Winter Pond Cover

by Reade
(Saint Paul, MN)

The pond cover in action

I created my first pond about five years ago here in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Zone 4 (sometimes 3). Summertime was great. The fish thrived and the water plants grew well.

Winter was another story. The second or third year, I dug a longer, deeper pond so that I could overwinter the fish. Before the pond iced in, I had cleaned out as many leaves as I could without draining the whole pond. I bought a donut heater to keep a hole open in the ice.

That winter a three-legged raccoon fished through the donut hole and ate my biggest fish. The remaining fish were sick and dying when the ice melted because of excessive amounts of ammonia in the pond due to decaying leaf matter and, well, poop.

The next year my husband and I covered the pond with plywood sheets (over the donut heater). The weight of the snow pressed the sheets down over the heater and effectively sealed off any escape route for accumulating gases. So when we opened up the pond in the spring, yes, again, sick and dying fish.

That summer I scoured the Web, looking for winter pond covers that, 1) didn't cost a fortune, 2) didn't require carpentry skills to create, and 3) could withstand the weight of Minnesota snows.

There were lots of options. Most of them fell into one of the three categories above: too expensive, carpentry skills needed; too flimsy for heavy snow cover.

Finally I happened on a Canadian man's website that showed a kind of quonset hut type affair he had built over the pond that could be easily erected, didn't cost much, and could be reused year after year.

Materials required: Steel rods, PVC pipe, 6 mil (or more) plastic. sandbags. Pairs of rods were angled down into the ground opposite each other across the pond. PVC pipe was pushed down over the rods to create the frame's skeleton. One long rod went from end to end.

After the frame was up, a long sheet of 6 mil clear plastic was draped completely over the skeleton, pulled taut, and held down around the edges by sandbags (the kind you can buy to put in the trunk of your car to add weight to the back end for better traction on winter roads).

The solution was simple, elegant, and totally effective. Come spring when the plastic was removed, every single fish was alive and well. The plants that had overwintered in the water and around the edges were about two weeks ahead of all the other garden plants.

Check out the photograph to see the cover in action.

Comments for
Winter Pond Cover

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Small pond cover
by: Reade

I have looked at many pond covers, but found them either too big and/or too expensive. You can make a smaller version of our pond cover, which is easy, inexpensive, and very effective.

Materials:
>>rebar or galvanized pipe that will fit inside diameter of PVC pipe (rebar cut off at an angle with a Sawz-All to create a sharp point to push into the ground)
>>PVC pipe (to form the skeleton over the pond - push PVC pipe over rebar rods stuck into ground on opposite sides of pond)
>>telephone ties (to hold the skeleton together where the pipes cross each other)
>>6 mil. plastic (to cover the skeleton)
>>sandbags (to hold down the plastic)

If your pond is only 48" in circumference, you'll need only two pieces of PVC pipe, four pieces of rebar or galvanized pipe, one big telephone tie, enough 6 mil. plastic to cover the PVC skeleton with overhang sufficient to spread out around the sides to be held down with sandbags.

The rebar is angled toward the center of the pond. The PVC pipe ends are slid down over the rebar down to the ground. The cross-joing of PVC pipe is held tight with the telephone tie. The plastic is draped over the skeleton and then the sandbags spread around the outside edges to hold down the plastic. Voila!

If you have more questions, please feel free to respond to this post, and I'll email you directly.

Reade

Thanks Reade
by: Doug

Reade - thanks for helping out here - appreciate it and your experience. :-)

Answer to Help!
by: Reade

Hi, Glenda,

For winter care, we built a PVC rod skeleton over the pond and draped 6 mil plastic sheeting over that, held down all the way around with sandbags over the winter. I included the "ingredients" in my first post but no sketch. If you want more information, let me know.

Netting alone won't be enough for the winter if you live in a really cold climate like Minnesota. The plastic over the top shields the pond from the harsh winter winds and eliminates loss of water due to evaporation. Plus, the plastic covering effectively keeps out all predators.

We use two round pond heaters to keep the ice open for venting of noxious fumes that build up under the ice. The heaters don't melt all the ice, just a ring of ice the size of the heater. We have used bubblers to oxygenate the water under the ice but kept them near the top of the water instead of at the bottom of the pond.

We take the pump out for the winter so the only electric items working in the pond are the bubblers and the two little heaters.

You don't have to be a carpenter to build the skeleton, although having a helper makes the whole process easier.

Good luck!

Reade

winter coverage 2 tier pond
by: glenda

i am single female who doesn't know crap about carpentry--last year bought plastic covered pond cut pump off secured with sandbags --(had no fish) weight of snow caused somewhat od sinkage problem but when took off in spring water eas down because most gathered on top so drained rest cleaned out etc. this year however i have fish --HELP ! do i turn off pump put netting over and secure with sandbags and put something to hold it up? do i use heater?

Raccoons!
by: Reade

Hi, Roger!

We had raccoons and herons plaguing our fish. Putting a net over the pond destroyed all the charm. I researched animal deterrents and finally found the answer.

The best deterrent is a little device called The Scarecrow. It's a heat- and motion-activated water spray. Range of sensitivity is about 50 feet. You hook up a garden hose to a water source, set the angle of spray and sensitivity level, and you're set.

Good luck!

Pond
by: Roger

Hello Reade, What size is your pond? How do you deal with the racoon in the summer? We have a 7 feet fence and thy still get around our pound and do damages...I dont know what to do!
Great job you done

Follow-Up
by: Reade

Reply to Jean: Yes, I left the pond heater in all winter. For the bigger of my two ponds, I used two heaters, spaced about six feet apart. I used a bubbler near the surface of the smaller, deeper pond (where I overwintered the koi) to keep the water oxygenated. If it's put on the bottom, I've read, it channels the cold air from the surface down where the fish spend their hibernation months and can seriously impact their health or even kill them.

By the way, I forgot to mention another construction item: zip locks. My husband uses them to lock together the pipes where they intersect with each other. That keeps the frame tight and solid no matter how hard the winter winds blow.

Pond cover
by: Jean

Sounds good.To late for this year, but will try next year. You didn't say if you left the heater in.

years of observation
by: Carol

It demonstrates what dedication, creativity and focus you have when problem solving. Hard work has never been a detriment to any task you undertake.

Innovative
by: Joan K.

Where there is a will there is a way! You sure have the will . Congratulations on your persistence.

WOW
by: Frankie

Just want to say you did good! What a wonderful way to winterize the pond and fish.

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Doug Green