Winterizing Questions???

[Rip Fantom]

I have a couple of questions regarding my pond. I built a mostly above ground pond, but since i'm in the Chicago area, I'm not taking any chances. My fish are coming in. My questions have more to do with my plants. I have mostly hardy lillies and grasses (cattails).

First, since my pond is mostly above ground, should I drain it? If i don't will the ice damage it?

2nd, I was told not to cut back the grasses (cattails) until next spring, is this correct?

Also, I know to cut back the lillies, but if I drain the pond, where is the best place to keep them. Last year I kept them in containers in my garage with aeration and they did fine, but now there are many more and much larger. Do they need water and light in the winter?

Sorry if these were answered in other posts, I looked first but didn't see anything.

Thanks!

Hopefully Roger will chime in here, he's the northern pond expert around here. I'm in MD, and my ponds are in-ground, so I'm really no help to you with the draining question. What did you do last year?

How deep is the pond?
How much of it is underground?
the earth is a wonderful insulator, if the bottom is below your area's frost line, the pond shouldn't freeze solid. If that is the case, a de-icer should work to keep it from freezing over. If the top froze over solid for a couple months, I don't know what effect that would have on your liner. My instinct tells me that an empty pond, with liner exposed to freezing temps and winds would possibly be damaged more than an ice filled pond, but don't take my word for it!!! Get a for-sure answer!

I have always cut back my cattails and other marginals, and sink them in deeper water til spring. Very few plants have ever died on me. I figure I can't have 100% success, so haven't worried about it.

I do know you should keep the plants in water and somewhere cold enough for them to stay dormant, but not so cold as to freeze. I have never considered whether a dormant lilly needs light or not, so I just don't know.

[acronym:df016f36da="Hope this helps (or) Happy to help"]HTH[/acronym:df016f36da], at least some.

[RogerMcAllen]

I am going to ahead and guess that your pond will freeze solid if most of it is above ground, and I don't think the lillies will like that too much. My suggestion would be to get a rubbermaid tub for your plants and keep it in a place that will get cold, but not freeze (garage perhaps). I'm not sure, but I don't think dormant lillies should need any light.

[Rip Fantom]

Thanks for the advice. OK, I will bring the lillies in my garage again and I will cut back the cattails.

The pond is a stretched triangle shape, about 16' at the longest and 10' wide. It is 2' deep overall with an area in the center that is 3'x3' and 3' deep. The center area is the only area that is really below ground level. I was thinking of partially draining the pond to relieve any stress to the side walls if the water freezes solid. I would however leave enough water in to sink the cattails. I got most of these off the side of the road and I know they survive being frozen solid.

Does this sound like a plan?

[RogerMcAllen]

Sure does, especially if you know the cattails can be frozen.

[tjfarms]

my pond is 6+12 and 4 feet deep above ground last year it got about a foot of ice and we had a very cold winter .one month it did not get above 0 only thing i did was keep 2 pumps in it to keep the water moving and every now and then break the ice around the pumps to keep a air hole open did not loose one fish or plant just cut them back and left them in the bottom of the pond it was the first winter for the pond good luck tim swansea mass

[Rip Fantom]

Well, I moved my fish into a holding tank in the garage. THis worked well for me last year. It gets cold enough for them to go dormant, but doesn't freeze. I am going to move my lillies into bins in the garage as well. Last year I put some aeration into the bins with the lillies upon the advice of this site and it worked out great.

I do have a questions though, would it be better for me to drain down my pond now to clean it, or wait until early spring? I was gonna wait because I figured it would need a cleaning in the spring anyway.

Personally, I wait till spring. I have frogs (and probably other stuff, salamanders maybe?) that hibernate in the gunk on the bottom. They need the gunk to bury themselves in to survive. Since you've removed your fish, you have no danger of killing them, so give the frogs a chance!

Either way, it's a cold and unpleasant job, I find it easier to do in the spring. My fall chores, such as dealing with leaves, get me tired enough! I generally do the pond cleaning before most of the spring chores are due (all the garden stuff).

Besides, you're right, either way you'll be doing some cleaning in the spring also.

[acronym:ee60d754ca="By the way"]BTW[/acronym:ee60d754ca], you do have fisherman's chest waders, right? if you have to get in the pond to do any cleaning in the chilly months, waders are a Must!

[RogerMcAllen]

I'd wait till the spring thaw too. I once dug the gunk out of the bottom of mine and pulled out 3 frogs.