CLICK HERE to see a live video "feed" from The BAT Pond
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The Winterized BAT Pond
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| For those of you who have been following the adventures of the BAT
Pond.... you will recall all of our problems with the wild herons
swooping in to feed on our koi and goldfish. While we are still working
on building an automated alligator, we have
come to the end of the summer 2004 season and had to decide on what to
do for the pond over the winter. It is during the winter months that most home-based water gardens have the most trouble with herons. Their wild feeding grounds get frozen over and it becomes difficult for them to find food. So, they get bold and fly into the small ponds that have those lovely little orange-colored "dinner plates" swimming around that can be seen so easily from high up in the air! We always cut back all the vegetation in the pond since the frost will be killing it anyway in another week or so. If we don't cut it back and remove it from the water, it will just fall into the water and rot after the frost hits it. Once all the vegetation has been removed, there are very few places left for the fish to hide. While we trimmed back all the vegetation, we also have a lot of "hardy" plants in the pond that still provide a little cover for the fish. So, we used 3/4" plastic water pipe (10' lengths) and built an arched "dome" of sorts. We call it "the igloo". Then we got a 28' x 28' net and threw over the dome. We used large rocks around the edge of the pond to anchor the netting. Presto! A heron-proof pond for the winter! We can easily lift up an edge of the netting to throw some feed in to the fish. The plastic water pipe is held in place by first driving a 2' piece of iron "rebarb" stake in the ground on the same angle as the "arch".... and then sliding the water pipe over about 10" of the rebarb stake that sticks up. By the way, you'll need real, iron, rebarb stakes. I got ours from a local building supply outlet called "Lowes". I suppose "Home Depot" would also have it. The green-colored plastic stuff (from garden stores) that looks like a rebarb stake isn't strong enough to hold the water pipes. At the top-center of the "igloo" I used a 10" round piece of 3/4" plywood, and attached the 8 ends of the water pipes with galvanized clamps and screws. I used a total of 8 pieces of water pipe. As each pipe was put in place, I cut it to the correct length for the distance that it had to span. In most cases I had to cut about 2' off, but it varied from "leg" to "leg". Hopefully, the arched water pipe will be strong enough to support a little snow if it accumulates during the winter. The type of snow we get around here seldom lasts for more than 2 - 3 days. Then, it melts. We plan on keeping the water wheel (inside the igloo) running all winter. The pump that feeds the water wheel is on the bottom of the pond, so it is constantly bringing the warmer water at the bottom up and splashing it over the water wheel. I also have two large air-stones in the bottom of the pond that are connected to a piston-type air pump that is inside the base of the windmill. The air bubbles up from the bottom of the pond and, combined with the water wheel, hopefully will keep a small area of the surface from freezing over. If needed, I can always add a floating type of pond heater. I have brought in our tropical Blue capensis and carerula (tropical lily) plants along with our mosaic plant and will try to hold them over the winter. I'm also going to try to hold over some water hyacinth plants. |
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CLICK HERE to see a live video "feed" from The BAT Pond |
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