In October, the weather is a bit cooler and there’s a higher chance of rain. The weather isn’t ideal for going outside, but we still have to get on with the gardening work. One of these is looking after the pond. We need to remove any organic debris and make sure the plants are secure for the winter. And we can’t forget about the fish.
A pond is a great addition to any garden. As the weather gets colder, it’s time to give the pond a clean and get the plants and fish ready for winter. We’ll run through the steps you need to take in October to keep the pond in good shape.
Pond cleaning in autumn – how to do it?
- First of all, organic debris needs to be removed from the pond.
We’re talking about cobwebs or fallen leaves, which break down at the bottom and use up the water’s oxygen, which is bad for fish that are going to stay there over the winter. You can use a fish net or a wire net to get rid of them.
- If you have a small tank, you can cover it with a fine-mesh net.
This will prevent falling leaves and wilting plants near the shore from getting into the water. Remove the cover when all the leaves have fallen from the trees.
Pruning and winter protection of aquatic plants
Pond plants usually thrive in winter. However, they must be properly prepared for this time of year in October. So what needs to be done?
- Cut off dead and damaged parts of the plants.
Just make sure they don’t touch the water when you cut them. If you’ve got floating specimens, the best thing to do is move them to the deepest part of the tank. They should be placed at a depth of 0.5 m from the surface.
In a small pond, the plants planted at the bottom are covered with leaves or grass. If you’ve got frost-sensitive plants in baskets, like Eichhornia puffballs and Pistia, just move them to a humid room at 0°C.
- If you’ve got floating specimens, you can just transfer them to an aquarium. If they’re rooted Some plants, such as water lilies or submerged hornwort, produce flower buds in late autumn.
Some plants, such as water lilies or submerged hornwort, produce flower buds in late autumn.
- If we are concerned that they will freeze, we pick them and place them in a flat container with sand. We then pour water into it and move this container to a cool place.
How to care for pond fish in autumn?
- The fish can be left for the winter if the pond is at least 1.5 m deep.
The temperature at the bottom should be kept above 4 degrees Celsius. If the pond is on the shallow side, it’d be best to transfer them to an aquarium.
- We recommend feeding the overwintering fish in the pond with high protein food. Stop this when the pond temperature drops below 7 degrees Celsius.
We also make sure to drain the pond when we’ve moved all the plants and fish into the enclosure. In this case, we just remove, clean and store the water pumps. However, we don’t remove these elements from deep ponds.
