Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Hogg
Another thing that plants, and algae, like is good light, in order to
photosynthesize. So reducing the light reaching the pond will help
reduce the blanket weed. This can be achieved by having much of the
surface of the pond covered with water lily leaves or leaves of other
pond plants. These plants will also compete with the algae for the
available nitrogen, and so help keep down the algal growth.
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Chris's advice is all good.
But don't go too far on the surface covering, otherwise the pond will not warm up in spring. Usually advice is to cover about a third - I reckon you could go to a half without problems.
An additional thing is to remove nitrogen - put in a rapid growing plant to absorb nitrogen, and keep removing it a) so it can't die, rot and return its nitrogen to the pond b) to encourage yet more growth. Watercress is often recommended.
And, of course, keep removing blanket weed. Much easier done in a fish pond than in a wildlife pond when the blanket weed is often full of young newts.
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