How do you shade your pond?

[adavisus]

Yup, you could strategically place iris on the sunrise and sunset sides to moderate the pond surface as the sun begins to climb, and set

The waterlilies will moderate the big overhead blast through noon. Hardy waterlilies are good as they leaf up well before the heat of summer goes lethalish

 

[angie63]

l put fake lily pads across my above ground pond to cut down on the amount of light getting to the water

 

[Abby]

Those are great, we use it at the farmers market when selling honey. Well made, easy to move.

 

[Abby]

for shade for decreased Temps and decreased visibility (to protect against predators), we use:

Water Lilies for coverage
Blue pond dye for tinting darkening water
Fountains for distortion in water (for decreased visibility, not shade)

 

[texmaster]

Shade Sails FTW

 

[addy1]

All of my ponds are full Sun, face south, zero shade, they all do well with plants and bog. Never have green water or a load of string algae. The plants love the sun.

 

[Mgessert]

I made a shade cloth cover for half of my little pond, and am hoping I will be able to remove it eventually.

 

[GBBUDD]

most pond plants are full sun

 

[juanprieto]

My pond is going to be directly in the southern sun all day during the summer with nothing to block it. And, while I know some sun is good, too much isn't, especially for a raised pond.

I have a few ideas for shade....I was thinking off building a trellis on the southern side and growing some flowering vines, but in the height of the summer, the trellis would have to be pretty high. I could build a small pergola and grow vines on that, too. I am also thinking of putting up a sail shade between 3 posts, but I am wondering how it will be when the winds pick up?

For those of you that don't have natural shade or your pond isn't protected from the sun by a building on your property, how do you shade your pond...if you do? Any pics for ideas is appreciated. Thanks!

I am in Miami and this summer it's already hit 94 degrees. My 2,500 gallon in ground pond does not have any trees or much natural shade. I put up two shade sails I got from Amazon. They are attached with wire cable to the house and to several 4"x6"x12' exterior grade wood posts. The posts are about 24" in the ground and in concrete. Even with the shade the water gets up to about 84 degrees but if I did not have these sails my fish would probably boil! This I believe is the cheapest option and it allows you to remove them in the winter when the sun is not so bad.