How to care for the pond and keep it in order at any time of the year

How to care for a pond

A pond near the house creates a special cosiness and peace. It’s nice to sit by the water with a cup of your favorite drink and watch the fish. But work hard for such pleasure too. Caring for the pond is a simple matter, but you still have to follow some rules. You do not need to neglect them, because by properly caring for your mini-lake, you can maintain its transparency for a long time and avoid clogging.

Content

• Spring pond care
• Summer pond care
• Care of the pond in the fall
• Winter pond care
• Useful Tips

 

Each time of the year dictates its own rules for caring for a garden pond. But it is important to remember that the environment can make a difference. If, for example, poplar grows near your pond, then at the beginning of summer you need to think about how to protect the water surface from clogging with down.

Spring pond care

In March, it is necessary to clean the bottom of the pond from silt. For this, you can use an electric pump. If the pond is small, then a mechanical model is also suitable. Any model of sludge pump should be used with caution, especially if there are larvae of newts in the pond or tadpoles live. The film at the bottom should be checked for damage, if any, sealed to avoid water leakage.

Ornamental plants growing around the water are cut to a height of 15-20 cm, but this must be done so as not to damage the young shoots. The overgrown shrubs must be divided, this increases the density of their flowering in the summer. When the weather forecast does not threaten frost, then it’s time to plant annual plants off the pond.

Around mid-April, you need to enable filters that will work 24 hours a day. At the same time, fountains are launched and the first water analysis is done using a special tester.

Summer pond care

The main summer inventory is the butterfly net. It is better to get two: one should be with a fine mesh, and the other with a large one. Small ones need to collect pollen from the surface of the water floating on the surface of the water, and large ones need fallen leaves, petals and filamentous algae. Do not rush to dispose of the collected plant material, it can be an excellent fertilizer for garden flowers and vegetables.

Water lilies and irises growing in water need constant feeding with minerals, for this they use special fertilizers of prolonged action. You also need to make sure that the bushes do not grow much. The rhizomes of old water lilies must be cut with a sharp secateurs so that several sprouts remain on each part. For the first time, young plants should be planted in shallow water, best in baskets, so it will be more convenient to transfer them to another place.

Starting in June, you can plant tropical plants – water lettuce, eichornia and lotuses. And so that all this looks aesthetically pleasing, the shore of the reservoir should be regularly cleaned of weeds and shoots of trees. The latter are generally a threat to the decorative pond, as they can sprout in the wrong place and damage the bottom of the reservoir. Therefore, such trees as cherry, poplar and acacia, around the pond should not be in a radius of ten meters. If you had the imprudence to plant one of these nearby, then in the coming fall, start replanting trees in more suitable places..

It is very important not to forget to control the quality of water throughout the summer period..

Care of the pond in the fall

The golden season usually adds work around the reservoir. If Indian summer is in full swing in September, the cleaning of ponds is limited to the same collection of swollen leaves and cobwebs from the water surface, but much more often. Do not allow fallen leaves and other garbage to sink to the bottom of the pond. If for some reason you can’t pay attention to your lake, cover it with a special net, but periodically check that no animals get into it.

Dead parts of plants need to be cut, and strongly overgrown bushes should be thinned out. Annual flowers are disposed of as they dry. Underwater vegetation is pruned. Tropical plants are removed from the pond and placed in containers with water. The room where they will be wintering should be light and frost-resistant.

If there are fish in the pond, then you need to stop feeding them when the water temperature drops to 9 degrees. Turns out they don’t eat in winter.

Winter pond care

If reeds grow in the pond, you do not need to remove them, leave at least a part until spring, they will protect the water surface from freezing.

Non-frost resistant pumps and filters must be removed. Pay attention to their storage until spring, read the instructions for them in advance, perhaps some parts need to be stored in a container of water.

Drain all pipes and hoses. Before frost, it is advisable to include an anti-icer, it will provide gas exchange and prevent the pond from freezing completely. But if the ice has already covered the surface of the reservoir, then it cannot be broken. This can be dangerous for both plant roots and fish. It is better to put a pan of hot water on a frozen surface and thus make an ice hole.

At positive temperatures, cover the pond with a net so that the bottom is less clogged.

Useful Tips

It so happens that caring for the pond in accordance with all the instructions, you observe in it clouded water or too lush vegetation. Do not sound the alarm, all these minor troubles are easily solved. The main thing is to be informed on time.

• How to avoid the appearance of foam on the water and what to do if it has already appeared?

Foam on the surface of the water appears as a result of an increased concentration of protein in the pond. The reason for this most often becomes pollen sprinkled from flowers. In this case, the water must be replaced, but not all, but about 30%. It is also advisable to do a water analysis for stiffness. To prevent the problem, you can use a special anti-foaming liquid.

• What to do if the pond drops in water?

First of all, check the bottom for damage. If the film has holes, then it is necessary to glue them and remove the roots and stones, which often cause leaks. If the film is whole, most likely the water evaporates due to the heat. In this case, you just need to pump water during hot days, which can be done using a pump.

• How to clear clouded water?

The water in the pond may become cloudy due to overgrown algae, which urgently needs to be thinned out. Also, the cause may be a large number of fish, which agitates the sludge at the bottom. In such reservoirs it is recommended to install special filters to prevent turbidity of the water. There is another popular method to make your pond transparent – to breed crayfish in it. These creatures do not need additional feeding. They eat algae, the remains of fish food, fallen leaves and are nurses of the underwater environment. Just to make the crayfish feel comfortable, it is necessary to build additional stone caves for them off the coast of the pond.

Now, having the necessary knowledge, you can independently take care of your body of water. May it always be clean and transparent.