For winter, the pump can be set such that the discharge is pointed towards
the surface, just breaking the surface to keep a hole in the ice. If that
is not sufficient, then a deicer may be needed. A hole is necessary to
allow gas exchange, to get oxygen in the pond and dissipate the toxic
gasses. Some in the colder climes, move the fish inside for the winter and
shut everything down.

When I said sweep the hose across the surface, what I meant was to take the
stream of water from the hose and use it like a broom. It should not hurt
the lilies, and definitely won't hurt any of the other plants.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi - thanks for the response - firstly, I have water lilies and such in
the pond and can't just sweep the hose over the top. Second, if it
won't get all the duckweed, won't it just grow back in a few days
anyway? What would be the effect of adding some goldfish (to eat the
duckweed)? Would I need to keep the waterfall pump running all winter
(zone 4/5) if I did that so the fish don't die?
thanks!

RichToyBox wrote:
If you can overflow the pond, then use the hose as a broom and sweep the
duckweed over the edge. It may not get rid of all of it, but will get
rid
of a lot. If you have municipal water, then be sure to dechlor.
--
RichToyBox
http://www.geocities.com/richtoybox/pondintro.html

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi - thanks for the website. I do indeed have a duckweed problem .
I planted several more water liles yesterday so hopefully they will use
up the nutrients instead of the duckweed. I'm not prepared at this
point to go digging trenches etc. next to the pond to solve this
problem - is there some way to kill the duckweed off? If not can
anyone suggest a solution that doesn't involve digging trenches or
spending hundreds of dollars? I don't mind the algae blooms because I
think they will go away on their own, but the duckweed is getting
worse.
thanks!