| Hello
Wakoola Friends,
It is that time of year when the weather starts
cooling down, the leaves change color, and your pond and garden
start their preparation for winter. The gang at Wakoola is ready
to help you get your pond in shape for the coming cold months.
We are offering several classes to teach you how
to prepare your pond for winter - Check our fall calendar of events.
Our ever popular pond build seminar will return in November too!
It is almost time to redeem those Frog Bucks that
you got in the spring. Come in October 15th through 31st and use
them to purchase fall products, new fish, fall annuals and perennials,
or anything you wish. If you missed out this year, they will be
back next spring.
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November
28th marks our 2nd Anniversary! We would like to say thank you
to all of our customers for their patronage over the past two
years. We could not have done it without you! |
Saturday,
November 29th will be our Holiday Open House with lots of gift ideas
for the gardener, or gardener at heart, in your life. Wakoola will
be decorated for the season and we will have lots of goodies for
you to try.
Its going to be a fun fall at Wakoola and we hope
you'll join us! Happy Ponding!
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| It
is time to replace those tired summer annuals with pansies and
violas for the fall and winter. Come to Wakoola and check out
our wide selection of colors. We carry only 4" pots so
that your flowers start out with a large healthy root system
to take them into winter. Also available-winter kales, herbs,
and fall perennials. |
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Netting
Your Pond for Fall |
| One
of our distributors told us of a nifty way to net your pond.
For those of you who struggle each fall and winter with leaves,
this might work well for you. Use ¾" thin wall PVC
pipe in lengths long enough to arch over your pond. Pound a
short rebar stake into the ground. Slip one end of the PVC pipe
over it. Arch it over the pond and slip the other end onto a
rebar stake on the other side. Put enough of these over the
pond to form a kind of greenhouse looking dome over the pond.
Lay the pond netting over it and attach to the ground with staples,
making the net tight. The leaves will simply fall off of the
framed net instead of gathering on top of it.
You can paint the PVC black so that you won't
see it in the landscape. Save the PVC and use it year after
year. Our netting comes in 14" and 25' widths and can
be cut to whatever length you need. We carry the staples too.
You can purchase PVC at your local hardware store.
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Back
by popular demand:
Toad
Hollow |
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| These
wonderful toads have a whimsical grin and look great in your
garden or by your pond. Several sizes available. New this year-rain
gages. Coming for the holidays: character toads dressed like
your favorite fireman, policeman, teacher, and others! |
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Fall
Calendar
Saturday, October
11
11:00-11:45 AM Winterizing your pond
1:00-2:00 PM How to plant
a floating island for your pond
2:00-2:45 PM Winterizing
your pond
3:00-4:00 PM How to plant
a floating island for your pond
October 15-31 Frog Bucks
Redemption
Saturday,
November 8
10:00-10:45 AM Winterizing your pond
12:00-4:00 PM Pond Build
Seminar
Saturday, November 29 Holiday
Open House
WINTERIZING YOUR POND
Learn all you need to know to get your pond ready for the
cold months ahead. You will get a jump start on spring by
following our methods.
HOW TO PLANT A FLOATING ISLAND FOR
YOUR POND
Floating islands are a big hit, especially for those whose
koi eat all of the plants in the pond. Planted in bright colors,
they will add beauty to your pond that will last until the
coldest months. They will also give the fish something to
hide under now that the lilies are almost gone. Bring your
own or buy one on this day. We will use pansies and other
winter flowers to plant an island you will love! All participants
will get 20% off of plants.
FROG BUCKS REDEMPTION
Redeem your frog bucks!
POND BUILD SEMINAR
This is our popular seminar where we simulate a pond in our
classroom and teach you the basics about installing liner,
skimmers, filters, and pumps.
HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE
Will you be tired of the mall by Saturday? Then come to Wakoola!
We will have lots of gift ideas for holiday giving. Complimentary
goodies will help you get in the mood for the holidays.
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PREDATOR!
