Seasonal Hints for Spring
OPENING THE POND
March (or whenever the water becomes a liquid
and seems likely to stay that way)
Invest in some of that "Spring Fever" in my pond. After checking
the connections to your filter, turn on the pump and add the first dose of
beneficial bacteria to the water.
Make a general observation of the fish and plants to ascertain their health and vigor. After the inspection, grab a dredging net (Nycon Net Co. calls it a "B-10 Fish Net" but no one I know uses it for fish) and attack the accumulated debris in the open bottom of my pond. Ten minutes later you will have a wheelbarrow full of "Muck" which is great organic fertilizer. The pump and filter will quickly take care of the remaining, now stirred up, sediment. This is one major advantage of a good external "black box" filter and pump system.
If there is No Stone in the Bottom of your pond
For those of you who have shelves or "shallows" that
are lined with river stone a great way to "clean up" those stoned
areas, assuming that you have an open (no stone and easy to dredge bottom)
area is to use the tubing from your pump like an aquatic leaf blower. This
will stir up all kinds of debris. Your pump and external filter will take
some and the rest will settle to the pond bottom to await your "B-10"
net.
Please don't use the garden hose - that chlorinated water will destroy zillions of beneficial bacteria.
If there is Rocks on the Bottom of your pond (which
we recommend to stay far away from)
If your entire pond is lined with stone a different approach is
essential. That system must be pumped out, pressure washed and then refilled.
Its always After such a cleaning, take special precautions to re-establish
your water quality and a healthy pond ecology. This preceding applies only
to ponds that have stone on the bottom of their pond.
As weather permits and the spring progresses
- Test the water quality (pH, Ammonia & Nitrite)
- Feed the fish with a special Spring/Autumn (low temperature) food
- Take an hour to raise the plants onto their shelves and pedestals and give
them a dose of fertilizer in the process
- Possibly repeat the dredging and clean the filter if much debris had been
left around the plants
- Repeat the addition of bacteria and add some micronutrients for the plants
and for the fish. (Snow and rain usually has diluted my healthy pond water.)
- Add some submerged oxygenating plants and Japanese Trap Door Snails.
- When water temps reach 55 & 60 degrees respectively, the fish can be
fed with summer fish food and water hyacinths can be added.
Water Hawthorn
Water Hawthorn is from Madagascar, often listed as a tropical but it has survived
for several years now for us here in Massachusetts. It has fragrent flowers
in the Spring and Fall. It then goes fully dormant during the summer months(so
when it looks dead trust me it's not)