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Robyn's Pond Blog for November 2018

Last Updated: 12/3/18

1. On 11/4/18, I did some pond chores. The 1800 gallon pond was at 52 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 54 degrees F. I squirted the main pond filters. Before I could do that, I had to get a few wheelbarrows worth of leaves off the net. There was a large pickerel frog on the net as well as a large green frog. I got them under the net. I removed some more water hyacinth; there are a few left.

2. The 1800 gallon was at 46 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 48 degrees F on 11/11/18. I did not get in the pond. I did not need to add water. I did spend almost any hour cleaning up leaves. I also removed the PondMaster filter from the 153 gallon pond for the winter and put in a Luft pump for aeration. I put water additives in the big pond.

3. We got three inches of snow on 11/15/18. Other humans were spazing out but I had to go to work.

4. I did pond chores on 11/18/18. The air temperature was 48 degrees F but it had been cold most days. The 1800 gallon pond was at 44 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was a chilly 41 degrees F. I squirted the main filter floss, collected a billion leaves off the pond nets and around the pond, put in additives, cut down some perennials by the big pond, and tried to fix the collapsing rocks in the overflow area to little avail. The heavy rocks have shifted in 21 years, and they are no longer level with the ground. I tried to prop them up but I'm not HeMan. I found a huge hole in the ground below the overflow that was not there before. I think water is overflowing in the wrong place, and it has eroded the ground. That's another task for another day.

I set up a new lighted "sculpture" by the big pond's outlet. It's a cheap Rudolph. I can glance outside, and if the lights are on, then the filter is working (or at least it has power). I plugged a new de-icer in to the new outlet. The old outlet would always trip when the de-icer kicked in so that is why I keep the Rudolph there to let me know everything is okay. I also put a new de-icer in the 153 gallon pond. I brought out the five gallon pot with the tropical waterlily which gifted me with zero flowers this year and last. I found one small and one large nut tuber which I put in damp sand to overwinter inside. Next week, I need to cut down what remains of the marginals (not much, mostly iris) and sink the golden club and pickerel rush pots for the winter. If I can work on getting leaves up, I can remove the net from the 153 gallon pond in a few weeks and pull the big net back off the waterfall in the 1800 gallon pond. That net was up on metal fence posts (to keep it off the marginals) but someone must have tried to walk on the net (heron, raccoon?), and the net ripped down all the posts so now the net is full of massive holes (have to buy a new one for next year!). I swear the leaves are sentient as they always find the holes!

5. I did some pond work on 11/25/18. The air temperature was 55 degrees F! It was breezy and totally wet from about four inches of rain the day before. The 1800 gallon pond was at 50 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 46 degrees F. I removed the net from the 153 gallon pond even though there are infinite amounts of leaves nearby. I figure it is easier to hand pick out those leaves that end up in the water than try to get all the leaves around the pond. I did remove some though and cut back some of the perennials around the area. I squirted off the filter floss and the bioballs. There were five pickerel frogs in the biofilter. I managed to catch four of them and put them in the pond proper. I raked the area around the big pond but will not pull the net back off the waterfall just yet. I cut back the two golden club plants and moved them to deeper water and also moved the purple pickerel rush deeper. I cut down a few marginals but most have collapsed in to the water anyway. I will get the rest soon.


Continue to the December 2018 pond blog.



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