BonniesPlants.com

Hello all,

Hope everyone is keeping warm and enjoying the the upcoming holidays.

I keep the forum page bookmarked and several times a day I check for new postings. Yes, its been pretty quiet of late.

Though winter has just got started, I'm already looking forward to spring. Here in Chester, NJ its been pretty cold. We've had several snow and ice storms. Last year we didn't have any snow until sometime in early January. This is the first winter we're going through after completing our pond expansion. We went from a small 1200 gallon (12' x 7') pond to a larger 8000 gallon (30' x 13') pond. I must admit compared to the original pond its been somewhat of a challenge to come up with a contraption to cover the pond that we could trust not collapsing due to the weight of the snow and ice. I would avoid covering the pond all together, but we have woods and several large oak trees behind the pond that seem to drop a ton of leaves, acorns and seedlings. I'm amazed how the seedlings find their way through the netting and into the pond. Pretty amazing what the skimmers pick up. With all the effort of covering the pond, it might be easier to just
cut the trees down.

As we settle into winter there is a thin layer of ice on on the pond. We have several devices installed to keep a hole in the ice. I don't trust any one device from failing so that's why the use of "several". We keep a small submersible pump running (located near the surface of the water to provide water movement), a small aerator with an airstone, and a
deicer (its on a thermostat to kick on when the outside temperature approaches freezing). I'm out there each morning and evening checking these things to make sure their working. Also been busy doing regular water tests and small water changes.

Every now and then we get a nice day and and I see some of our friends come near the surface. But when its cold, there cuddled together near the bottom.

What I find amazing is we never seen a Great White Heron in the yard, now all of a sudden one appears. Coudn't believe how tall these birds get. I guess this one decided not to migrate South for the winter. Other animals that have passed through the yard that I've seen are deer and red fox. There have been reportings of bear in the area, but haven't seen one this winter yet.

Becasue the pond expansion was done late in the summer, we decided not to start a new planting. So we've been planning what plants we will plant around and in the pond come spring.

Some activites we been doing on the weekends include hikes through the woods and day trips to neighboring small towns.

Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday. Keep warm.
Steve

I saw a blue hreon in my yard and he had my only female sanke 15'' half way down his throat I ran out to do ?? hopfuly get my hands aroud his throat and slowly choke him so he couldn't breathe but...... I got within 2-3- feet , he looked at me and was gone with my girl. when my pond is finished we are placing green fishing wire across the pond I'll get him this time the snow is deep here.. one thing I noticed while working or just out in the yard the robins haven't left here yet I have seen several in a flock numbering 20 + birds I thought that they only ate bugs and I have seen alot of winter moths around. are all the birds confused about were they are suposed to be?

Steve and Laura it is nice to hear from you.

Laura I am so sorry to hear about your fish. I know that sinking feeling seeing a bird with one of our babies in their mouth. I shall never forget the kingfisher who got my new $200 5" baby the first day it was in the pond....

We have gone from one extreme here to another. All last week we had record breaking heat (upper 70's) to record low of 21 this morning. My pond is at 44.4 degrees as I type and the fish have slowed down and the only ones eating are those in the greenhouse and they eat a few times a day.

We finally got some rain - about an inch last week, we still need 18 more inches to bring our lakes back up to normal levels. The whole state of NC is in extreme drought now - the worst on record. City folks are limited to 6000 gallons a month or pay a high fee for more water. They are trying to figure out a way to regulate those with their own wells...

We are busy in the greenhouse propagating plants for spring sales. And I will soon be sending email newsletter for lotus tubers. We hope to start digging them after the holidays..

To the rest of you out there, let us know how you are doing and how your winter is going

Warm regards,

Bonnie

Laura, sorry to hear about your fish. We may also use fishing line to string across the pond to help guard against Heron. I'm not thrilled about using it since I don't find it to attractive, but not sure what the alternatives are. In previous years we use to keep the pond netting over the pond until the water temperature was warm enough to begin seeing new lily pads and to throw in water hyacthins to create hiding places the fish can stay under. But the water plant season is too short and at the first sign of spring we're ready to take the netting off and to begin work on the pond. Have you had problems with any other type of critters, like racoons? We thought of installing one of those small electric fences, but again their not pleasing to look at.

So Bonnie, I was wondering if they put a restriction on well water usage, how will this affect you? Would private use be different than commerical use? I would of thought a business that requires the use of water would have different restrictions.

I can't believe the temperature swings you are having. I imagine many people getting colds since it must be confusing what to wear on day to day basis.

We're finally getting back up into the 40's. Our driveway has been a sheet of ice. We're hoping it will melt and dry up a bit.

thanks
Steve

I hated, absolutely hated the netting on the pond. We finally took it off 2 years ago because none of my fish are kingfisher size anymore.

