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Decorative pond in the garden. How to prepare a decorative pond for wintering
The process of preparing a decorative pond for the winter period scares many homeowner owners. Especially many questions arise for those who organize training for the first time. In fact, the process of preparing for wintering is not very complicated. First of all, it requires attention, accuracy and of course certain physical actions, the result of which will please the owners in the spring.
Content
- Wintering the pond video
- How to save a pond in winter video
- Pond in the country in winter - how to organize wintering plants
- How to prepare for wintering fish video
- Pond in winter - take care of the pond correctly
Wintering the pond
Initial preparation of a decorative reservoir for winter should begin even before the onset of cold weather. When the first foliage begins to fall, the pond is covered with a net. Naturally, multi-colored foliage looks much more interesting on a bluish surface of the water than on the surface of the net, but owners need to know that the leaves that fall into the pond and settle on the bottom will begin to rot in the spring and increase the content of ammonia and swamp gas in the water. Because of these substances, the water will become cloudy, and the fish and plants will die. At the first frost, the grid must be removed, otherwise it will freeze and tear.
At this stage of the preparatory process, it is very convenient to remove fallen leaves from the surface of the pond using a special water vacuum cleaner - a skimmer installed on the walls or bottom of the pond, or on the surface of the water.
How to save a pond in winter
Begin preparatory work for the wintering of the reservoir by cleaning its bottom. A similar work is carried out both in wintering reservoirs and in non-wintering ones. Debris accumulating at the bottom begins to decompose over time, forming harmful gases and thereby poisoning the fauna and flora of the reservoir. As already mentioned above, the most convenient way to clean a shallow pond is a water vacuum cleaner. If there is none, you can clean it yourself using a double-sided rake. They need to comb the bottom in different directions, pulling garbage to the shore. Those areas where aquatic wintering plants grow do not touch the rake. With a rather impressive pond size, the bottom is cleaned from a boat.
The bottom of the decorative pond in the country, the depth of which is not more than 1.5 m, is quite easy to clean. First, water is pumped out, then directly cleaned. The main thing to remember is that the pond in the winter should be clean.
With the onset of the period when the night air temperature begins to drop to +5 C, the pumps should be removed from the pond, having previously been disconnected, and also disconnected from the filters. The filter system is disassembled, all components are washed with saline. UV and filters must be dried and put into boxes. Keep them in a dry room. After cleaning, the pump is lowered into a bucket of water and also stored in a dry room.
There is a series of pumps that are equipped with an anti-freeze system. They can not be removed from water for the winter.
Devices for underwater lighting, hoses, fountain nozzles and other equipment of the pond are cleaned and treated with special compounds that remove lime deposits. Then it is dried and put in the same room.
The complexity of the upcoming work depends on the size of the reservoir. If it is less than 20 square meters. m, and the depth is less than 0.8 m, the pond is classified as non-rolling. It is natural, or created by human hands - it does not matter, in any case, in the conditions of central Russia, it will freeze to the bottom. All plants and fish are extracted from it; they are determined for wintering. Water is completely pumped out of such a reservoir, in which case the walls and bottom are cleaned manually.
After cleaning, the pond is filled with water by about half, all pipelines are clogged. If there are severe frosts, it is recommended to make an ice hole and pump out part of the water. The resulting air cushion will prevent freezing of the reservoir to the very bottom.
For a normal wintering of a natural reservoir, it will only be necessary to clean it and prepare for wintering of ornamental plants and fish. Other procedures will not be required. If a pond with a concrete base is equipped with high-quality waterproofing, then it can winter fully filled. A film pond made according to all the rules will also normally tolerate wintering when filled.
Owners of molded ponds will have to work harder - when freezing, water will exert increased pressure on the walls of fiberglass or plastic and can even cause their destruction. To prevent damage to the base, fill plastic bottles with sand and lower them into a pond. The number of bottles should correspond to the number of square meters that the pond occupies.
If the surface of the decorative pond is raised above the ground, then the water in it is pumped out to the level of the soil surface. If the soil and water are at the same level, then draining the water is not required.
