Getting Ready for Fall

Summer is not quite over yet, but you may have noticed that the days are getting shorter, nights are cooler, and leaves are starting to change colours in some areas.

All telltale signs that autumn is just around the corner.

Now’s a good time to start making a checklist of things you’ll need to ensure that you’re prepared to handle all the tasks related to transitioning to autumn, which will make winterizing so much easier later on.

 

Your checklist should include the following:

• Pond thermometer
• Pond netting
• Pruning tool, nets & skimmers
• Air pump, aeration kit, pond de-icer
• Fish Food for Fall Feeding

Water Temperature

Since water temperature plays a huge role, especially if you have fish, it’s always a good idea to check if your pond thermometer is working properly. Water temperature is your cue to when you should switch to feeding fish food specially formulated for fall feeding. More about this below.

Pond Netting: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

One of the best ways to make maintenance easier is to place Laguna Pond Netting over your water garden to capture falling leaves. This way, you don’t have to toil as hard later on to collect scattered leaves, especially those in the deep end.

Pond Netting

Pruning tool, nets & skimmers

Ensure that you have the proper maintenance equipment to get the job done. A pruning tool is excellent for trimming plants. Nets are perfect for handling fish, skimmers are ideal for capturing surface debris.

Air pump, aeration kit, pond de-icer

Take stock of your winterizing equipment and ensure that all is working well for the upcoming winter season.

Fish Food for Fall Feeding

As mentioned above, tracking water temperature is critical heading into colder weather. Pond fish have special nutritional needs when the air cools  and the water temperature gets into the 8° to 10° C (47° to 50° F) range – they need more wheat germ in their diet. So make a mental note to pick up a bag of Laguna Spring/Fall Fish Food with Wheat Germ.

If you follow all the above recommendations, you’ll be well on your way to making a seamless seasonal transition. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the summer!

Reflections from Misericordia

We've had the opportunity to learn more about the water gardening history at Chicago's Misericordia Home and how Laguna has been able to contribute. We received some great feedback from Jeff Hudec at Misericordia about the success of their pond. See his message below:

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We’ve had our pond for about 11 years now. It started as a pond about 100 gallons in size, and has expanded into one that now holds 1000 gals of water, ten Koi, two water turtles and one large Pleco.  Roughly 100 of our residents help to care for our pond on a weekly basis and almost all of the 600 residents who live at Misericordia have enjoyed viewing the pond at some point or other.

Just over a year ago, the Greco Gardens at Misericordia Home received a donation for our indoor Koi pond. The donation consisted of a Laguna Pressure Flo 1400 filter and a Max Flo 900 pump. Before receiving these items, I tried more pump and filter combinations from more pond companies than I care to remember and none of them worked very well or for very long. 

The Laguna products are superior in every imaginable way to every other filter/pump combination I’ve used to keep our pond clean and healthy. With minimal maintenance, these items have kept our 1000 gallon pond free of debris and crystal clear for over a year now.  The filter is easy to clean and requires little effort to maintain. The pump also runs smooth and with very little trouble.

I cannot recommend these products more or thank Michael Zmina more for donating them to us. Our Koi are much happier as are our resident workers who now can enjoy viewing the fish in crystal clear water year round.  Thank you once again.

Sincerely,

Jeff Hudec, Misericordia Home, Greco Gardens.

Misericordia Home loves their pond!

Water Features for Wellness

The Misericordia Home in Chicago, Illinois is a campus for children and adults in Chicago with developmental disabilities, many of them are also physically challenged. Nanci Martinez, Supervisor for the Developmental Training Program at Misericordia, had became aware of our water features at Laguna Ponds and asked us if we would be able to install one in their Wellness Garden. The garden is an area for daily mediation, yoga classes, and other programs for residents and staff. 

Laguna's Mike Zmina was happy to oblige, and offered to set up our windmill water feature. The addition to the Wellness Garden has been successful in so many ways. Misericordia staff have shown enthusiasm in learning more about water gardening and Laguna water features, while the residents at Misericordia have shared great feedback about their garden addition.

Nanci shared some warm words about Laguna's donation to Misericordia.

Here are some pictures of the amazing water feature that you donated to our developmental training program. The residents and staff are enjoying it a great deal. It's a wonderful place for the residents to enjoy daily programming in addition for the staff to relax and unwind on their breaks. I really appreciate you helping make our wellness garden at Misericordia the wonderful place that it is.

Again, many thanks! 

Nanci

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About Misericordia:

Misericordia offers a community of care that maximizes potential for persons with mild to profound developmental disabilities, many of whom are also physically challenged.  By serving society’s most vulnerable citizens, Misericordia also serves the families who want the best for them, yet cannot provide it at home.

Misericordia's Mission Statement:

The Mission of Misericordia/Heart of Mercy is to support individuals with developmental disabilities in maximizing their level of independence and self-determination within an environment that fosters spirituality, dignity, respect and enhancement of quality of life. We promote development of natural family and community support, community awareness, education and advocacy.

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When are Aeration Kits Necessary?

When are aeration kits necessary? Actually aeration kits are a vital piece of equipment in a pond year round. During the winter months they are used to keep water moving, help to maintain a small opening in the ice and for gas exchange. They are just as important during the hot summer months when warmer waters are not capable of holding as much dissolved oxygen.

There are many factors that affect the dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in a pond, these included nutrients, algae and temperature. The DO level in a pond is important because this is the amount of “air” available for pond fish to respire; as these levels drop it makes fishes breathing more difficult and the fish may actually come to the surface of the pond “gasping” for air. In order to correct this problem things such as fountain heads and waterfalls are used to increase oxygen levels. But as stated earlier there are several factors that add to lower oxygen levels. Temperature is one of these factors and with the current heat wave that is hitting some areas of the country fountains and waterfalls may not be enough to maintain an adequate DO level in ponds; in which case pond aeration kits can be an essential piece of equipment in a pond. 

