What do fish do in winter?

Absolutley Nothing!

These Koi and Goldfish are spending the winter in an unheated pond in our greenhouse, which is also unheated. The pond contains double 9" aeration disk, run by a small Hakko aerator. This supplies sufficient movement to the water to prevent the pond from freezing solid in the winter time. It also prevents gases released from any decaying or decomposing material from building up. The air temperature in the greenhouse is minus 10. When it was minus 25 a few weeks ago, we plugged in a floating heater for a day or 2 to melt the ice that was forming on the surface.

The fish are motionless at the moment, as there are no water currents that would cause them to have to use their fins, which in turn, also preserves the body fat they built up by consuming a large amont of food in the summer time.

Texas White List is Expanding

The Texas White List is a list of aquatic plants that are permitted to be grown in Texas. This impacts exports to other States and into Canda. The list started off with very few aquatic plants being permitted, among them, most varieties of Nymphaea. The concern has also been that if ine state is successful in restricting the growing of these aquatic plants, more states would follow suit.

Rolf Nelson, president of IWGS has just shared the news that ALL Nymphaea species have been put on the Approved List (white list) in Texas. This means that growers in Texas can grow, sell,and possess any and all Nymphaea species and their hybrids.

However, the Ineligible Species List still contains many aquatic plants we all enjoy having in our water gardens, such as Colocasia esculenta, Hydrocleys nymphoides, Juncus inflexus, Ludwigia sedioides, Mentha aquatica, Typha laxmannii and Typha minima.

Hyacinths Spawn Goldfish

I have always recognized that hyacinths are very beneficial in a water garden, but transplanting goldfish eggs was not on my list of benefits for this little plant. Each fall, I am amazed at the number of little goldfish that I am finding in my growing tanks and ponds that have never had goldfish in them. I have also had customers return little goldfish to me that they find in their ponds at seasons end, and haven't the heart to allow them to freeze into a 'fishsicle'.

Where did these little goldfish come from? It all links back to the roots of the hyacinths. I have hyacinths around in my goldfish and koi pond, and I switch them into different ponds to allow their roots to rejuvenate. Apparently these roots have unhatched goldfish eggs on them, and when they go into a pond that has no fish in it, the eggs hatch and the little fish survive.

Aeration for a winter pond

Its time to think about how the goldfish and trout are going to survive the winter. Our trout and most of our goldfish winter outside in a large dugout, which we aerate with a vertex compressor system. The compressor provides air to four 9" air diffuser disks which produce very fine streams of air bubbles into the water. The air disks are connected to the compressor on shore by means of a weighted bottom line hose. The force of the air flow from these air disks will keep a hole open in the ice, even in our cold -20 to -30 temperatures.

Fall Freeze Up

What a disappointment. First day of fall, and we have already had a hard frost in the Edmonton area. The flowers in the flowerbeds are all a wilted looking black colour, as are many of the hardy aquatic plants. Its funny that the water lily pads don't seem to suffer from the same effects of a hard frost. Perhaps its because the lily pads are floating on the water and that takes the frost out of the leaves. What do you think?

Hyacinths in Bloom

Our hyacinths are going crazy with blooms - inside the greenhouse and in the outside ponds. It seems like they are now putting more energy into developing their blooms than they are in developing root systems.

By the end of the summer, there is always an abundance of hyacinths as these plants produce plantlets so prolifically. I called the Valley Zoo to see if there were any animals there that might want a treat of fresh hyacinths. Unfortunately, they said that the seeds of the hyacinths could be detrimental to the health of some of the animals, so it was probably not a good idea to feed them to the animals. Oh well, they are very rich in nitrogen, so maybe the compost pile will benefit.

A Bloom within a Bloom

This is a picture of a Cynthia Anne blossom bud displaying a viviparous characteristic. The flower bud never did open up, and instead, it is sprouting a new plant from inside the bud. The new plantlet appears to developing its own roots, which you can see on the left side of the bud, and in addition to developing 4 leaves, it also has its own flower bud. This type of occurance is common to several varieties of tropical water lilies (generally a new plantlet occurs from the leaf rather than the bloom). Feedback from the Water Gardeners International group indicates that many of the Kirk Strawn hybrid lilies with parentage with N. mexicana are viviparous.

Grunging in the Lily tanks

Its hard to believe that its August 28, 2010, and its 12 degrees outside. My hardy water lilies decided that it was not worth the effort to open their blossums, and stayed tightly closed all day. I can’t say I blame them. I was also bundled up in my hoodie whenever I went outside.
The outside water lily tanks are usually full of blossums. Currently blooming are Cynthia Anne, Mangala Ubol, Norma Gedye, Mayla, Moondance and Woods Blue Goddess. This weekend was grunging time for the tanks. The south tank lilies had started to develop string algae around the base of the plants. This is the first time we have seen string algae on the lilies this summer. The north tank did not have any string algae, but did have an abundance of aphids on the leaves. Its strange that the 2 tanks, which are side by side, should have 2 separate problems. After my grunging efforts today, followed up with water treatment, the problem appears to be solved – for now.