When winterizing a water garden pond, there are several steps to keep in mind. You must do each to ensure that your fish and plant life survive. Here's a step-by-step method for ensuring that your water garden pond thrives over the winter.
This is a guide for those with a soft pond liner. If you have a hard pond liner, you have many less steps to take, which can be found easily online. Make sure that you check which type of liner you have before you begin to winterize your pond.
First, you need to remove half of the pond's water. To do this, you will need to disconnect your pump, and reconnect the water to another hose that pumps away from your pond. This is going to make the rest of your steps much easier, by making it easier to see.
Your second step to to remove your potted plants. You will need to trim those plants, because if you do not, the leaves will fall into your pond as they die over the winter, which will make your pond dirty, and will be dangerous for your fish.
You must wait until the spring to re-pot any plants, because doing so in the fall will make them weak. If you have water lilies, cut them to their base, and if they do need to be replanted, also save that task until the spring.
Your next step is to catch your fish, and place them in buckets filled with pond water. This will make your next step, removing any debris, much easier. Make sure to remove it all for the health of your fish, but remember you can use it as mulch!
You can now place your plants back into your pond. They must be at least a foot and a half beneath the freezing line. If your plants are hardy, and are under three feet of water or more, they should be able to survive the winter months. Now it's time to return your hose to your pump.
Your final step when winterizing a water garden pond is to return your fish to their pond. Stop feeding them when the temperature hits fifty degrees, and begin again when it reaches fifty five. Make sure that you maintain a hole in the ice all winter, creating it by using a hot pan, and not by chipping at the ice.
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