Looked in our pond today. Unsurprisingly, there's not much sign of life
yet ... except for the blanket weed, which is looking ominously green.

Is now a good time to use blanket-weed killer?

Supplementary: which one would you use? (Yes, I know that this is a
VFAQ, but it's also a frequently changed answer, as technology
progresses.)

The only creatures in our pond are the usual beetles, nymphs, and frogs,
and a few newts in a lucky year.

Cheers
John

In article ,
Chris Hogg wrote:

On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:32:44 +0000, Another John
wrote:

Looked in our pond today. Unsurprisingly, there's not much sign of life
yet ... except for the blanket weed, which is looking ominously green.

Is now a good time to use blanket-weed killer?
....
I'm not an 'organic' gardener by any means, but I draw the line at
adding algicides to my pond. Do you really have to use it? It won't do
the wildlife any good and may actually harm it. Why not just lift out
the blanket weed with a rake every few weeks (I use a sprung-tine lawn
rake, upside-down).

I agree up to a point. I do NOT like the idea of using it.

However we've been plagued for years now. I get sick of the manual
removal technique! It's tedious [with the amount of weed that we have]
and it causes a mess, because my wife insists that we leave the messy
piles around the pond "to allow the creatures to escape back into the
pond" which would be fine if she EVER returned to clean up those piles
after the creatures are gone!

It would be a fairer contest if the amount of weed were reduced
considerably (I'm not so sanguine as to think I could actually get rid
of it entirely).

Incidentally, excessive algal growth in a pond indicates too much
nitrate in the water (algae are just a primitive form of plant life
and thrive on the same nutrients as normal plants). As you haven't got
goldfish, it's not because you're feeding them, so it must be natural.
You can lower the nitrate level by adding more plants such as water
lilies, irises etc. to mop it up and compete with the algae.

Yes - I know. Have tried this -- for years. Increasing the number of
plants any more would defeat the object (or one of them): I do like to
see large areas of clear water in the pond, so we can watch the
creatures.

Cheers
John

On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:32:44 +0000, Another John
wrote:

Looked in our pond today. Unsurprisingly, there's not much sign of life
yet ... except for the blanket weed, which is looking ominously green.

Is now a good time to use blanket-weed killer?

Supplementary: which one would you use? (Yes, I know that this is a
VFAQ, but it's also a frequently changed answer, as technology
progresses.)


I just wind it around a stick and pull it to the side.

Steve

--
EasyNN-plus. Neural Networks plus. http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN. Forecast with Neural Networks. http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN. Just Neural Networks. http://www.justnn.com

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:32:44 +0000, Another John
wrote:

Looked in our pond today. Unsurprisingly, there's not much sign of life
yet ... except for the blanket weed, which is looking ominously green.

Is now a good time to use blanket-weed killer?

Supplementary: which one would you use? (Yes, I know that this is a
VFAQ, but it's also a frequently changed answer, as technology
progresses.)

The only creatures in our pond are the usual beetles, nymphs, and frogs,
and a few newts in a lucky year.

Cheers
John

I'm not an 'organic' gardener by any means, but I draw the line at
adding algicides to my pond. Do you really have to use it? It won't do
the wildlife any good and may actually harm it. Why not just lift out
the blanket weed with a rake every few weeks (I use a sprung-tine lawn
rake, upside-down).

Incidentally, excessive algal growth in a pond indicates too much
nitrate in the water (algae are just a primitive form of plant life
and thrive on the same nutrients as normal plants). As you haven't got
goldfish, it's not because you're feeding them, so it must be natural.
You can lower the nitrate level by adding more plants such as water
lilies, irises etc. to mop it up and compete with the algae.

--

Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall overlooking the sea.
Mild, but very exposed to salt gales

Have you tried adding Daphnea to the pond, they seem to love the aglae. My
brother-in-law's pond went from pea green to clear in two days !

Bill

They seem pretty inept. They make their way down to the base of the weed where it's damp, then just hole up there without bothering to go any further. If I'm removing pond weed, I put it into a wire basket placed over the corner of the pool, so that anything that makes its way down to the bottom falls out back into the pool. But blanket weed of course just slithers back in, so that technique doesn't work.

The point of growing plants to reduce nitrates isn't that you leave them in there - you periodically heave out armfuls taking the nitrates with you. So seeking to control blanket weed by using fast growing plants still leaves you with lots of clear water.

That said, newts alter the scenario completely - the adults lay their eggs in broad-leaved pond plants - in my case, in the water forget-me-not and then the babies hang out in whatever weed you want to get rid of.

In the indoor tank scenario, most of the algicides also kill the snails - one of the reasons I've never looked at algicides for the outside pond.

In article ,
Chris Hogg wrote:

Yes, I put my 'weed' on the edge of the pond for the same reason, but
I suspect it's wishful thinking! I reckon the wee beasties have about
as much chance of fighting their way out of that tangled mass as a man
in a straight jacket has of getting out of a locked padded cell
(Houdini excepted)!

which would be fine if she EVER returned to clean up those piles
after the creatures are gone!

Er....of course you could do it yourself.

My dear chap: I end up doing it anyway! (That's why I'm fed up of it.)
For purely self-indulgent reasons, the wife *loves* pulling the weed
out, but she ain't so hot at tidying up the mess later.

For the same reason you mention above (non-alarmist, complacent
creatures), I personally would heave it all straight on to the compost,
if my wife would let me, but she doesn't, so I leave it at the side also.

However: I do like Kay's idea of a wire basket: this at least would
concentrate the mess! I will give it a go, Kay, and work out how to
prevent it sliding back in.

Following my natural inclination, I'm easily persuaded by your arguments
that an algicide is the wrong way to go.

I'll just go and hug me tree...

Thanks peeps
John

Mesh size is the key. Lining with a bit of net curtain would stop the blanket weed sliding in, but would be too large for creatures to get through. With luck there'll be a mesh size somewhere between net curtain and wire basket which will do the job. Small-meshed sieve maybe.