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.