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Robyn's Pond Blog for October 2015

Last Updated: 11/2/15

1. I did pond chores on 10/4/15. The 1800 gallon pond was down to a chilly 58 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 59 degrees F. I squirted out the bioballs. I changed the oyster shell. I put a net over the 153 gallon pond.

2. On 10/11/15, the 1800 gallon pond was at 58 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 69 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials, put in additives, and added water. I found a tiny gray treefrog sitting on my butterfly bench. It was missing its left eye. The little green treefrog that I found in late August and again in September was also missing an eye.

3. There is not enough space to set up the larger 50 gallon indoor Rubbermaid tub pond this winter. This is because I have a mega-cage set up for my dying cat, GK, and two cages set up with geriatric rabbits, Mr. Tiny and Harry. I only have three plants to save anyway - black taro, bluebells (bought new earlier in 2015 as the old ones did not survive), and one tropical waterlily. I had planned to take off 10/19/15 and haul in the 40 some tropical house plants and set up the basement pond but then the first frost was set to hit a few nights before (and it did). So, after work on 10/16/15, I hauled in the black magic taro in its two gallon pot and plopped it in the 20 gallon tub pond. I filled it up most of the way the next morning and brought in the bluebells which were bareroot. The tropical waterlily can stay in the pond longer (not affected by quick freezes since the roots are under the water).

4. I stopped feeding the pond fish on 10/16/15 as the temperature went to the freezing mark the mornings of 10/18/15 and 10/19/15. It is supposed to warm back up, and then I will be feeding again although it is now getting dark early.

5. On 10/18/15, I did pond chores. The 1800 gallon pond was down to 51 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was down to 54 degrees F. I squirted filters, added water and additives, got leaves off the net, etc. I removed, cleaned off, and put up the Cyprio filter and its pump and the auxiliary pump running the waterfall. Only the OASE Nautilus 45 remains running the main biofilter and boy is it slow! Well, it is over 18 years old! And, a lot of water flows behind the rocks out of sight. When I opened the outlet to unplug pumps, there were hundreds of ants, yet again! I sprayed orange spray on them which kills the ones it touches, and I put in a new ant trap.

6. I did pond work on 10/25/15. The 1800 gallon pond was at 56 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 59 degrees F. I cut the leaves off the lotus, pulled the pot down the hill (only gravity allows me to move it), tipped it over, pulled out two large starchy tubers and one smaller one, rinsed those off, put them in a mesh laundry bag with a rock, and sunk them in the deep end. The thin and stringy parts of the lotus with roots and growth got tossed. It's the fat tubers that are meant to survive the winter. I squirted off the filter materials and collected leaves and more leaves and then some more leaves! I cut down most of the marginals except the arrowhead and most of the iris. I moved the three two gallon pots of pickerel rush and two two gallon pots of golden club to deeper water. In my experience, they won't survive ice getting down to their roots so they go deeper just for winter.

7. The morning of 10/29/15, it was warm. There were four green frogs and one pickerel frog hopping on the main pond net! I got the green frogs caught and in to the pond but lost the pickerel.

8. My little mouse, Emma, died on 10/29/15. I had her just a little short of a year. She was a great mouse.


Continue to the November 2015 pond blog.



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