PT1620 Air Pump Kit (50LPM)

Laguna Air Pump Kit

Using an air pump during the warmer, summer months in ponds that have an excess of algae is just as important as using it during the winter months. Aquatic plants, particularly oxygenating plants (anacharis, hornwort, cabomba) will produce oxygen during the day; however at night aquatic plants go into reverse photosynthesis and deplete the water of oxygen, thus lowering the DO levels. This along with warmer waters and high organic levels can cause fish kills; in the ocean this is know as “red tide.”

As we continue to head into the heat of the summer months if you don’t have an aeration kit as part of your pond equipment you may want to give this some serious consideration. Adding an air pump will help to improve the health of you pond and its inhabitants.

For additional reading, visit the Laguna Ponds website.

Controlling your Pond Algae

Here at Laguna, we've been spending time learning with and engaging our online community. We are developing relationships with other bloggers who share our interests in gardening, ponds and everything related!

Below, we've reposted a great piece written by Joe Ropp of the Homes Alive Pet Centre in Alberta. Joe enjoys communicating about his work with others through the articles he writes for the Homes Alive blog. You can visit the Homes Alive blog right here for interesting stories and helpful tips about your pond, your fish and more.

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Put Pond Algae Control in your Hands
Written by: Joe Ropp


Product Review: Laguna Pond Clean Granules

One of the best water gardening products to come to market in the last few years, Laguna Pond Clean Granules target excessive algae, debris, and water quality. There are few products that work as quickly and safely.

Relying on the scientific process of oxidation, these granules have an almost magical quality to them.  You simply sprinkle the powder on the areas of your pond that have excess algae, or any other organic debris. You can instantly see results.  

The algae and debris will either begin to float to the surface, where it can easily be skimmed off, or it will disappear completely.  Laguna Pond Clean Granules are particularly effective for cleaning rocks and waterfalls. 

The oxidation process has other added benefits. The pond clean granules noticeably enhance water quality in the hours after application.

Being a product that relies on contact to work, it is important to turn off the water flow before application, and then restart it after 10 -15 minutes.  

Safe for plants and fish, use Laguna Pond Granules weekly to keep your pond healthy and looking great.  This is one product that does not disappoint. An essential part of any water gardener’s maintenance kit.


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For more from the Homes Alive blog, click here!

Laguna at Garden2Blog

If you follow P Allen Smith as closely as we do, then you're already well aware of the the Garden2Blog event he hosted earlier this month. For those of you who aren't familiar with the occasion, it's kind of like a show and tell involving some high profile personalities from the gardening community.

As Allen himself stated at the beginning of his most recent blogpost, the easiest way to keep up with the gardening world is gardening blogs! The Garden2Blog event is fantastic for bringing together garden experts, passionate authors, plant distributors and more, all on the same platform.

Floating garden created at 2012 Garden2Blog

With beautiful garden structures, photo-hungry guests and plenty of food, the event is always a fantastic way to celebrate such an impassioned hobby. Allen is a prime example of organically-focused growing, and the health of his plants truly do justice to the extra care he takes in his work. Laguna was very pleased to share our knowledge of water gardening with enthusiasts who traditionally stick to soil. Hopefully we've inspired more people to introduce the elegance of ponds.

Thanks for the great times!

See photo albums from the most recent Garden2Blog on Facebook.

For more about water gardening, stop by our Laguna Ponds page.

Canadian Laguna Spring Tour

Laguna Spring Series

We are excited to be bringing our tour north of the border! See our tour dates and locations below.

April

04/21: Embrun, OC, Co-op Embrun Rona, (Seminar Starts: 11am, Meet the Laguna Pond Specialist)

04/19: Chateauguay, QC, Animalerie Felix (Seminar starts: 4pm-6pm Topic: opening a pond+starting a pond)

04/21: Chateauguay, QC, Animalerie Felix, (Seminar starts: 9am, Topic: opening a pond and starting a pond)

04/28: Drummondville, QC, Pepiniere Henner-(discounts available, Topic: opening and building a pond)

04/ 29: L'assomption, QC, Pep. Villeneuve Porte ouvertes, (9am ,Topic opening and building a pond)

May/June

05/5: Chambly QC- Ferme Guyon (Seminar starts: 9am, Topic :pond opening and information event)
05/5: Burlington ON- Holland Park Garden Gallery (Opening seminar at 11am, Meet Laguna Pond Specialist)
05/6: Pierrefonds Montreal,QC-West Island Nursery (8am -11am Topic: Pond opening and information event)
05/6: Sainte Catherine, QC, Titi et Gros Minet (1pm-3pm Building and maintenance of a pond)
05/10: Mississauga, ON, Sids Ponds and Gardenscapes (7pm, Meet the Laguna Pond Specialist - Pond Opening and algae control seminar)
05/12: - Trois Rivieres, QC, Jardin du coin event (9am Topics: Laguna products and opening a pond)
05/26: -St Paul, QC,  Pepiniere ST PAUL, (9AM Topic: Pond building, maintenance, information session).
05/26: St. Paul, On, Klomps Plantscapes (10 am Topic: Combined seminar - Pond Opening and algae control seminar & Pond planting and maintenance with Moores Water Gardens)

05/26 - Trois Rivieres, QC, Jardin du coin  (9am,  Seminar on Laguna products and opening a pond)
06/2: Peterborough,ON, Peterborough Landscape Supply (10am-2pm,Topic: Meet the Laguna Pond Specialist day)