Ponds in Canada

[callingcolleen1]

Hello, have I got any friends...... Anywhere?? Any one want to "friend and friendly Canadian?

Just got home from work, saw some "frosty grass" on the way to work this morning, everything by the pond just great! Frost did'nt get me!

 

[callingcolleen1]

Cleaned some pond filters, gave the water to the tomatoes. Suns out, was ugly out yesterday, rain, thunder, hail, snow, should be nice for weekend, crazy weather...
Went to park with puppies, grass is getting real tall by river, so is the grass in my pond, sprang out all of a sudden.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Just now, reporting live from my pond, Hello out there! Any one need to ask me anything, feel free to, I have been wintering my pond for 20 years now in Canada, never shut down pond, never clean pond or ever do water changes, just clean the filters. No UV light ever needed in my pond. Lots of good sedges will clean the pond better! :

 

[CometKeith]

Hey, Colleen great pics and really pretty pond and fish. I have heard of people running pumps all winter, but I'm surprised you don't clean your pond or do water changes and it works out good. I thought most experienced pond owners do regular water changes and occasionally clean their ponds. I met someone with a 4000 gallon pond that did a 20% water change every day. Oh and by the way... good luck with your own thread. You are off to a great start with all the cool pics.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Have not had any problems with pond for a good 10 or 12 years now. There is lots of big plants in my pond that do take big drinks, also the water evaorates quickly when we get those hot dry winds so then the pond gets topped off with fresh water. Being doing it this way for many years now. Sometimes I think people disturb there ponds way too much, and that really can get in the way of trying to balance the pond. Like I said before, used to use good bacteria and Shac Ponder, have not needed those products for years now.

My first couple years of ponding it, I had some trouble here and there, made the mistake of having too many floaters one year, long time ago, found that they can choke pond to death slowly, use sedges mostly now cause they clean better than any other plant in the pond, read that in National Geographic. Too many lillys can act like a blanket and smother and over heat pond too. Learned lots over the years. Learned trees and caterpilllers are real good for my pond too, some people just don't understand cause they don't have trees and caterpillers maybe, maybe they just did'nt study them for years like I did.

Nature gave us ponds and trees together, never seen a natural pond in nature with no trees. Many years ago when I was in my early twenty's, someone asked if I wanted their goldfish. It was getting late in the year and winter was coming soon, they said if I did'nt get the fish they would freeze to death. I went to get the fish, and could hardly find the pond because so many leaves had fallen. Then there under the tree was this little fish pond, no bigger than 50 Gallon, bottom of pond had a good ten inches of leaves, just laying there at the bottom. As I studied this little pond I was amazed, no pump, crystal clear but golden water, and big fat healthy goldfish. Never forgot that little pond.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Have not had any problems with pond for a good 10 or 12 years now. There is lots of big plants in my pond that do take big drinks, also the water evaorates quickly when we get those hot dry winds so then the pond gets topped off with fresh water. Being doing it this way for many years now. Sometimes I think people disturb there ponds way too much, and that really can get in the way of trying to balance the pond. Like I said before, used to use good bacteria and Shac Ponder, have not needed those products for years now.

My first couple years of ponding it, I had some trouble here and there, made the mistake of having too many floaters one year, long time ago, found that they can choke pond to death slowly, use sedges mostly now cause they clean better than any other plant in the pond, read that in National Geographic. Too many lillys can act like a blanket and smother and over heat pond too. Learned lots over the years. Learned trees and caterpilllers are real good for my pond too, some people just don't understand cause they don't have trees and caterpillers maybe, maybe they just did'nt study them for years like I did.

Nature gave us ponds and trees together, never seen a natural pond in nature with no trees. Many years ago when I was in my early twenty's, someone asked if I wanted their goldfish. It was getting late in the year and winter was coming soon, they said if I did'nt get the fish they would freeze to death. I went to get the fish, and could hardly find the pond because so many leaves had fallen. Then there under the tree was this little fish pond, no bigger than 50 Gallon, bottom of pond had a good ten inches of leaves, just laying there at the bottom. As I studied this little pond I was amazed, no pump, crystal clear but golden water, and big fat healthy goldfish. Never forgot that little pond.

 

[sissy]

great pics of your pond and nice healthy big fish .keep posting as there are Canada people on here and a lot of people in colder states that could use help .Here it is heat in the summer that gets us .It can be over a 95 degrees for 2 weeks and goes up to 100 degrees for days at a time with no rain in sight .

 

[callingcolleen1]

Sissy: we get real hot weather too. Where I live the zone is semi-arid desert. Some summers are so hot that its above 100 and no rain some summers. The winters can be very brutally cold and harsh. Sometimes it gets down to -47 and its so cold that your tires in the car go "square" and your eyelashes freeze too.
I try to keep a good coverage of ice on the pond cause the snow will fall over top and insulate it better.

Comet Keith, thought about what you told me about the professionals changing their water all the time. They most likely keep lots of fish and do lots of shipping in and out so their ponds are maybe stocked to the limit. Wonder if your pro friend has any good sedges, like very large clumps of yellow flags. I find that these flags are very aggressive pond growers, and as such, require lots of extra nutrients. I used to work at a greenhouse and grew lots of different water plants, and this plant is a must for cleaning the pond. Yellow flag water iris can also be planted with no soil or pot. I find they do best that way, Just take a piece of the root and wedge it somewhere at the water level. This plant will grow so quick once established (2 or 3 years) that it can spread horizontally across the water and it will float' anchored only in one or two spots. My yellow flags grow 5 to 6 feet tall and they help shade the pond without smothering the pond. Lots of people tend to smother the pond with lillys and floaters. I keep my lillys in the bottom pond because the yellow flags are such big eaters that they tend to starve out the lillys. Below is some examples of a small yellow flag wedged into the side of pond and across is the large clump that floats

 

[callingcolleen1]

Going to have a coffee and sit on that log right now and sun bath by pond!

 

[sissy]

funny everytime I sit down and have coffee so are you

 

[sissy]

geeze lol I complain when it gets down to 10 degrees here .Good gosh bone chilling cold that is

 

[callingcolleen1]

Why do you think I like saturated fat so much, yum, bacon, cheese..... keeps you warm up here ha ha ha!
Oh ya, my sisters became "vegans" and man do they look sick when its that cold! I keep telling them to eat a big steak!

 

[callingcolleen1]

This is Poppy, today, sampling the water quality of the pond, and Bear by the fence on the look out for that cat!

 

[sissy]

hmmm does his tail go up when the water test is good

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes, and Poppy said to me that it was very good, HER tail is always up so that when we go to the park I can see the tip of her tail as she runs thew the tall grass by the river! Poppy was named after the poppy flowers that grow by the pond.