I looked high and low for another alternative and we just could not come up with anything.

Fortunately my pond has never had a problem with a heron because the sides go straight down to 3' and herons don't land on water. They land on the ground and wade in. It has to do with the way their knees bend!

At one time we tried 4 x 8 sheets of Styrofoam but the problem was the small fish would end up on them and could not get off so we lost a few smaller fish that way.

Steve unless you have shallow part in your pond raccoons will not be a problem - nor will cats. They like to wade into shallow parts.

Some are reporting problems with otters and minks! Dang! They will wipe out a pond without you even knowing that they are there!

I really don't see a way that they can restrict home owners with their own well since all we pay for is electricity to run the well pump. Our well man says we are not in any danger of running our of water, there is way too much water in our well.

Do you know IF you can find hay it is over $12.00 a bale here....And it looks like NC strawberry crop will be non-existent again this coming season. The berries came into bloom last week during the heat wave...

Funny thing when we moved to NC in 2000 we had no idea that NC was in the worst drought ever. It ended in 2002 and now this one is even worse that the last one. NC is not alone - it is many southern states. Atlanta is even worse than we are...

They say the only thing to save the south now is a huge hurricane to come up the east coast with torrential rains that blow in land. And of course that is not going to happen this time of the year.

Bonnie

the green pond line protector isn't to bad to look at when all the plants are in but sure trips up that bird the smaller electric fence you have to watch out that you don't get near it, my friend uses a scare crow hose face that when a critter come close to the pond they get squirted with water and as long as you turn it off when you look at your fish you won't get wet. i haven't had problems with them as of yet as my yard is fenced in with 6' stockade fence

My parents live in Florida and they get much of their water from a nearby lake. Well this year a decision was made to drain a good portion of the lake in fear of flooding from the upcomming hurricane season. They expected this years hurricane season to be similar to last years. Well the hurricane season this year was pretty minimal and now they have this big empty lake. Go figure....

Thanks for the advice on the Heron and raccoons. The only place our pond has a straight drop is at the back retaining wall. The fish like to hang out there since it contains a lot of crevices for them to seek out food. The rest of the pond has a small ledge that quickly drops off. The ledge is a good six plus inches below the water surface and is maybe 4" wide. Maybe I'll just play it out and see how things work out. This year we didn't have an issue. I would like to mount a KOI Cam above the water to view the entire pond. This way I could observe any unwelcome visitors.

Laura do you have more details on the green pond line protector? I'd be interested in what exactly this is? I was thinking regular fishing line would work. I thought of using the scarecrow, but thought it would be a pain each time we wanted to go out to the pond to turn off the water. Good point on the electric fence.

We haven't spotted any minks or otters, but my neighbor who is a real outdoorsman found a dead mink on the side of the road and had it stuffed & mounted for one of his kids (don't ask why). He was proud to display it for my wife. My wife, being from NYC only knows of of the mink you would wear. I can't even describe what she said after seeing this.

Yeah, I do not like the pond netting. But being surrounded by woods its a savior in the fall. My main issue is its expensive and it easily tears. It also sags under weight unless your willing to keep the spacing between supporting beams close together. I know you mentioned using shade cloth, but my fear with that is it isn't has porous as the netting and
therefore would retain more weight from the snow and ice.

Thanks,
Steve

Regular pond netting and bird netting is very flimsy and tear easily.

We buy deer netting. You can find it places like Lowe's and Home Depot.
It comes in an 100' roll that is 4' wide. We cut it in strips and zip tied them together to get the width we need. We set heavy rock on it on the edge of the pond to hold it in place. It does not rip or tear like pond netting or bird netting. And if it sags it is easy to lift the rock and pull it tight.

Bonnie

Hi all
Sorry I have been so quiet. I thought I had my profile set to e-mail if some one posted...apparently not. This is the time of year I go into hibernation in my work shop….burrr…

I'll call my friend as he has some green line. i'll find out where he gets it from and let you know. when it runs across you can't see it unless you are on top of it. Don't you just love zip ties i use them alot the deer netting at lowes or home depot works well even to keep the chihuahua in the yard.

Laura,

Thanks for following up on this. g

Bonnie,

I went to Lowes and checked out the deer netting. Seems to be stronger than the pond netting I've been using. Looks like next year this is the way I will go. Thanks for t he recommendation.

thanks again.

Hope you all have a wonderful New Years.
Steve

here is a cute pic the homeowner thought that he killed it when she ran into his bucket loader and knocked herself out she was about ten days old her umbilical had just fallen off I picked her up and squeezed her ear to make her cry for her momma and she and her mom were reunited