Hello, new here and just checking in

Hi all, I am a new member to this forum. I love gardening and my pond. I live in western Wisconsin, so it is just about time to get my pond up and going for the summer. I did have some bad luck this year. We have always been able to keep our pond open in the winter with a small floating heater. This year, however, the weather was so cold that the heater couldn't keep up and the pond froze completely killing all my fish. I hope to find helpful information here.

heima

Very sorry to hear about your fish loss.

Sorry to hear about your loss as well. Did you keep a soccer, basketball or volleyball in it to keep a weep hole open? I hear that works.

Never heard of that. The biggest problem was the extreme cold this winter. We had many nights that were -20 degrees or lower. The worst was a -45 night. I think that was the night that did us in. Then, I didn't notice it until too late. Sure can't wait for spring weather to stay. I will try the ball idea next year.

The depth is very important in extremely cold climates, too shallow and nothing will stop the freeze short of heaters.