Winter Plant Care
Winter has arrived and there are plenty of things for pond keepers to complete to keep their ponds looking tidy! If your pond has plants, they will need to be overwintered if you want to keep them alive over winter.
If you see any decaying plant material in your pond, this should be removed as soon as possible to prevent any chemical imbalances from taking place.
You should also temporarily put a cover net over the pond to catch surface debris. Alternatively, you can use a pond skimmer to remove debris from the surface of your pond. Leaves that have made the way into the pond can cause the water to turn brown from the tannins in the water, or the pond may turn cloudy from the sludge that forms at the bottom of the pond. So the time it takes to prepare the pond and keep the plants healthy contributes to the overall health of your pond.
Non-Hardy Plants
Plants like water lilies, water lettuce and water hyacinth (i.e tropical plants and non-hardy plants) prefer warmer temperatures and should be treated as annuals. In this case, remove the plants and put them on the compost heap. It is extremely difficult to overwinter these plants because of their preference for warmer weather.
If you are going to try to overwinter non-hardy plants, then remove them from the pond and store indoors in a bucket of warm water (or an aquarium).
Tropical water lilies require more attention than non-hardy plants. You will need to remove them from the pond, remove dead foliage and rinse the plant. Then keep the tubers moist in distilled water under a grow lamp. Tropical lilies are not guaranteed to overwinter this way and it is normally best just to dispose of them and purchase new ones the following spring.
Plants like hardy water lilies and lotus can be kept to overwinter in a deep pond (you just need to prevent their roots from freezing). First, trim the foliage back to 1.5” / 4cm from the root ball and let them sink to the bottom of the pond. If you do not have a deep pond, then store these plants indoor while they are dormant.
If you have any marginal and bog plants, then these can be pruned around 2” / 5cm above the soil and they should survive over winter. If these are planted in containers, then the container can be sunk into the deeper parts of the pond to prevent them from freezing, whereas they can be left where they are if planted into the ground.
Submerged plants
Other submerged plants just need a trim to remove any dead or decaying plant matter and submerge them into the deepest parts of your pond. This should prevent the plant roots from freezing and they should survive over winter.
Floating plants
Floating plants, like water lettuce and water hyacinth, should be removed when they start to turn yellow and disposed of. They are very difficult to keep over winter and should be replaced annually.
Other Useful Information
For winter care, you may also find our other winter-related blog posts useful using the below links:
Pond Calender (Seasonal Advice)
Pond Checklist
Top Tips
If you need any further assistance, please email us on info@pondkeeper.co.uk.