Filed under: Food, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pond Tips, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: 50 Degree Rule, 60 degree Rule, Color Enhancing Koi Food, Cool Season Koi Food, Cool Temp Koi Food, Feeding Koi, Feeding the Soul, Feeding Time, Fish Feeding, Fish Food, Floating Pond Thermometer, Food, Good food, High Carbohydrate Koi Food, High Protein Koi Food, Hump Day Koi Fix, I ❤️ Koi, Koi, Koi Feeding, Koi Feeding Schedule, Koi Fix, Koi Food, Koi Health, Koi Health Tip, Koi Health Tips, Koi Pond, Koi Ponds, Koi Supplies, Koi Whisperer, Maxi Growth Koi Food, Pond Thermometer, Pond Tip Tuesday, Protect Your Koi, Rule of 60, Seasonal Koi Feeding Temperatures, Seasonal Koi Feeding Times, Spring Feeding, The Rule of 50, The Rule of 60, Tuesday, Two For Tuesday, Water Temperature
Spring is in full swing! We are past our last frost date and the whole world is greening up, I LOVE it! So do my Koi! 😊 They have been tearing up the Cool Season Koi Food and the veggies I have been feeding them. In fact, many of my customers and fellow Koi enthusiasts have been feeding Cool Season Food & have asked me the all important question…
– When can I start feeding regular and Color Enhancing Koi Food?
– My Answer- Remember the rule of 60!

I have covered The Rule of 50 in previous Blogs, when coming out of Winter into Spring, you must let the water temp stabilize for at least a week at 50+ degrees Fahrenheit before you start to feed your koi. AND, when you do start back to feeding, you should use a quality, Cool Season Koi Food! And don’t over feed! Gradually reintroduce food to them in small amounts.
Now, at least for me (check your thermometer) it’s time to make the transition to a regular Koi Food. In fact, I will start to feed both high protein and color enhancing feed, alternating weekly between the two.

So to wrap it up, check your water temp & when your above 60 degrees for several days in a row and climbing, you can transition to warm season Koi Food. That’s the “Rule of 60”… 😉
Viva La’ Spring!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
Filed under: Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pondless Waterfalls, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Artistic Waterfalls, Carters Nursery Pond & Patio, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Crashing Waterfalls, Design Ideas, Designer, Designing Waterfalls, Disappearing Waterfall, I ❤️ Pondless Waterfalls, I ❤️ Waterfalls, Natural Waterfalls, Naturalistic Waterfall, Pond Tip Tuesday, Pondless Waterfall, Tuesday, Two For Tuesday, Waterfall, waterfall design, Waterfalls, Waterfalls in YOUR Life, Waterfalls! Get Your Feet Wet!, Zen Waterfall
I just thought I would keep it simple today. Two beautiful pictures of two beautiful Waterfall Projects. Waterfalls are my business, and business is good!


It’s a beautiful day! And, Spring is right around the corner 😊
Have a great Tuesday!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
YouTube pg. –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dPkQiE04jcr385SOL0gkw
Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery/
Filed under: Family time, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pond Tips, Pondless Waterfalls, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Backyard Paradise, Bulk Leaf Netting, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Cut To Fit Leaf Netting, Debris Net, Fall maintenance, Fall pond help, Fall Pond Netting, Fall Pond Tips, I ❤️ My Pond, Koi Pond, Koi Proection, Leaf Netting, Maintenance Tips, Pond Maintenance Tips, Pond Net, Pond Netting, Pond Netting Frame, Pond Predator Defense, Pond Supplies, Pond Tip, Pond Tip Tuesday, Pond Tips, Seasonal Water Garden, Tuesday, Water Garden, Water garden supplies, Weekly Pond Tip, Yard Ponds
My Pond Tip for today is – Stay ahead of the coming leaf 🍂 fall with a POND NET!
– Pond Netting is your friend! The main reason to net your Water Feature in the Fall is to help with leaf and debris control. All the Ponds that I personally design and install have a skimmer system (mechanical Filter) that already removes an incredible amount of leaf debris. You simply empty that skimmer basket from time to time and have little to no leaf or debris problems. BUT, if you have a lot of trees in your Landscape as well, a Fall Leaf 🍁 Net may be in order. Depending on your leaf debris load, a skimmer might still need the help of a simple leaf net to keep up during peak leaf fall…

Pond Netting is a great tool to help keep the maintenance of your Water Garden or Koi Pond down to a minimum over the fall and winter. | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, Tennessee
Pond netting is inexpensive and we cut it to fit!
HOW do you install Pond Netting?
You simply pull the net over the Pond’s surface and secure it along the edges. Some ponds will allow for a tight stretched net over the surface but some times we install risers to make a “Tent” effect of the net. This helps shed the leaf debris to the edges to make it easier to dispose of them.

