Ponds in Canada

[callingcolleen1]

This year I will have a ton of hornwort and it will have to thin it out, but that will be easy, just pull some of the long stands out. I NEVER had so much hornwort before, last year it just grew like crazy!

 

[j.w]

Well dog gone it I've been doing all that work trimming them for nothing. I'm ripping them out from the rocks this year and somehow getting them to float on their own in the pond or w/ some kind a help. No more pushing rocks into the pond for them. If I lived nearer the border I'd sneak up there and get some of that luscious Hornwort from ya. Still haven't made it down to the lake yet to see if that's whats in there.

 

[Event Horizon]

This year I will have a ton of hornwort and it will have to thin it out, but that will be easy, just pull some of the long stands out. I NEVER had so much hornwort before, last year it just grew like crazy!

Every time I bought a bag of hornwort from the store it would never winter over for me. I tried this several times and gave up. I finally brought a bit of a local plant home which is now thriving in my pond.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Hornwort can appear dead when it lays at the bottom of pond during the winter, but it is not. People often accidentally throw it out when they net out the sludge in the early spring too, as it can be hiding the sludge too. The fish also love hornwort and can nibble it slowly away over the spring before it has a chance to get big. The trick is to have extra stashed away in a fish tank or jar of water in the window until you have a good size reserve clump saved. Eventually you will have a large enough clump that will make to spring without the fish eating it all.

If you look close at my picture of the bottom pond, you can see the thick mat of hornwort that looks right now like algae, but that clump will change quick when the water warms up and look much better.
Most of the fish are hiding right now in the hornwort in that pond.

The second picture you can see reserve of hornwort growing right now in my old fish tank in my greenhouse too. I won't be needing that reserve this year as I have now way too much and will give some to my favorite fish store guy for him to sell.

The last pictures are from last fall, you can see the very large (20 plus inch) Koi from my top pond swimming in the thick hornwort.

 

[Event Horizon]

I am not allowed to bring plants into the house after my failed hyacinth experiment. All we got out of that were damselflies flying around the house at Christmas. Lol

I like Hornwort it looks better from the surface than the stuff I have. I did not think it would survive our Canadian winters and would have vacuumed it up in the spring. I should try it again. I could start it in a netted ring to keep the fish out of it.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Yes that will work good too, and throw pieces in to feed fish every week and don't throw out the half eaten stuff as it will quickly regrow under the hot summer Sun.

I think many people try to keep tropical floaters over winter and fail as it is very tricky. I used to keep water lettuce and hyacinths and you need lots of Sun and warm water or they will quickly rot. Used to grow them all winter in greenhouse and a heater is still required to keep water above 70 degrees.

 

[MitchM]

I am not allowed to bring plants into the house after my failed hyacinth experiment. All we got out of that were damselflies flying around the house at Christmas. Lol

Lol.., my wife's tomato plants turned the greenhouse into a whitefly farm in February.

 

[callingcolleen1]

white fly is the worst, you never really rid if it unless you allow the greenhouse to freeze hard. I now only keep succulents and things I start fresh from seed, or dried cool roots. I also don't use any chemical pesticides and I have ladybugs already in greenhouse.

 

[MitchM]

Where did you get the ladybugs?
Are you ready to order some praying mantis yet? I think they took about 6 - 8 weeks to hatch.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I got ladybugs like crazy all over the yard the last few years and now I see they are back living in my greenhouse. I think they've wintered in the wood chips on the floor and it crawled under the plastic. The green house window and door is open all summer and I store lawn chairs and summer stuff inside when rains. All I can tell you for sure is they are back crawling around inside there now, so I don't need to buy more. A fews years back I bought several bags of ladybugs and released them into the greenhouse, and they were everywhere last year. I think I will just stick to the ladybugs now cause I now seem to have them naturally occuring.

 

[sissy]

oh my gosh lady bugs oh my gosh .We get them by the thousands here in the spring and they sometimes cover sections of the house where the siding is warm and then it is hard to keep them out of the house and if you go out side they are all in your hair .I took 3 lady bugs out of my house this morning so there revenge is coming .I never have seen so many lady bugs and been like that every spring for 9 years now .

 

[callingcolleen1]

Ladybugs are my friends, and you can never have too many ladybug friends! I think spring has sprung, yesterday was nice and warm and now I am having to keep the fan on in the green house and the door half open during the day, as daylight is much stronger and greenhouse can overheat quickly these days.
I have been moving little tiny rocks around in my miniature gardens, cause the ground is to wet still and yucky outside to do any yard work.

 

[callingcolleen1]

This morning the sun was so bright and the fish looked so very colorful and the plants are coming back to life! Today we should reach a high of 55 degrees F (13c). Nice day to clean up around the pond a bit. In the bottom pond you can see the large clumps of hornwort, laying near the bottom of pond. The clumps always look like this just after the ice first melts. Soon everything will start growing as the water warms up, so darn exciting but so very much to do! Every day the pond will get greener and the sweet flag and yellow flags will grow very fast soon. Next week they will be twice as BiG!! Love spring, the way everything starts to come back to life! This is such an exciting time!

 

[MitchM]

Looking good Colleen, but all those farm animals are going to raise your nitrates!
(oops sorry, Bear looked like a cow in that 6th picture!)

 

[callingcolleen1]

The plants will be growing more and more every day now, and when those bad birds come and sit on the tree overhead and poo, the plants will have to eat that too!