Pond in the country in winter - how to organize wintering plants
In preparing the pond for winter, you will need to worry about the plants growing in it. All greenery growing in shallow water and in the swamp zone is carefully cut at water level. If there are plants that do not tolerate frost, you will need to cover them with burlap or fallen leaves. Plants that cannot be left in the water for the winter are removed and placed in a dimly lit room with a low positive temperature, the soil in containers is systematically moistened. If sedge or irises are determined for the winter indoors, then the reed is left in the water, moreover, it is not even cut off. Its tubular stems provide oxygen to the non-freezing layers of water in which the fish hibernates.
Some aquatic plants are not at all afraid of the cold - in autumn, wintering buds appear on them. For safety reasons, several wintering buds are cut from each species of such plants and kept indoors. If necessary, in the spring they will help revive the affected plant species.
It is desirable to extract all plants from a shallow reservoir. In deeper ponds, winter-hardy plants remove aged shoots and leaves, the containers in which they grow carry to a depth exceeding a meter mark.
Leaving water lilies in water is recommended only in areas with a very mild climate, or if the body of water has a large area and depth. If a decorative pond freezes in winter, then water lilies are removed from it and kept in the basement at a temperature of no higher than +5 degrees. They should be kept in containers with water, which completely covers the plants.
For delicate and demanding plants, it will be necessary to create special conditions, with a temperature of about 10-15 degrees, lighting should be moderate. Water in barrels is changed once every half a month.
To save the nymphs, the baskets with them will need to be transferred to an ice-free natural reservoir or you can dig a hole half a meter deep and bury the plants in it. If possible, a large number of plants should be left in the pond for wintering - this will help maintain the natural cyclicity of the pond's life and its biological balance.
How to prepare for wintering fish
The best option for fish is wintering in their own pond, but for its successful implementation, it will be necessary to maintain the water temperature at the bottom within +5 degrees in winter. This temperature is observed in reservoirs with a depth of more than one and a half meters.
You will also need to teach the fish to look for food on their own. To do this, with the onset of autumn, a portion of the feed is reduced, but more protein feed is introduced into the diet. When freezing begins to feed the fish, they stop finding food during this period.
For the most comfortable wintering of fish, you can install an aerator in the pond - it will enrich the water with oxygen. You can also use a pond heater - its work will exclude the possibility of freezing water in the pond. A good option would be to install a special anti-ice device on the terrace of the reservoir. You can also use a pump capable of pumping at least 500 liters of water per hour. The pond surface can also be insulated with special polystyrene foam boards. The easiest option is to install a flashlight in the pond - it will prevent the freezing of some part of the pond.
If it is not possible to apply technical innovations, you should not be upset, you can make ice-free wormwood by regularly pouring it with boiling water. Wormwood should be organized in different parts of the pond. It is not recommended to chop ice with an ax - noise and shock waves can damage the health of the living creatures that inhabit the pond.
Decorative fish will require relocation to the aquarium. The volume of water in the aquarium is calculated depending on the biofilter used, the size of the fish. It will also be necessary to create the most comfortable conditions under which the fish would not fall into hibernation. But we should not forget that in the spring the fish will have to survive in a natural reservoir, where they will be returned.
Wintering of fish can also be arranged in a large barrel, provided that it is equipped with a powerful filter with recirculation. The optimum air temperature for such a wintering is +15 degrees, you can even position a barrel in the basement.
Pond in winter - take care of the pond correctly
To freezing ice does not damage the surface of the walls of the pond, you can throw logs or rubber balls into it. At very low temperatures, the surface of the pond is insulated with straw or burlap. But you should not cover the pond for a long time - the fish in it will suffer from a lack of light. You will also need to regularly clear snow from the surface of the reservoir.
With proper preparation of the reservoir for wintering, the loss of flora and fauna will be minimal. Winter care of the pond is much easier than preparing it for wintering. The ice surface of the pond will become an original fragment of landscape design, it can be used as a skating rink or a platform for winter games. Fans of thrills will be able to get a portion of the pleasure of swimming in the ice hole.