You can use risers and bows fashioned from PVC pipe to make a frame for your Pond Netting that will stand up to the elements. Easy to erect and easy to tear down too. | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, Tennessee
Keeping the leaves and other fall debris out of your Pond is a good thing! Leaf debris is unsightly, it also quickly starts to decompose releasing many compounds that are bad for your fish. In turn algae is fed by the decomposing leaf matter and oxygen is depleted. ALL of these things combined can be catastrophic for the health of your finned friends, in heavy leaf fall areas, it can even kill them.
ALSO – in the Fall and Winter most of the aquatic plants are asleep, leaving very little cover for your Koi… Pond Predators, like Blue Herons strike most often in the Fall and Winter… BUT, Blue Herons can’t get your treasured Koi through the Pond Netting! So that’s another big plus for having a Pond Net!

A Blue Heron is major Predator of our Koi and pond fish! BUT, we can stop them from harming our ‘finned friends’! Simple pTools like a Fall leaf net can help with more than 1 task 😊
So to wrap this up – IF you have a LOT of trees in your landscape that shed leaves in the Fall, a Leaf Net might be for YOU! AND – if you have Koi that you love and want to protect from predators, leaf netting could help you too.
FYI: You can get leaf netting for your pond at Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio! We always keep 10′ and 20′ widths in stock, we cut to order and it’s very inexpensive. Questions? Call me at 731-424-2206
Filed under: Family time, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pond Tips, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: Best Local Nursery and Garden Center, Blog, Blogging, Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, Daily Blog, Garden Blog, Garden Center, Japanese Trapdoor Snails, Maintenance Tips, Mother Nature, Organic Gardening, Pond Cleaning Supplies, pond filtration, Pond Maintenance Tips, Pond Snails, Pond Supplies, Pond Tip, Pond Tip Tuesday, String Algae, Summer Pond Tips, Tuesday, Water garden supplies, Weekly Pond Tip
As a ‘Pond Enthusiast’ I am always looking for ideas & tips to keep my Water Garden cleaner and ways to have less maintenance. Then I like to share them with you 😊 One of the biggies is Proper Filtration! Keeping the water clean & clear! And also, keeping the algae and sludge to a minimum… That brings me to today’s Pond Tip : 👇🏻
– Algae Eating Japanese Trapdoor Snails (Viviparis malleatus). 💥
These snails are highly sought after by Pond Keepers. They are non-invasive, hardy & will help to keep algae under control in your Water Garden! Japanese Trapdoor Snails will work around your entire Pond consuming decaying organic matter like algae, leaves, excess fish food, and fish waste.

Japanese Trapdoor Snails are hardy and can live up to 5 years! They really help to keep your pond clean. Here’s one we just pulled out of a pond at Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio during a clean out demonstration | Jackson, TN
Japanese Trapdoor Snails are “Live-Bearing” and only breed a couple of times per year – So they won’t take over your pond! Unlike other snails that can breed out of control.

Japanese trapdoor Snails do a great job helping with Pond Maintenance and they only cost around $5 each.
I try to always have some available for purchase. You need to have around 10 Japanese Trapdoor Snails per 50 sq. ft. of surface area of pond and they really make a difference!
There you have it… Pond Tip Tuesday lives on…
Happy Pondering 🤔
Mark Carter
Filed under: Family time, Fountains, General Blog Entry's, God Bless America, Koi, Koi Ponds, Lake and Pond, Landscaping & Gardening, Love, Nursery, Outdoor Lifestyles, Pond Tips, Pondless Waterfalls, water garden, Waterfalls | Tags: aeration, Aeration System., Carters Nursery Pond and Patio, D.O., Dissolved Oxygen, Hot Water, Hot Weather, It’s Hot!, Koi Health Tip, Koi Health Tips, Maintenance Tips, Moving Water, Pond Aeration, Pond Maintenance Tips, Pond Tip, Pond Tip Tuesday, Pond Tips, Summer Pond Tips, Tuesday, Water Garden Aeration, Waterfall, Waterfall Pump, Waterfalls, Weekly Pond Tip, Winter Pond Tips
It’s getting HOT folks! Saturday was a scorcher – 102 F. Heat factor… Whew 😅 Can you say “Dog Days” are coming… What do you do when it’s too Hot to breathe? A/C!!!
A better question: What can you do in the Hot months to help your Koi survive & thrive?

As the temperatures rise, the Dissolved Oxygen in the water goes Down… How can you increase the D.O. In the warmer months? | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, Tennessee
Waterfalls and streams help to increase the Dissolved Oxygen (D.O.) in your Pond.
In the Spring, Fall & Winter D.O. Is usually ample when you have a waterfall and aquatic plants, But, as the water temperature increases in the late Spring and as we enter Summer, the D.O. goes way down! That can cause serious problems for your Koi! Even death 💀! What can you do to fix this?

Many of my clients have an aeration system in their Pond. This helps to increase the D.O. (Dissolved Oxygen) In the water! It’s also a great safety for your fish as well, it’s very unlikely that the waterfall pump and the aeration system would fail at the same time, leaving your finned friends vulnerable. I recommend powering your aerator on a separate circuit as well, in case of GFCI interruptions. | Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio | Jackson, Tennessee
A good aeration system really increases the Dissolved Oxygen in your pond water! This means a healthy pond, clean water & healthy vigorous Koi!
A good aeration system is fairly inexpensive & simple to install as well.
This is my Pond Tip for the week and I hope it helps 😊
Happy Pondering!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
YouTube pg. –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dPkQiE04jcr385SOL0gkw
Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery/