Last Updated: 1/3/11

1. On 10/3/10, I squirted off the flosses and did the usual. The 1800 gallon was at 60 degrees F and the 153 gallon at 63 degrees F. I found another iris in a two gallon pot and repotted it. There was some wisteria barely alive with it I believe. The iris seemed to be newly potted this year? That would make it the colorific iris perhaps. I tried to get the leaves up off the nets.

2. The morning of 10/9/10, I found the big pond was half a foot below normal! It seems the top rocks where the falls dump were again shifted so just a tiny bit of water was splashing out but enough to lose 500 gallons overnight! I had to run water in for 20 minutes twice and on the day I use massive amounts of water to change all the aquariums (not good because we're on a well).

3. Here are some photos taken 9/3/10 of the flowering bluebells and purple pickerel rush.
Flowering bluebells and purple pickerel rush
Flowering bluebells

4. On 10/10/10, I squirted off the flosses and the bioballs. The 1800 gallon was at 58 degrees F and the 153 gallon at 64 degrees F. I changed the PondMaster filters on the 153 gallon pond. I did the usual. This time of the year, that means getting most of the leaves off the net. There were a good amount but not tons just yet. I brought in half a dozen pond dewhickeys. If I bring in just a few each week, it's not as overwhelming.

5. On 10/17/10, I did the pond chores early at 10 am. The 1800 gallon was at 52 degrees F and the 153 gallon at 58 degrees F. It's starting to get cool. I squirted off the flosses. I shook the nets and removed the majority of the leaves. I cut off about half the lotus leaves which were broken or starting to darken and/or shrivel up. I cut down the other dwarf cattail. That was about it. In a few weeks, all the marginals will be cut. We have not yet had a frost (which is good because I will not bring in all the tropicals until 10/21/10).

6. I took off 10/21/10 to bring in most of the tropical pond plants and house plants for the winter. Last year, I noted that it took 6 hours. It was almost that long this year. Before starting all the work, I took some fishing line and sewed the biggest hole in the 1800 gallon pond. I didn't attempt to pull the hole closed but rather used the line to create some blocking lines to keep more leaves from finding their way to the hole. It took about two hours to get the basement ready and set up the 50 gallon Rubbermaid indoor tub pond. I brought in the huge new tropical pink pickerel rush which was in a two gallon pot. It was overgrown. I cut off about two thirds of the leaves (I broke most of those just getting it out of the pond by brute force) and did not repot it. It was very tall and touches the light fixture. The pickerel had one flower bunch still in bloom and one not yet open. I also pulled about half the bluebells out of the pond and bunched them up and put them bareroot in the indoor pond. They were full of seed pods. They kind of flop over and almost immediately the cats start eating the leaves, and the leaves will mostly drop off in the next few months. In a few weeks, when I cut down the hardy marginals, I will also cut out any bluebells left in there. I have too many, and they grow all over. The indoor pond has a small fountain and no animals at this time. This year, I made a cover for the pond from PVC-coated hardware cloth and cut holes for the fountain and plants.

7. On 10/24/10, I squirted off the flosses. While the air was up to 70 degrees F, the 1800 gallon water was at 55 degrees F and the 153 gallon water at 60 degrees F. I took apart the Cyprio filter for the year. I cut down the rest of the lotus and some sweetflag. I got leaves off the net.

8. I linked in these pond photos.

From 9/26/10 when I put the full nets on the ponds. I took photos of the big pond after the half net was off but before I put on the full net:
153 gallon pond netted.
1800 gallon pond facing southwest.
1800 gallon pond fish - the three koi are towards the left; the two orfe are at the top; the rest are goldfish.
1800 gallon pond fish - the two largest koi (Maggie and Colin) are to the upper left; the smaller koi (Kojak) is in the middle; one orfe is at the top middle; one orfe is at the right middle; the rest are goldfish.
1800 gallon pond fish - Colin is on the left; Kojak is in the middle; the rest are goldfish.
1800 gallon pond fish - Maggie and Colin are to the upper left; Kojak is in the middle (hard to see); the two orfe are on the right; the rest are goldfish.
1800 gallon pond fish - Kojak is in the upper right; one orfe is at the upper right; one orfe is at the very top in the middle (cut off); the rest are goldfish.
Purple pickerel rush flowers
Kojak
1800 gallon pond netted with the full leaf net, facing southwest.
Dead wood frog at the pond overflow.

9. On 10/31/10, I squirted off the flosses. The 1800 gallon pond was at 52 degrees F and the 153 gallon at 56 degrees F. Then, it became a long battle against the leaves which wasn't easy because the wind was blowing and throwing leaves back on me and the pond. Both ponds were so covered in leaves on the nets that you couldn't see the water or fish. The leaves were weighing down the net once I released it so I couldn't just shake the net, remove the leaves, and be done. I had to shake, get some leaves, shake, get some more leaves, and repeat about five times to get the majority of them. I then tried the new leaf blower for getting leaves off the area around the pond. I bled out all three batteries in about 10 minutes but it did help some and saved my arm some raking time. The leaf blower also blew and moved mulch but not really much more than when raked lightly. I still did half an hour of raking leaves from around the pond and out of the way. I cut down the hardy canna, common cattails, and purple pickerel rush. The remaining marginals are mostly iris and sweetflag and smaller things which I will cut in the next few weeks. We got our first real frost that night and more to come this coming week. I dug out the overflow for the 153 gallon pond which was collapsed with mud. I changed the PondMaster filters in that pond for the last time this year.

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