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New At The Nest

We have recently added many new items in an effort to offer you the best backyard wildlife and garden decor products. Here are just a few of the many exciting products found in our Just Added category.

Winterizing Your Pond & Water Garden

With the onset of cold weather, it is a good time to think about overwintering your decorative pond or water garden. The most important thing to consider when overwintering your pond is caring for plants and animals.

Many plants can easily survive in the depths of your pond, but others need special care. Water lilies, cattails, and sedges should be trimmed to approximately an inch above the bulb and kept in the bottom of the pond to wait out the winter. More delicate plants, such as tropical lilies, taro, and elodea, should be brought into an indoor aquarium with an aerator for the colder months. Water lettuce and water hyacinth, are best discarded, as they are tedious to overwinter and relatively inexpensive to replace.

Fish and other cold blooded aquatic life react drastically to changes in their environment. In the cold, most fish go into a dormant state called torpor. When the outside temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit for more than five consecutive days, stop feeding the fish altogether to aid the transition into a dormant state. This prevents any undigested food remaining in the digestive system as fish begin their torpor. In their dormant state, fish continue to create waste, a large portion of which is toxic ammonia. To combat an ammonia build up, maintain a hole in the top of your pond with a deicer. This access hole allows harmful gases to escape through the ice. To ensure high oxygen levels, you may wish to keep an aerator running throughout the winter months.

As preventative maintenance for the spring, you may want to clean the loose organic debris from your pond. As leaves and other organic debris decay, ammonia and other toxins will pollute your water. Maintaining a hole in the ice covering a pond will release the toxic gases produced by decay as well as fish waste. Pond nets that cover or float on top of the water are a good investment for ponds that tend to collect fallen leaves and debris. Minor cleaning is best performed using heavy duty pond nets or garden rakes.

Properly winterizing your water feature will keep your aquatic life happy, healthy, and ready for next year. We carry a large selection of deicers, nets, and pond maintenance items to help keep your water feature healthy all winter. If you would like more personal assistance, feel free to call us toll free at 877-562-1818 between the hours of 9 AM and 5 PM Eastern Standard Time Monday through Friday. You may also e-mail us at [email protected].

more info	Creating Your Water Garden BWD-435 Now: $3.95	more info	Cal Pump Floating Pond Vent EggLite Kit, 10 Watt CAP-LPH-10W Reg: $99.99 Sale: $79.95	more info	Ento Heavy Duty Pond Net, Black, 12" ENT-PN503 Now: $14.99
more info	Farm Innovators Ice Chaser Floating Pond Deicer, 1250 Watts FI-P-418 Now: $44.95	more info	Farm Innovators Patio Pond Deicer, 500 Watts FI-P-500 Now: $41.95	more info	K&H Thermo-Pond 100 Watt Pond Deicer KH-8001 Reg: $49.95 Now: $39.95
more info	Pondmaster Fish Net, 20" dia. PON-02132 Now: $54.95	more info	Pondmaster Floating Pond Netting, 14' x 14' PON-02314 Now: $15.95	more info	Pondmaster Air Pump with Diffuser, 2900 cu in/min. PON-04540 Now: $84.99