Last year I mentioned that I was leaving a one hundred fifty gallon
stock tank with lotuses out for the winter in zone 5/Chicago, and that
I would report if it froze. I surrounded it with fiberlglass
insulation on the sides and white foam board on top, sank a one
hundred watt aquarium heater into it, and covered the whole thing with
a tarp. when I opened it the Spring, it was perfect-- covered with
duckweed and with the cattails and lotus pushing against the cover.
So, it didn't freeze. In fact, I think the lotus went back into
hibernation because the water cooled after I opened it in the end of
March. Based on my experience, you don't have to dig or bring in for
the winter.

"Eliezer" wrote in message
om...
Last year I mentioned that I was leaving a one hundred fifty gallon
stock tank with lotuses out for the winter in zone 5/Chicago, and that
I would report if it froze. I surrounded it with fiberlglass
insulation on the sides and white foam board on top, sank a one
hundred watt aquarium heater into it, and covered the whole thing with
a tarp. when I opened it the Spring, it was perfect-- covered with
duckweed and with the cattails and lotus pushing against the cover.
So, it didn't freeze. In fact, I think the lotus went back into
hibernation because the water cooled after I opened it in the end of
March. Based on my experience, you don't have to dig or bring in for
the winter.

I'd like to see the same test without the heater. Seems to me, them there
plants didn't survive winter, because they never went thru winter.

--
BV.
www.iheartmypond.com