Winterizing Questions From The Floor
| Meeting Date | Thu, Sep 8, 2005 7:00 PM - Thu, Sep 8, 2005 9:00 PM |
will be the date of our sixth and final meeting for 2005. This month, we will have a short presentation on winterizing, followed by a question and answer session. If you have any burning questions on what needs to be done to get your pond ready for winter, this is your chance to ask some of our expert water gardeners for their advice. All members are welcome to share their winterizing tips with the membership. This is a great opportunity for those who've just put in their gardens to learn from the more experienced members with their lessons learned and winterizing tips.
The
Pikes Peak Water Garden Society meetings are held every 2nd Thursday from April
to September. Most meetings start at 7:00 PM and wrap up around 9:00 to
9:30 PM.
This
year our meetings will once again be held at the Mountain View Church of Christ
located at 1080 East La Salle Street. This is at the west end of
Constitution Avenue on the southwest corner.
Enter
through the east door on the north side of the church.
To see a
map for the meeting location, click on the Link Below
Mountain
View Church of Christ
Meeting Minutes
Pikes Peak Water Garden Society
General Meeting Minutes
September 8, 2005
Meeting called to order at 7:30 PM by Bob Pollock, President, at the Mountain View Church of Christ. 59 people were in attendance.
Bob reminded everyone about the Sedalia and Union Printers Home fall workshops. He asked as many as possible to sign up to help make the effort go faster.
Tonight is election of officers. Three positions are to be voted on, voting is for Board Officers and not for positions. Board positions are determined by the elected officers.
Dick presented the treasures report. The club has $7697.69 total funds. He also requested RSVP for the October picnic gathering. It will be October 13th starting at 6:30 PM here at the Mountain View Church of Christ.
Betty has a lot of fund raiser items that she would like to sell before winter.
Election ballots were then passed out for those in attendance. Results were as follows: Bob Pollock 47, Ron Bissonnette 40, Mary Bucher 33 and Kari Martin 23.
Bob then began the winterizing presentation while Ron showed slides.
Salt sick fish at .4% and be sure to quarantine new fish for 4 to 6 weeks using a 50 to 150 gallon tank covered and with an air stone.
Cattails need to be trimmed to 6 to 8 inches above the water level.
Set water clover, lotus and water lilies down to the bottom.
Tropical lilies will not over winter outside and need to be brought in or treated as annuals.
Creeping jenny will grow almost anywhere and Bob will cut his back in the fall.
Water clover will not over winter here very well if not set down.
Pickeral Rush may or may not make it. Again sinking it to the bottom may help.
A small pump can be used to keep the ice open. Don’t chop the ice because it is possible to chop your liner. The concussion from the chop is very stressful for the fish and their gills. Chopping the liner is also very stressful on the chopeee.
Don’t leave your waterfall running because the water can freeze up and cause a dam that could drain your pond.
You can use a stock tank heater to keep a hole in the ice. Keep the heater away from the edge because the heater can be as hard on the liner as the chop mentioned above.
You need to keep a hole in the ice to allow gas exchange. Dick uses an air stone to keep the water moving to prevent freezing.
Steve uses two window well covers screwed together to create a mini greenhouse cover for their lotus.
Don’t feed fish when the water temperature is below 50 degrees. You should measure the temperature at the same time every day in the AM. In mid August, Bob’s pond temperature was mid 70’s and now is 64 degrees.
When you set pots on the bottom of your pond you should leave gaps between the pots for your fish to rest. If you wait to late in the season the job will not be enjoyable.
A floating island full of hardy plants need to be taken apart. The plants can be placed on a shelf and held there with a rock or other pot. A floating island of tropical plants just needs to be removed and the plants sent to the compost. You should not leave the island in place because the freezing ice can break up the ring.
Ponds can be covered to reduce ice. Use green house plastic that is UV protected. This is not the cheap stuff you buy at a lumber yard. You can get UV protected plastic at Denver Warehouse Florist. This type of plastic should last 5 years. In the summer be sure to protect from the sun because the trapped moisture will cook and melt the plastic layers together.
Try to keep the snow off the pond surface or cover to allow sunshine to get in for the plants and fish.
Wires tied across the tops of pots can be used to raise and lower plants using a hook.
Don and Iris Lucke have sold their house and want to give away some pond and yard items. You can call them at 598-3309 in the next week or two. They are not giving away the plants or fish and plan on selling the pond in working order.
New plants can bring in diseases and can be dipped in a 10% Clorox solution for an hour or two then rinsed before putting in the pond.
Door prizes were given to the following:
Variegated Sweet Flag to Les Fry. Water Iris to Joyce Gamewell
Tranquility Fountain to Don Lucke Frog Crossing to Ron Bissonnette
Water Lilies to Phil Goulding, Carol Kryden, Joan Freemand, Jan Foster,
LaNell Williams and Cindy Gearke.
Miniature Variegated Sweet Flag to Sarah Carson, Ken Rozema and Donna Wagner
Air ring to Ken Tuttle
Respectfully submitted
Steve Carson
Secretary