remembering winter and are you prepared

sissy

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well the leaves are falling off my crab apple trees and my winter pears are ripe .They are usually not ready to pick until late october or early november
 

sissy

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We have had some rain but here we are seeing the fall colors earlier than ever and since we had such a early spring and no real winter i think the trees just want a rest .
 

j.w

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Garden guy on our radio said yesterday if your trees are turning color sooner than expected you should water them a good amount every 2 wks till the rains have arrived for fall.
 

sissy

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We have been getting rain at least 2 times a week and sometimes more plus heavy dew and lots of fog .I think fall is sneaking in early .
 
H

humbirdlover

Window screening has uv protector in it also and you can still see through it.I use the electrical conduit as it can be easly extended and a piece of 2x4 long enough on the other side to go across the pond this way it is stiffer so I can lean on it to clean or what ever in the pond .Going to replace the 2x4 with a piece of drift wood soon .I have it but since I am working on the kitchen that got shifted to the back burner . :razz:baby frogs still coming out .froggie foggy morning
Thank you, got another great idea from you :) Last year I put deer fencing over the pond to catch the leaves, but window screening would work so much better! If I would make two seperate covers, I could use half of it in the summer for a shade cover, too! Thinking of sewing it to the conduit on both ends so it can be rolled up and stored easy. I'm learning soooo much from you all :luxlove:
 

sissy

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I sewed mine into a sleeve with fishing line on one end and then stapled it to a board on the other side so i could lean on the board to clean out the stuff from the pond with the net




 

sissy

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The plastic pipe worked good for me because I could pipe clamp it to the bridge and follow the arch of the bridge .I used to use the netting but frogs would get there legs stuck in it and it was always tangled up .Some use stiffer fencing ,but found that is hard to remove because it is heavy

they use this but it was a little unforgiving and heavy for me to put on and take off .
 
H

humbirdlover

I have already been outside scrounging in hubby's pipe pile, LOL. I'm thinking of coming up with some kind of "Y" or whatever to hold the pipes , above the pond far enough to clear my plants and hand pump water feature. I think if I hammer short pieces of rebar in the ground, and slid a piece of pvc pipe over it for the "legs" then put a "y" or some kind of bracket to hold the shade sail. I did my solar lights like that, painted the poles black . A board would work fine on the one end, then I could lay it on the porch wall and could get under it, LOL. Need to make a Lowes run for window screening. And oh yes, rod pockets like on curtains. Slide pipes out, roll up screen and store!
 
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Winter... we hate netting our pond but we do it every year. Usually in late October. Always before Halloween. Any debris in the pond is netted out, (usually very little). Netting stays on to about late March +- a week or two. Filter shut down usually about 3-4 wks later in November, usually by Thanksgiving at the latest.

We raise our airstones to about 6" below the surface in each pond. The fish have a large stone "garage" they go under on the bottom for the winter usually. We drop in a stock heater in each pond right near the airstone but it isn't plugged in. The airstones works pretty well all winter to keep an opening. If we get an extended freeze and the ponds are iced over for more than a week, we plug in the stock heaters for about 24 hrs to open a hole. After we unplug them, the airstones keep it open usually for 3-5 days depending on exactly how cold it's been.

Here in Southeast PA it's usually not too bad. 2010 was an exception as you can see here. But you need to plan for the exception, not the rule if you plan to keep Koi and you want to leave them in your will to your kids! Jan/Feb usually bring us sub-freezing temps at least for a few weeks at a time.

Pic 1: pond on the right under snow
Pic 2: Snow built up on top pond
Pic 3: "And just where are you expecting me to pee?"
Pic 4: Our Chinese Elm - Varying estimates of 100-150 yrs old. On the "Big trees of PA" list.
Pic 5: "Let me know when it's spring."

Craig
 

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sissy

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2010 was a bad year for everyone .We saw more snow here than ever before .We usually only see a couple of inches and by the next day or 2 it is melted .Last christmas it was almost 60 degrees .We get snow but never that much back to back .
 

callingcolleen1

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Can feel the frost coming soon, this morning was barely 40 degrees, it felt cold even with a heavy sweat shirt at 6am this morning. Some of the tropical floaters in the pond are dying back, time to chuck them out, its all down hill for them now, water temp getting too cold, even the fish are swimming much slower and hang more out at the bottom of the pond now. Did not feed them today, was pretty cool, they did not "beg" for food either. Soon they won't need fish food, they will graze on "pond greens", like the hornwort and string algae, and the algae will begin to grow again, the only greens that grow well under the ice. In the summer the large Sedges starve out the algae, I only seem to get it during the winter and early spring, as the sedges are dormant then. The hornwort is also starting to "sink" instead of float, cause the water is getting too cool now, in the winter it sinks right to the bottom of the pond and lays in the "sludge". I have to be careful not the throw it out in the spring with the sludge!

Put a big net up over the pond today, the leaves are really starting to fall now, need to mulch in the grass and leaves soon, they bug me on the grass looking messy, like fall or something! Ha ha ha. Can you see the net? Its black and very hard to see even when right out in front, cool huh!
 

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sissy

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still in the 50's at night but heavy dew and gets up to almost 80 with nice breeze so got a lot done today .
 

sissy

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now thats a dogs life craig now pee wee knows what a fire is for roosting chihuahua's and no chestnuts :razz:
 

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H

humbirdlover

We have been dropping down to around 48-49° here, back in the mountains. Got the screen today to make the leaf cover, but will have to piece it to make it wide enough. That should be fun, LOL I see a lot of fishing line in my future. I thought about duct tape, but don't think it would hold up in the weather. Our yrees aren't showing much color yet, but cooler nights and it won;t be long...
 

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