Its our old pond but this year has a new problem, for the first time in
over 30 years we are getting large quantities of blanket weed, not added
anything to the pond in years nor applied any fertilizer to the bed
behind so I am at a bit of a loss as to why, but perhaps more
importantly what to do to get rid of it or at least reduce the amount.

At the moment I am pulling out large quantities every other day, do I
just keep going and hope I eventually reduce the nutrient levels or is
there a quicker and easier method

You can see a picture of the pond here
http://www.pushingtheborders.com/php....php?f=4&t=787

I have asked the same question on the plant forum
--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message news
Its our old pond but this year has a new problem, for the first time in
over 30 years we are getting large quantities of blanket weed, not added
anything to the pond in years nor applied any fertilizer to the bed behind
so I am at a bit of a loss as to why, but perhaps more importantly what to
do to get rid of it or at least reduce the amount.

At the moment I am pulling out large quantities every other day, do I just
keep going and hope I eventually reduce the nutrient levels or is there a
quicker and easier method

You can see a picture of the pond here
http://www.pushingtheborders.com/php....php?f=4&t=787

You need to starve the blanket weed from it's food source - algae.

If you can bury some electric cable to run a small pump with a UV lamp
inside.

Blagdon is a name you're familiar with :-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006IRMV...ing=UTF8&psc=1

Bottom of (above) page gives the various litreages. I wouldn't bother with
the spray outlets :-)

On 23/05/2017 19:21, Bertie Doe wrote:


"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message news
Its our old pond but this year has a new problem, for the first time
in over 30 years we are getting large quantities of blanket weed, not
added anything to the pond in years nor applied any fertilizer to the
bed behind so I am at a bit of a loss as to why, but perhaps more
importantly what to do to get rid of it or at least reduce the amount.

At the moment I am pulling out large quantities every other day, do I
just keep going and hope I eventually reduce the nutrient levels or is
there a quicker and easier method

You can see a picture of the pond here
http://www.pushingtheborders.com/php....php?f=4&t=787

You need to starve the blanket weed from it's food source - algae.

If you can bury some electric cable to run a small pump with a UV lamp
inside.

Blagdon is a name you're familiar with :-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006IRMV...ing=UTF8&psc=1


Bottom of (above) page gives the various litreages. I wouldn't bother
with the spray outlets :-)


I will look into the UV filter idea, I need a good bit more than the
6000 lt pump illustrated though as the pond is 14,000 lts!

--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk

On Tue, 23 May 2017 19:21:40 +0100, Bertie Doe wrote:

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message news
Its our old pond but this year has a new problem, for the first time in
over 30 years we are getting large quantities of blanket weed, not added
anything to the pond in years nor applied any fertilizer to the bed behind
so I am at a bit of a loss as to why, but perhaps more importantly what to
do to get rid of it or at least reduce the amount.

At the moment I am pulling out large quantities every other day, do I just
keep going and hope I eventually reduce the nutrient levels or is there a
quicker and easier method

You can see a picture of the pond here
http://www.pushingtheborders.com/php....php?f=4&t=787

You need to starve the blanket weed from it's food source - algae.

If you can bury some electric cable to run a small pump with a UV lamp
inside.

Blagdon is a name you're familiar with :-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006IRMV...ing=UTF8&psc=1

Bottom of (above) page gives the various litreages. I wouldn't bother with
the spray outlets :-)

Blanket weed doesn't eat algae, it is an algae. A UV will do exactly
nothing to it, they only kill what goes through them. The blanket weed
is living off excess nutrients and the only way of getting rid of them
is with more plants. Keep pulling the blanketweed out and don't do any
water changes. You get more nutrients from the tap than anywhere else.

Having said all of that we have blanket weed this year and we don't
usually get any to speak of so it may just be something environmental
this year. Dust from the Sahara? Maybe because it's been dryer we've
been topping the pond up with tapwater more and there has been more sun
than usual.

--
Faster, cheaper, quieter than HS2
and built in 5 years;
UKUltraspeed http://www.500kmh.com/

On 23/05/2017 22:28, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Tue, 23 May 2017 21:26:30 +0100 (BST), "Rodney Pont"
wrote:

On Tue, 23 May 2017 19:21:40 +0100, Bertie Doe wrote:

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message news
Its our old pond but this year has a new problem, for the first time in
over 30 years we are getting large quantities of blanket weed, not added
anything to the pond in years nor applied any fertilizer to the bed behind
so I am at a bit of a loss as to why, but perhaps more importantly what to
do to get rid of it or at least reduce the amount.

