Preparing for Winter

Fall is upon us. And we have to do some winter prep with our ponds. When the temps drop below 55 degrees F, it's time to move water lilles from the pond.

If you have a greenhouse, move your waterlily inside. Put it in a tub or small pond. Don't disturb the roots, Let the plant keep growing until it becomes dormant and leave it in the greenhouse until new leaves come up again the spring.

Once the plant is no longer dormant, you can divide and repot in fresh soil for the growing season.

If the temperatures dip below 55 in your greenhouse, this method wil not work.

Preparing your pond for winter

Fall really is coming, sometime

I know we have had insufferably hot weather for seemingly months on end now. Some of us have had no rain, others have had more than they ever wanted to see.

But fall is really coming. And in the fall we have to start buttoning up our ponds for winter. i will be spotlighting necessary actions to get through chilly weather and into icy weather.
Now that the days are shortening, you are noticing your water lilies are not blooming as much and the new leaves are getting smaller. They are going into dormancy. If your weather is dropping below 60 degrees at night, stop fertilizing your lilies and let them continue into dormancy. Stimulating new growth this time of year can leave your lilies open for damage from an early freeze.

Snakes in the pond

I get many letters asking how to catch and kill a snake in the pond. We build these backyard resorts for wildlife and then want to make a gated community out of that resort. Snakes are much more afraid of you than you are of them. There are only a few poisonous snakes and even those are afraid of you. If you must rid your pond of snakes, you can probably catch them in a net and relocate it in nearby water.
Remember snakes eat toads, frogs, rats, mice, bugs and all matter of nasty vermin. Be glad to have snakes in your pond.

Remember, there is no such thing as one snake.