve

[MikeW]

Even after the cruel scissors, it looks great. I have not winterized yet ( that generally means repotting the tropicals in early December), but this is what I looked like today.

Mike

[Kristin F.]

Steve, thank you for your compliments 

Mike, your pond is soooooooo beautiful and lush .. envy you just a tiny bit of your climate
Your house is quite special - very beautiful indeed 

Thanks for sharing photos 

[Teresa]

Winterized ponds just shouldn't look that good!  It's absolutely gorgeous.  I wanna see pics when it has a foot or more of snow, too, please?

[Kristin F.]

sure thing Theresa - and thanks 

[Ky Kim]

Ooooh, beautiful pond and great pics.  You've done an excelent job on your pond, you should be very proud.
Love the way the fence reflects on the water.


Kim

[barb]

What pretty ponds! 

Mine is actually draining as we speak, it was turning a nasty green, and one of my goldfish is looking sickly.  Darn bull frogs have totally taken it over, we have about a dozen bullfrogs in the 5' x 8' pond!  I fear their waste is making my pond water icky.  My pond is only 6 months old, not sure what winterizing entails...I did just take out the pot of water celery, it was growing and spreading out all over the place.  I suppose I'll put it in the garage in a bucket of water for the winter.  Hopefully my fish will survive the winter, the pond is 2 1/2' deep in the center, and I'll get one of those electric warmers for it.  I guess I will stop feeding them soon?  My pump and filter is still running...this is all new to me!

[goldenangel]

I started winterizing this weekend.  Normally I wait but I didn't want to be in that water when it is so cold.  Since it was warm out I decided to get a head start.  The water was plenty cold (60 F) at least for me.  I still have more work to do but at least all of the lillies but one is cut down for the winter.  I still have the tropicals to move indoors and I want to Vac the pond before winter.  The fish are only getting fed once a day sometimes every other day.  All of them are fat and happy.  I won't actually shut down the pump and filter till probably the end of November or whenever it starts freezing whichever comes first.  I really hate this time of year.  It is so depressing to see the pond this way. 

[EagleEye]

I winterized my ponds last weekend. What that means to me is that I cut all of the growth off of the lillies, chopped all the iris down and brought my marginals into the house. I have to say that I do like the look of my naked pond. I have always left my pump, and underwaer lights in the pond over the winter. It's only about 20" deep but it doesn't freeze to the bottom. Sometimes I can turn my lights on and it shines through the ice. Kinda cool.
the fish won't come in for a month or so though. I'll turn the fountain and falls off when it freezes over.

I did drain my 100 gal stock tank that I had two topical lilies in. Before I did that the water in there was 47 degs. I put the topicals into a rubbermaid tub and set it on the deck. The last two days have been in the lower 80s. Tonight when I got home from work I found the unamed pink open. What a great suprise!

Steve

[Mikey]

How deep do you anticipate your pond freezing to?

[EagleEye]

I have drilled holes in them in the past with my ice augers and as I recall, it gets a foot or so of ice.
I think that what helps them not freeze to the bottom is that they are right next to the garage and it has a brick wall, and they face south and west, so the sun helps.

Steve

[goldenangel]

I agree.  I also have a 50 gal preform pond I'm guessing 18-20" deep that is next to the house and deck.  It has been there for several years and has never frozen solid.  In fact it hardly ever gets much ice even in the coldest part of winter.  I keep the pump running year round so I assume that helps as well.  It is also in a spot that gets more sunlight than my larger pond out back.  My big pond has had around a foot of ice at times.  So a difference in location really helps.

[barb]

I am glad to hear about the location, this will be the first winter for my pond.  It's small, only about 5' x 8', but it's 2 1/2' at it's deepest point.  I'm in Connecticut, zone 6, so it gets cold.  But my pond is on the south side of the house, which gets full sun.  I've been hoping that would help somewhat, that, and a pond de-icer.  I don't know what I will do if the entire surface freezes over, I will be in a frenzy.   

[Kristin F.]

Waaaahh!!??
One feet thick?

Goosh, that is thick
Last winter the ice only got 1 to 2 inches thick .. thankfully the winters here are mild, so freezing cold spells are few and short.
Winter temp extremes is between 14°F and 50°F, the average temp is "freeze for a few days, thaw for more days".

[Teresa]

My ice actually got almost 1/4 inch thick once and it covered most of the pond for a day or two.  That was a really hard winter tho . . . . I even had to turn the falls off (dunno why, just had to do it).