Pond care | Tips for pond maintenance in spring, summer, fall and winter

Pond maintenance is important to keep your pond clean, healthy and clear. To do this, it is necessary to maintain your pond each season. Aquatic plants are an important part of this, learn more? Then read on.

All about pond maintenance

• The importance of pond maintenance
• Creating natural pond through proper planting
• How to maintain the pond?
• Pond care in the spring
• Pond maintenance in the summer
• Pond care in the fall
• Pond care for the winter
• Maintaining the pond and pruning aquatic plants
• Tips and tricks on pond fish and pond problems

The importance of pond maintenance

To enjoy your pond all year round, it is necessary to maintain it. A good start is half the battle, because if the construction is thoughtful and expertly done, your pond will require minimal maintenance. At Van der Velde Aquatic Plants, we are committed to ponds that keep themselves in balance, so that expensive and environmentally damaging pump systems and pond filters become unnecessary, in fact, a balanced pond largely maintains itself. Pond plants are able to prevent algae growth and keep the water natural and healthy.

Creating natural pond through proper planting

Many people with a pond or who are interested in a pond think it is necessary to put a pump and filter in the pond to keep the pond water healthy and clear. But this equipment is not necessary at all to create a healthy water environment. A natural pond - the word says it all - that knows how to balance itself is achieved through balanced planting. Pond plants are therefore essential. It must be well suited to the nature of the pond, considering location, depth and size. To plant your specific type of pond correctly, it is important to be aware of the requirements. Because knowledge is required to do this correctly and create a natural and self-sustaining pond, it is helpful to follow a specialized planting plan.

How to maintain the pond?

A pond is alive, just like all other plants and trees in the garden. And so a pond also needs maintenance. With a well-designed pond with pond substrate, pond bacteria and, most importantly, plenty and variety of pond plants, maintenance is very limited. In every season there is a job to be done without having to use chemicals or equipment to measure the water parameters. Pond specialist Simon tells you per season what you can do for pond maintenance for a clean and healthy pond.

Pond maintenance in the spring

This is the time to restart your pond, so to speak. You can take these four steps to maintain your pond.

1. In early spring, take a close look at your plantings before they start growing vigorously. Remove the old, brown leaves from your aquatic plants to get them ready for spring again.
2. This is also the time to clean the bottom of the pond. Organic waste from plants may have accumulated on the pond substrate, and if you have pond fish, their feces and excess food may have accumulated. For this reason, clean the pond every season.
3. Are you done cleaning? Then we recommend adding a dose of fresh pond bacteria and nutrient tablets to the pond. After all, many bacteria did not survive the winter. The new bacteria will ensure that your pond can start up healthy and help keep the water clear for the rest of the year. We recommend Bacta Clear, this is suitable for any pond.
4. After these jobs, take a good look at your pond and decide if there are still enough pond plants in it. If not, install new ones, including marsh and aquatic plants. If it's up to Simon, always add new plants in the spring, especially oxygen plants. Hornwort is a good choice then. The plants are vigorous in this season and will immediately do their part to restore the balance to its optimum. Plus, you'll enjoy even more flowering plants in your pond.

Pond maintenance in the summer

Summer is the time when you enjoy the pond and the pond animals in and around it with a drink in hand. Overly exuberant aquatic plants can be thinned out. During this season, you are most likely to encounter algae, such as filamentous algae and floating algae, these algae are created because the sun shines a lot. Algae love warm water, which is why they often pop up now. Be quick to deal with algae.

Pond care in the fall

As fall sets in, it's time to get your pond ready for winter.

1. One task at this time is to prune pond plants that have grown too large or long. Do not remove the entire plant from the water, but only the excess parts. You can also prune water lilies; this can be done now or in early spring. The latter is a good idea if you have fish in the pond, because fish will still find shelter under and between the leaves of the lilies all winter.
2. Marsh plants are growing above the surface of the water and here and there the leaves will turn yellow. Time to intervene, the leaves are dying and you can cut them off in the fall. Cut it to about 20 inches above the water table.
3. Is your pond close to a tree? Then there is a good chance that leaves will collect in the pond in autumn. remove these leaves from the water as much as possible. Tip: After this, stretch a net over your pond so that no more leaves will fall into the water in the coming weeks.

Pond care for the winter

In winter, your pond generally requires little maintenance. This is because nature is in a dormant period and the pond can largely maintain itself. If your pond has green water after winter, you may have floating algae. You can deal with these in the spring. It is advisable to keep a regular eye during the winter months to ensure that your pond remains in good condition and can address any problems in a timely manner.

Maintaining the pond and pruning aquatic plants

Pond water maintenance

Pond water is the most important aspect of pond design. During the winter months, there is often a lot of precipitation in the pond and little evaporation. As a result, the hardness of the pond water at the beginning of the growing season is usually very low. This can cause problems because oxygen plants cannot grow well in water that is too soft. For this reason, increasing water hardness is an important part of pond maintenance in March. This allows oxygen plants to sprout properly and helps keep the pond clear and prevent problems such as algae blooms.

Oxygen plant maintenance

The most important maintenance for oxygen plants in the month of March, is pruning back the plants to 15 -20 centimeters below the pond surface. By doing this you achieve, that the oxygen plants have enough space to sprout properly. Growing oxygen plants helps keep the pond clear.

Maintenance of water lilies and marsh plants

In the first part of spring, you can split, or propagate, a water lily and marsh plants. This is also called splitting aquatic plants. To do this, you need to take the plant basket from the pond, dig out the root of the plant and cut off a large enough part of it with a sharp knife. You can put this part in a separate plant basket.
Other maintenance on water lily and marsh plants in March consists of cutting away dead stems and leaves. This gives the plant room to grow again and prevents too much organic waste in the pond.

Tips and tricks on pond fish and pond problems

Feeding pond fish

You can start feeding the fish in the pond again when the water temperature reaches about eight degrees. This is usually in the second half of March. The metabolism of the fish runs concurrently with the water temperature. So the fresher the water in the pond is, the less you need to feed the fish. So build up feeding the fish again slowly. Also, check that all the fish are still healthy by seeing if they are showing "normal behavior" and not lying quietly in a corner of the pond.

Thread algae prevention and control

Thread algae start their growth earlier than oxygen plants in March. In the fall, these algae grow just a little longer. This can lead to a pond suffering from filamentous algae in March. When maintaining the pond in March, try to remove string algae as much as possible. If necessary, you can combat string algae by giving the pond a special spring treatment.

Keeping heron out of the pond

A heron builds a nest early in spring. As a result, the energy requirements of these birds in early spring are already quite high. In the wild, herons find very little food in March. A pond is therefore especially attractive to them during this period.
The best way to keep a heron out of your pond is to stretch a net over it. This will prevent the heron from entering the pond. Stretching wires about 2 meters above the pond also helps, to keep the heron away from the pond. When approaching and landing, the heron will hit these wires and get spooked.
Keeping the heron out of the pond is a part of pond maintenance that should not be overlooked. Visits by a heron to the pond can lead to a lot of damage. Think dead and injured fish, overturned plant baskets or even a leak in the pond liner.

Frequently asked questions about pond maintenance