A few ?'s for first time winterizing the pond and bog.

Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
469
Reaction score
151
Location
NE Indiana
Hardiness Zone
6a
Country
United States
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!
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,340
Reaction score
29,091
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
The lilies, cut all dead leaves and buds off (also any large living leaves if you are grooming for the winter), sink deep enough they won't freeze. The lotus, wait until the old leaves stems are really dead then you can groom them back, also have the tuber deep enough it won't freeze. The bog plants you can ignore till spring or trim them now, thin if need be

my iris I leave them alone, they stay green all winter. The cat tails, rush I groom in the spring. 4getmenot, I don't groom till spring. Rush I leave it be, groom in the spring if needed.

Here is a write up on some of the common water plants.

http://www.gardenpon...he-common-ones/

I shut my external pump down for winter, so can't help you with that.
 
Joined
Feb 9, 2012
Messages
1,689
Reaction score
2,269
Location
High Desert Zone 7a
Showcase(s):
1
Very good questions. I can tell you what I have done so far, can't tell you if it is right or wrong though... LOL

This weekend I cleaned all the mint out of my skippies, just ripped it all out as I don't want it coming back next year, though it probably will. :(

I discovered several perennials buried in the mint, so I left them be. Day lilies, monkey flower, various grasses and hostas. If the plants were dieing I cut them back still green I left them. In my skippies the only things that were dieing were the hostas.

In the pond I cut my bareroot irises down to just above water level as they were dieing. But I have left the potted irises alone since they are still green.

I have a mini bog of sorts with sweet flag, rush and daylilies, those are still green I left them alone.

I cut my water lilies down to about an inch tall a few weeks ago since the leaves were all dieing.

If the green plants die I will cut them back then. We have plenty of nice mild days between now and late December to do so. If they don't die off by then I'll wait till spring.

Netted out the bottom of the pond.

Now the big question... Leaving the pumps going...

I am zone 6/7 and have gone back and forth on this. I like the idea of leaving the pumps going to keep water circulating through the skippies. But there are some things to consider.
  • Mixing the water too much in winter can cool it off more than it would be if the pumps weren't running which can be bad for the fishies.
  • Any type of issue that arises will need to be dealt with in the dead of winter :(
On the second note, I often have to move some rocks, fix a liner edge, clear debris from blocking water flow etc in the summer so I don't loose water. I don't like the idea of doing this when it is 10 degrees outside.

So I will shut mine off. This year I plan on unhooking the hoses to the skippies and the other ends to pumps. Pulling the pump end out of the water and blowing the hoses out with a shopvac then capping them off. I will leave the water in my skippies since I have bare root plants growing in them, then flush them in the spring before starting her back up.

Last year we had a mild winter, the pond iced over to about an inch thick at the coldest point except where I had the airstone going. That was only for a period of about 2 to 3 weeks in January.
 

callingcolleen1

mad hatter
Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
9,431
Reaction score
8,128
Location
Medicine Hat Alberta, Canada (zone 2/3)
Hardiness Zone
4a
Country
Canada
Pecan, you call one inch of ice WiNtER?? I call that spring! I don't ever shut all my pumps down, just the small spitters. I live in zone 2/3 and the bottom pond gets so much ice I can walk over it! I do heat the pond when air temperature falls below minis 10 c.

I would not worry too much about that little bit of ice, I wish I had your winter! :)

This is what things look like today!
 

Attachments

  • IMAG1830-1.jpg
    IMAG1830-1.jpg
    66.6 KB · Views: 422
  • IMAG1826.jpg
    IMAG1826.jpg
    70 KB · Views: 375

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
30,782
Messages
508,591
Members
13,043
Latest member
cisifom

Latest Threads

Top