I pull all the tender plants out and put them in my basement under lights. I have
4-5 hanging baskets I bought at Steins, etc. and they dont do very well and I toss
them in spring and start over. But the core plants, the cyperus, the water celery
all survive. I have a large patch of water celery growing around the pond at my
mothers, so I dig it up, rinse the roots and use that as start up as well in spring.

my filter is above the pond and running it cools the water pretty fast, so I pull the
plants when the water temp in the pond is reliably under 55oF around the time of the
first frost... and when I am not feeding the koi. at that point they are not making
so much wastes. I then slip the hanging pump into the 5 gallon bucket filter with
mesh over the top and use the short hose directs the water back into the pond
aerating and keeping the water ice free. the 5 gallon bucket seems to do the trick
even with no UV going. it is in spring when I am most likely to see some ammonia in
the pond ... before the plants are really up and running well. This year I am going
to keep more of the plants fed and healthy inside so I have more to put out right
away. in spring I find string algae doing well in the empty veggie filter.
Ingrid

"Paul" wrote:
What happens over the winter when the plants die back or have to be removed
to shelter, does this have an effect on your pond filtration?


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