Canadian Pond Newsletter Fall 2006 Issue: 16
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Getting Your Pond Ready for Winter

Much like owning a garden or a pool, a pond requires some special attention in the fall in order to get it ready for winter. There are the obvious tasks like bringing in the dock or taking down the sun tent. What about the less obvious tasks that often get overlooked by pond owners, due to time constraints or simply being unaware of what needs to get done. We have compiled a helpful checklist of pond tasks that you (or someone = husband or partner) can do over the fall weekends to prepare your pond for winter.

1. Apply the final bacteria treatment to your pond before the water temperature drops too low. This will give your pond the last boost it needs to get through the winter, and help reduce the suspended nutrient load many ponds accumulate over the summer, and fall. In our area of southern Quebec, many large lakes suffered the dreaded closure due to blue-green algae or cyannobacteria. It is definitely a water quality problem that is plaguing many pond owners, and bacteria may be one way to help.

2. We are big proponents of watershed management, which is a fun and useful tool for any pond owner. All surface water flows somewhere, and you can be sure your pond receives its share of surface water runoff, especially during large storms. What is entering your pond and how is it getting there are two good questions any pond owner can ask themselves. A fun way to find out the answer is to get out the Wellingtons and that bright yellow raincoat, and wander around your pond in a really big rainstorm. Watch what is happening, note where the most surface runoff is entering the pond, is it coming from a road, a manure pile, a roof or the forest. Next think of several things you can do to either divert runoff from entering the pond, or somehow absorb some of the runnoff. We always recommend to our clients to plant aquatic plants in the pond and along the shoreline. Plants are wonderful friends to a pond; they filter out excessive nutrients, offer shoreline stabalization and naturalize a pond beautifully to its environment. Through their root systems they also absorb an astounding amount of water, which invaribly provides some protection for your pond from contamination of surface runoff. So purchase and plant more shoreline and aquatic plants before the ground freezes. The best part about fall planting is that most aquatic and shoreline plants are on sale now and thanks to global warming, we can plant into early fall without too many worries!

3. Stop mowing your grass to the water`s edge. Mowing the lawn to the water`s edge is like shaving your dogs hair before winter. The shoreline grasses provide much needed protection around the pond, not to mention delightful habitat for insects and wildlife. Never ever mow grass closer than a meter to your pond edge. If you stop mowing along the pond edge you will notice a significant difference in the water quality of your pond within a few seasons.

4.If you aerate your pond, spend some time checking out the aeration system to make sure it is functioning properly before winter starts. What do I look for? The sound of the compressor is the same, no seals are cracked, no wires chewed or worn, that the system is dry and stored properly. For the tubing, you might want to pull it in, wipe it down and re-install while the water is still warm. These are just common sense maintenance tips that you would do to any outdoor machine. Decide if you will aerate over the winter or stop the aeration when the snow starts. If you plan on skating on your pond we recommend you stop aerating altogether. Regularly & accurately monitor ice thickness to ensure the ice is safe and thick where you plan to skate. We will discuss pond skating in the winter issue of our newsletter.

5. Purchase and install your Danger Thin Ice sign around your pond if you chose to aerate your pond during the winter. The cost of this sign ($12.99) may save someone`s life. Call to order yours today.

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150th Anniversary of the Brome Fair

Well another Brome Fair has come and gone. We always enjoy seeing our clients and chatting about their ponds. For the first time this year we featured our Sweeney Feeders only and were very pleased with the response we received from the visitors. FYI our Brome Fair special on feeder purchases is still in effect until the end of September, so call David or Mario soon and save 10% off the listed price on the Bird Bistro, the Koi Café, the dog, livestock or deer feeders, which includes any of the attachments. Quite a deal for our hunter friends!

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Blue Green Algae or Cyannobacteria

Our lovely corner of the world has been hard hit by numerous blue-green algae blooms this past summer. Understandably citizens are concerned about safety, their property investments along the lakeshore and how this effects their recreational activities and lifestyle. We turn to government to seek information and advice and action which often leaves us feeling frustrated. What we need to do is to take a good hard look at our own practices and evaluate how they might possibly contribute to the problem of blue green algae blooms. Think globally act locally.

Globally we are all experiencing the effects of global warming. What the scientists have been warning us about for decades is now happening, we are living in a changing climate that is becoming increasingly harsh and unpredictable. What can I do, you ask? Drive your car less, walk and cycle more. Plan car trips for shopping with other outings so you use the car less. Share driving. Institute carpooling at your work. Sell one vehicle. Don`t wait for the government to save our planet, you start and maybe the institutions will follow. How does this relate to your pond or lake? The blue green algae bloom likes warm water temperatures, so until we change our output of greenhouse gases on a global scale, one car or action at a time, your pond will likely experience more frequent and persistant algae bloom problems in the future.