At the moment I am pulling out large quantities every other day, do I just
keep going and hope I eventually reduce the nutrient levels or is there a
quicker and easier method

You can see a picture of the pond here
http://www.pushingtheborders.com/php....php?f=4&t=787

You need to starve the blanket weed from it's food source - algae.

If you can bury some electric cable to run a small pump with a UV lamp
inside.

Blagdon is a name you're familiar with :-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B006IRMV...ing=UTF8&psc=1

Bottom of (above) page gives the various litreages. I wouldn't bother with
the spray outlets :-)

Blanket weed doesn't eat algae, it is an algae. A UV will do exactly
nothing to it, they only kill what goes through them. The blanket weed
is living off excess nutrients and the only way of getting rid of them
is with more plants. Keep pulling the blanketweed out and don't do any
water changes. You get more nutrients from the tap than anywhere else.

+1 to all that. Green soup and blanket weed are symptoms of too much
nitrogen in the water. Algae are just another form of plant life,
(although a rather special one), and like most plants, thrive on a bit
of nitrogen

Having said all of that we have blanket weed this year and we don't
usually get any to speak of so it may just be something environmental
this year. Dust from the Sahara? Maybe because it's been dryer we've
been topping the pond up with tapwater more and there has been more sun
than usual.

Oddly enough, although I usually get a little blanket weed, we've got
none this year. We have fish (or rather, we used to have fish. I saw a
few small ones earlier this year but none recently. There has been a
heron in the area...) but we've never ever fed them, in order to keep
the nitrogen levels down.


Thats the really odd thing, the water as usual is gin clear, no fish
(heron had them years ago) so I am struggling to see where the
additional nitrogen came from as I have not needed to top the pond up at
all since last summer.

Would disturbing the sediment to remove pickeral have caused it? but if
so why no green water?

--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk

On Wed, 24 May 2017 08:25:31 +0100, Charlie Pridham wrote:

Would disturbing the sediment to remove pickeral have caused it? but if
so why no green water?

That is probably the cause, it would be like a compost heap down there
and disturbing it mixes all of the nutrients up into the water. Green
water needs sun as well as nutrients so maybe the blanket weed is
shading the water?

We had a mink clear out our fish November 2015 and since we are being
demolished for HS2 we haven't bothered restocking.

--
Faster, cheaper, quieter than HS2
and built in 5 years;
UKUltraspeed http://www.500kmh.com/

On 23/05/2017 18:44, Charlie Pridham wrote:

Its our old pond but this year has a new problem, for the first time in
over 30 years we are getting large quantities of blanket weed, not added
anything to the pond in years nor applied any fertilizer to the bed
behind so I am at a bit of a loss as to why, but perhaps more
importantly what to do to get rid of it or at least reduce the amount.

Something has added extra nutrients to the water recently then.

At the moment I am pulling out large quantities every other day, do I
just keep going and hope I eventually reduce the nutrient levels or is
there a quicker and easier method

Might be worth testing the water to see what the nutrient levels are.
Build up of fish dung providing a bit too much nitrogen perhaps?

You can see a picture of the pond here
http://www.pushingtheborders.com/php....php?f=4&t=787

I have asked the same question on the plant forum


--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Tuesday, 23 May 2017 18:44:25 UTC+1, Charlie Pridham wrote:
Its our old pond but this year has a new problem, for the first time in
over 30 years we are getting large quantities of blanket weed, not added
anything to the pond in years nor applied any fertilizer to the bed
behind so I am at a bit of a loss as to why, but perhaps more
importantly what to do to get rid of it or at least reduce the amount.

At the moment I am pulling out large quantities every other day, do I
just keep going and hope I eventually reduce the nutrient levels or is
there a quicker and easier method

You can see a picture of the pond here
http://www.pushingtheborders.com/php....php?f=4&t=787

I have asked the same question on the plant forum
--
Charlie Pridham
Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk

Hi Charlie. Greetings from a former URGler in South Wales (we've met!). I don't like advertising a particular product but, as someone who is very lazy when it comes to cleaning out the pond and so been putting up with just about everything murky, I'd suggest you take a look at http://www.aquaplancton.co.uk/. I tried this a few years ago as a lazy way out of just about every pond problem imaginable and, since then, have given the pond an annual dose. The water stays ridiculously clear, even when I have to top up with tap water. Not the cheapest solution but, IME, the most effective lazy option. John (aka Jake)