We are almost through for the season. If you haven't covered your pond, now is the time. As your trees begin to lose leaves due to lack of moisture, you'll begin to notice them floating on your pond. Watch your skimmers closely, they should be capturing those leaves before they can get waterlogged and sink to the bottom. If some do, you need to grab your dip net and get them out. Don't leave them throughout the winter. They will decompose and that will add nutrient to the water that will cause algae to grow prolifically in the Spring. It also produces an unhealthy layer of muck in the bottom where bad bacteria will grow. If your skimmer is not capturing enough of the leaves, help it out by putting a net over the pond. Support the net in such a way that the leaves don't bag it down into the water or it defeats the purpose of the net. PVC pipe is a good way to do it and you can just knock yourself out designing a framework to hold up the net. Half or three-quarter inch is sufficient unless your pond is overly large, then you might want to consider one inch. Big box stores carry fittings to attach the pieces of pipe together; things like elbows, tee's, couplings, caps, plugs and others. Atlantic/Oase produce a net package with shock-corded poles similar to a camping tent support system that holds up the net over the pond and provides enough extra net around it for many ponds. They only come in two sizes though so we need your pond and stream size to make sure one will fit.

This weekend will be our coolest weather since last Winter. Seems impossible that we skated through July and August without any real heat but we did. This is the beginning of the end for your pond plants and while it's still fairly warm, I suggest you get any trimming done you want to do to your marginals. Our lilies have quit blooming and I noticed today that the pads are beginning to deteriorate. They should be cut back too and probably moved to the lowest point of your pond to winter over. Tropical lilies may not make it unless your pond is pretty deep like four or more feet although we have customers who report theirs make it just fine in three feet so it really depends on your area and where the pond is located in relation to buildings, windbreaks, anything that can help reduce the chilling of the water

We are sold out of fish and plants.The first time in a long time to do so this early. My plan is always to end things prior to the August heat killing the plants in our beds and before the cold weather hits and makes it difficult to transfer fish from inside to out side. However limited availability of plants hurt our inventory this year and a customer with a new pond bought all the fish we had left. We will have both back in stock during the early part of May or late April depending on temperatures and availability. We'll announce when things come in but feel free to call us in the Spring before driving out.

This is that time of the season to get your maintenance done while it's still warm enough to work around your pond so when it gets cold you're not out there trying to cut back marginals or put on a net. Go ahead and put your deicer in the water but don't bother to plug it in, just tether the cord at the skimmer so when you need it you're already ahead of the game.

Always be humble and kind,

~~~Mike