Although most of the trees haven't started dropping them yet, there have been a few leaves falling into the water, so I decided on Saturday that I needed to act on the netting before it was too late.
After first checking out the local pond store and finding their prices to unreasonably high, I hit the local home improvement store for some supplies: pvc electrical conduit, UV-resistant zip ties, and netting.
Although the netting only came in 7' (2.1m) widths, it was 100' (30m) long so I could attach two pieces together to get the width I needed: 14'x20' would work for me.
The plants were in the way, so I had to trim back the Colocasia a bit. Here they are before trimming:
The same went for the canna: too tall, so had to get trimmed. (Before trimming:)
It was really difficult working with the thin netting (I used "deer block" netting which was just a bit heavier than the "bird netting" I have previously used for projects) as it kept getting caught on everything and was almost invisible when laying on the ground.
I finally got it pulled into place and secured with garden staples and rocks. Then I threw a few leaves on top of it so you could actually see something in the photos.
I suspect it will be easily visible in the next week or so when the maple leaves fall.
One complication is that I'll still need to get under this net to pull more of the plants out. I guess I should have done that before installing the netting...
I'm feeling pretty good about getting this in place in time, as it should really reduce the work needed to keep the water and fish healthy this winter.
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An update: I was concerned about animals or birds getting caught in the netting, but no problems after a few days. Also, one of the sections of conduit came apart in the middle while I was adjusting it today. Seems to be fine though. I suppose it will have problems when it's loaded with wet leaves though.
ReplyDeleteI'll be curious to see how this works for you. As I've considered netting our pond, I worry about wet leaves or a combination of wet leaves and snow dragging the net into the pond, creating a whole new set of problems.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't sound like a fun project...but it will definitely be easier than constantly removing leaves...and the fish will thank you for that :-)
ReplyDeleteLisa: once the trees have finished dropping, I'll remove the netting and any leaves that may be left on it -- I won't leave it up all winter. I'm curious to see how many leaves actually pile up on it, or if they mostly blow off.
ReplyDelete