Sunday, October 11, 2009

It’s almost time to fall back, but not into the pond


Just like with clocks, there are some things that must be done each year at the Koi Garden Pond. As the temperatures drop, both in the water and in the air, the plants will start to change color and die back. The water will begin to change as well losing the algae that cause the green color and will eventually become clearer. In addition to the changes inside the pond, the leaves in all the adjoining trees are changing color and will start to fall into the pond.

This is an important time for the pond. The dropping leaves and die back of the pond plants can introduce a lot of biomass into the pond in a short period of time, putting real stress on the Nitrogen cycle. As we talked about in earlier posts, this can really screw up the chemicals of the Koi pond. And one thing you cannot mess with is my chemicals in the pond, not after the work we have done to get them in order…





Face it, cutting back the existing pond plants will just sort of speed up what was going to happen anyway and allows us a way to keep the plants from decaying in the pond. We have already gotten the benefits of the plants, both visually and with respect to pond health. It only goes downhill from here… at least till next spring. Trimming the pond plants back also allows me access to any gardening and repotting needs. Lilies are notorious for outgrowing their pots. They are also a very easy plant to break up and split into multiple pots. And as any aficionado of Japanese gardens knows, you cannot ever have enough lilies…







Once we have cut all the pond plants back and or done any required repotting, we can place them back in the pond. They go dormant and will do just fine in the water during the winter. Now we can place the pond cover over the pond. This will not only keep the falling leaves out of the pond, but also keep any Koi-hungry predators from getting at the Koi.





At this time, it could also make sense to do a partial water change. This gives the pond a bump start in cleaning up the water. As the water temperature drops, the algae that makes up the green water, will start to die back. By manually reducing the algae, we are reducing the possibility that large amounts of dying algae will cause a spike in Ammonia and we have already talked about the evils of Ammonia and the Nitrogen cycle… The water is also very high in nutrients. So reserve it for your favorite plants!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very informative Mr. Koi Garden Guy! You almost make me want to start my own Koi pond here in Central Oregon!

Koi Garden Guy said...

Thanks Anonymous. Koi gardens work well in dry territory and high desert where the winters get colder. Under three or four feet of water the Japanese Koi would be very happy regardless!!!!