For the pond owner or resident living along effected lakes, do a small watershed checklist and action plan, to see how your own actions are contributing to poor water quality in your pond or lake.

Do you mow your lawn up to the shoreline? If yes, this is detrimental for water quality since short grass cannot absorb excessive nutrients such as phosphorous, like a lush band of shorline plants and aquatic plants can. Blue-green algae blooms with too much phosporous. Plant indigeneous shrubs along your shoreline and avoid lawnmowing as much as possible. Certainly, never fertilize your lawn, you are just contributing to poor water quality for everyone. Paved land and driveways and roads allow surface water to enter your lake easliy, carrying with it pollutants and nutrients that feed algae. If possible, remove these surfaces, or plant berms of plants around them so that plant roots can take up excess moisture, and soil can absorb water. For streams that cross your land and enter the lake, do the same thing, plant indigeneous aquatic plants in and along the stream and never mow up to the stream edge. Become the annoying neighbor who makes friendly suggestions to the lawn mowing landowner downlake from you. If you have the means to do so, offer to buy plants and plant them for the farmer down the road who is struggling to make ends meet. Screaming at town council meetings will accomplish less than taking action yourself and spreading the word through your own positive ways. Instead of the man who planted trees become the woman who planted aquatics! Again, think globally, act locally. If your goal is to keep your lakeside property enjoyable and your lake safe for recreation, start now, mobolize your neighbors and lake community and take it upon yoursleves to make the necessary changes, so at least you can say you tried your best. The new buzz word for water quality is not a new concept at all, but an increasingly important one: watershed management. It begins where the mountains and fields flow into your lake and ends eventually at sea level. So managing local watersheds properly is the key to great water quality.

The floating islands we sell have great potential for assisting with the removal of soluble phosphorous from water. The roots of plants that grow on the islands increase the surface area where friendly bacteria can thrive, so that below the floating island is a massive community of bacteria that break down phosphorous into a protein usable for fish. It is also known that some plants will take up certain nutrients efficiently. In this way the islands allow natural processes to remove excess phosphorous. The islands do other things as well: they provide shade for fish, they provide habitat above and below for birds and fish, they are attractive, they can be used to protect shoreline from wave action of boats, they can deter boat traffic much like a buoy would and they make a great community project. Many schools have launched islands as special environmental projects.

Our approach to aquatic management is two-fold: always take great care to manage the watershed properly as a preventative measure and when the situation is so bad that the health of wildlife is at riskor enjoyment of your lake is impeded, take immediate action that involves the benefits of technology, like aeration. We are also finding the latest technologies that mimic nature are very effective in problem situations, such is the case with using friendly bacteria and the floating islands. This approach of gloabal action, protecting the watershed and using the latest benefits of technology is showing exciting results among our clients.

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The Newsletter

Thanks to the mostly women who replied to our newsletter questionnaire during the summer. I think it is fair to say we have a battle of the sexes going on here. I`ll try to answer a few of your questions.

for Joella, who is wondering about surface options for the bottom of ponds, we generally use the material at the excavation site unless it is gravel. The ideal is material with a high clay content (this can be quickly tested by trying to make a stand up ribbon by pinching the dirt into a line on the palm of your hand, if the ribbon is formed and stable there is a good clay content). If there is too much gravel,water will simply seep out and you will need a liner of some sort.

For Mary L, who has a question about Koi dropping eggs, we don`t really deal with Koi enough to comment on this. Perhaps a koi supplier can give you the information you need. Good Luck.

Sue wants to know what we look like and she wants a photo of the guys working in action. Well Sue, we really are frogs, David is very slimy, Mario is totally green.....

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Search for a distributor in Europe

We are looking for distributors for our complete line of products in Europe. Interested companies need to have the capacity to purchase and properly warehouse sufficient inventory in order to qualify. Interested candidates with qualifications in environmental, and or aquatic management are invited to contact us for further discussion.

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Read about what we do in France!

The edition 293 of the magazine L'EAU, L'INDUSTRIE, LES NUISANCES June-July 2006 covered the theme of drinking water and water suitable for swimming.

The magazine researchers contacted us to profile the work we are doing to improve water quality in the Lake Waterloo project. In particular they were interested in how we applied aeration through lake bottom diffusion to this and other projects.

Contact us if you would like to know more about this article, the Waterloo Project or other work we are doing regarding large lake aeration.

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Goodbye to the pond forum

Like some wonders on the internet, this forum was a great idea but the time has come to swim on. With increasing spam issues and difficulty finding time to manage the forum properly, we have decided to put the forum to sleep for a while. As usual, contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

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