Hi ya'all! Sure has been awhile!
So it's getting cold and my hubby is on my case about the pond. I'm thinking this coming week is probably going to be our "indian summer" so I'm planning to get this all done. So I have some questions. I tried looking through some old topics but didn't see what I am looking for.
I know I need to cut my lilies and lotus back. When I do this, how much should be left above the clay soil? Should I just cut it right down flush, or leave 2-3" above the soil? Also, I have iris, mini cattail, and water forget-me-not planted in the pond. Should I cut off what is above the water or leave them as they are. The water forget-me-not technically is not planted, it just floats in the pond.
What do I do about the plants in my bog? Should I thin them out, cut them down, leave them alone or what? I have corkscrew rush, horsetail rush, daylily, and chameleon plant in there, and they are all very full and don't look like they are dying back at all yet.
I read somewhere that in zone 4/5 if you have a 2800 gph pump or more, you can leave everything running all winter long. Well, my pump is 3500gph and we are zone 5/6, so that means I can just leave it all going right? Seems like it would be better for the plants in the bog if water is getting to them all winter as opposed to disconnecting it from the pump.
If disconnecting the pump from the bog filter is the best way to go, I was planning on just redirecting the pump outflow right back into the pond, slightly above water level so that it keeps the surface from freezing solid. I need to keep my pump in the skimmer box, because when I built everything in never occured to me to make a way to take it out of there easily, and there isn't so it isn't moving. Should I take out the skimmer's filter brushes and just keep the net in there to catch any large debris? Should I take those out anyway even if I keep the water flowing through the bog and waterfall?
Anything else I should do that I am missing somehow? I really don't have any debris at the bottom to net out, it's still pretty clean. Also, no big trees or anything around to worry about stuff falling in the pond to really need a net over the top of it.
Thanks for all your help as usual!
So it's getting cold and my hubby is on my case about the pond. I'm thinking this coming week is probably going to be our "indian summer" so I'm planning to get this all done. So I have some questions. I tried looking through some old topics but didn't see what I am looking for.
I know I need to cut my lilies and lotus back. When I do this, how much should be left above the clay soil? Should I just cut it right down flush, or leave 2-3" above the soil? Also, I have iris, mini cattail, and water forget-me-not planted in the pond. Should I cut off what is above the water or leave them as they are. The water forget-me-not technically is not planted, it just floats in the pond.
What do I do about the plants in my bog? Should I thin them out, cut them down, leave them alone or what? I have corkscrew rush, horsetail rush, daylily, and chameleon plant in there, and they are all very full and don't look like they are dying back at all yet.
I read somewhere that in zone 4/5 if you have a 2800 gph pump or more, you can leave everything running all winter long. Well, my pump is 3500gph and we are zone 5/6, so that means I can just leave it all going right? Seems like it would be better for the plants in the bog if water is getting to them all winter as opposed to disconnecting it from the pump.
If disconnecting the pump from the bog filter is the best way to go, I was planning on just redirecting the pump outflow right back into the pond, slightly above water level so that it keeps the surface from freezing solid. I need to keep my pump in the skimmer box, because when I built everything in never occured to me to make a way to take it out of there easily, and there isn't so it isn't moving. Should I take out the skimmer's filter brushes and just keep the net in there to catch any large debris? Should I take those out anyway even if I keep the water flowing through the bog and waterfall?
Anything else I should do that I am missing somehow? I really don't have any debris at the bottom to net out, it's still pretty clean. Also, no big trees or anything around to worry about stuff falling in the pond to really need a net over the top of it.
Thanks for all your help as usual!