Last Updated: 12/4/17

1. I did pond chores on 11/5/17. The 1800 gallon pond was at 57 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 58 degrees F. I squirted off the only remaining filter in the big pond and squirted off the bioballs. There were eight pickerel and green frogs bouncing around in the filter! I had to get them out so they wouldn't be trapped after I put all the bioballs and lava rock back. I lowered the two two gallon pots of golden club to deeper water. I used my hands to remove lotus tubers from the lotus tub pond and put them in a mesh bag with a rock and sunk them in the deep end of the big pond.

2. I did pond work on 11/12/17. The 1800 gallon pond was at 43 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 44 degrees F as we had hard freezes the two nights before for the first time this fall. I had a lot to do but, per usual, not enough time so it was mostly about the leaves this day. I did remove the PondMaster filter in the 153 gallon pond and put in the Luft air pump instead. I did not get in the big pond, skipping a week for the first time since last late winter. I raked leaves from around the pond and got most of them off the net. I then did 1.5 hours of using the riding mower with leaf catcher to remove just a small percent of the leaves on the road and in the yards. I could not dig up the dahlia to bring it in as the soil was frozen, the same with the gladiolas, and there was ice on the lotus tub pond. I pulled the lotus the week before so it doesn't matter. I didn't have time to remove the tropical waterlily (or search for its tubers), cut down the marginals, and so on. I hope to get to those next week.

3. On 11/19/17, I did my best to do pond chores in horrible winds. The sustained winds were about 20 with gusts to 50 mph with temperatures in the low 40's. It is what I imagine hell is like. The 1800 gallon pond was at 48 degrees F (I had to find the thermometer which was not where it was supposed to be), and the 153 gallon pond was down to 46 degrees F. I squirted off the main filter floss (now the only pump in the ponds). I could only get in the pond after using the long net to gather leaves off the pond net and putting them in the wheel barrow. I managed to cut down the remaining marginals in the big pond and lower the leaf net. I couldn't manage to empty out the lotus tub pond, dig up the tropical waterlily, clean up leaves, or put out the de-icers. I just couldn't take it. Plus, I was running really late which is more and more often these days.

The main waterfall was just dripping. If there's a hard freeze, it will freeze over. I have to play with the waterfall to try to get water to actually flow where it's supposed to go. It's all running under the rocks on that side of the waterfall. The other side, the mini stream, is running fast enough to prevent freezing over.

4. I did pond chores two days early on Friday, 11/24/17, because that's when I had time, and Sunday was supposed to be cold and windy (it actually wasn't too bad). On this Friday, at 11 am, the 1800 gallon pond's thermometer read 42 degrees F while that in the 153 gallon pond read 40 degrees F. The air temperature was 50 degrees F. I did not get in the pond. I raked up leaves around the pond. I topped off all but the big pond (which I topped off on Sunday) and put in a few water additives including the last of the MicrobeLift Autumn Prep solutions which smells horrible from the hydrogen sulfide. I dug out the lotus tub pond and put it away for the winter. I didn't find any more tubers in there. I finally dug up most of the gladiola bulbs. The only tropical left is the tropical waterlily. It is now almost a month past when I normally take it out but things are way out of control with too much to do. I put the de-icers in the top of the big pond's biofilter and in the 153 gallon pond over the air stone in there.

E-mail Robyn Copyright © 1997-2024 Robyn Rhudy