At
Wakoola, we joined the ranks of you who have had a beautiful
but unwelcome visitor to our ponds: the blue heron. Our
bird seemed to have taken up residency here, hanging out
around our ponds looking for a quick snack! He couldn’tseem
to catch the koi in the koi pond because of the depth (3’5”)
and the hiding spots we built in under the rock ledges.
He was able to snag a few of the smaller fish when he first
started coming around, but the others became wise to his
evil ways, I think, and managed to stay away form him. But
this heron, as most, was a very patient and persistent bird
who had gotten very bold and hard to scare off. We tried
almost all of our predator products and here is what we
have learned...
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| If
you put something by the pond which moves in the wind, it kept
him away from the edge where the moving object was positioned.
Our mirrored dangles, hung on a shepherd's hook or in a tree,
caught the sunlight and helped keep him at bay. Also, the white
egrets that bob in the wind scared him some. We tried the heron
decoy. Herons are very territorial and don't like to see other
herons unless it is mating season. A heron will eventually figure
out that the decoy isn’t real if it not moved around;
so we moved our decoy every few days. |
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The problem seemed
to be that although the heron wouldn’t go near the objects
we'd placed to scare him off, he had no qualms about standing
on the other side of the pond. So, the trick is to put the
deterrents where the bird has the easiest way to the fish.
He won't wade into water over 18" deep. Also, if the
fish have something to hide under in the pond, he obviously
has a harder time getting to them. Your fish are more open
to the heron now that the lilies and other pond plants are
smaller than they were during the summer. Aquamats, Koi Kastles,
and floating islands are a few products that we carry which
make great hiding places.
One product we
didn’t try but which has been successful for a lot of
folks is the motion detector called a Scarecrow. It is attached
to your garden hose. It squirts the bird with water when he
comes by. The advantage to the Scarecrow is that it also works
at night when the neighborhood raccoon comes to call. Raccoons
are the second most common predator we hear about. But, since
our ponds are there for the public to view, we don’t
want to get anyone wet when they visit so we have to take
everyone else's word for it that the Scarecrow works!
As a last resort,
you can foil the heron by stringing fishing line in a criss-cross
pattern over the pond. He can't see the line and will get
confused by it, hopefully leaving for better hunting grounds
elsewhere.
Remember, the heron
is a protected species. It is illegal to kill one in Georgia.
(We have heard about fines up to $10,000 being imposed on
people who got caught.) After all, the bird is just doing
what is natural to him. There aren't many places out in nature
where he can have a smorgasbord of colorful fish like he can
in your pond. It must be much harder to catch brown fish in
a lake! The trick is to convince him that there is better
hunting in other ponds than yours. Be persistent like he is
and keep chasing him off. Our heron went away!
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| SOME
FALL PRODUCTS TO HELP PREPARE YOUR POND FOR WINTER |
| Aqua
Hands
- These handy gloves are totally waterproof up past your elbow.
If you don't like to get your hands in the pond mud and muck,
then these are the gloves for you. Also great when the water
gets too cold for your hands. $21.99
Microbe Lift Autumn/Winter - This product is a sludge
eater that has bacteria which does not die in cold temperatures.
Works on the decomposition of leaves and debris on the bottom
of the pond. $27.99
Pond Thermometer - You know
that you should feed your fish less as the water cools down.
These waterproof thermometers take away the guess work! $9.99
Barley Extract - Don't like
that bale in your pond?
Use barley extract instead. All the properties of the bale
in a handy liquid. $16.99 - $44.99
Barley Bales - Now is the time to change out the
barley bale you put in the pond last spring. If added now,
the bale has time to start working before the water gets too
cold. $12.95
Pond Salt - It is a good
idea to bring the salt level of your pond up for winter to
help your fish combat parasites in the spring. $7.99 - $24.99
NishiKoi Wheat Germ Fish Food
- Fish need less protein in the cooler weather. This food
provides all the essential nutrients fish need now in
an easy to digest form. $11.99 - $44.99
Black
Majic Vac - We have had numerous requests for an
easy-to-use vacuum for the pond. This is it! Perfect for your
fall cleaning project. Just attach to your garden hose. $39.99
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