Blanket Weed and Water Soldiers

I have had blanket weed in my raised pond since the winter and cannot get rid of it. I bought 2 different products to add to the water and neither has had any impact on it. I have been thinking about trying a product that contains barley straw extract ( think its made by Algofin ). Has anyone tried it or can offer any advice how to get rid of blanketweed please? I have recently put some watercress into the pond hoping this might help. Have also replaced the worst of my plants that were clogged up with weed. The pond is in shade for at least half the day and is around 18 inches - 2ft deep. Its filled with rainwater.
I recently bought some Water Soldiers. They were healthy looking when they arrived but since going into the pond they look decidedly the worse of wear. The outer leaves are turning brown, decaying and breaking off.. Any thoughts on this please?

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Hi luciusmaximus
My next door neighbour had the same problem , we went down to the local Pond people and after checking out the horrifying prices for treatments we decided on a pad you put in the pond or hide it in the filter . The pad was like a big 8x8in pan scrubber infused with a chemical , you cut it down depending on the size of pond . It took about two weeks but it certainly cleared the blanket weed , Only problem is you need an air pump in the pond to replace the air that is removed , and please follow instructions carefully . The pad was about £11 compared to silly prices for fluids .
Cannot remember name sorry but good luck .
micky

 

Just guessing, but if the water soldiers were big, they might have been forced for sale, they should however sort themselves out.
Bear in mind nothing happens fast in a pond, every change is gradual, unless you use chemicals, which I tend to avoid, they are for the spotless/sterile giant carp ponds.

I've got a lot of blanket weed in mine this year, but hoping the balance will soon sort itself out regarding plant growth to shade the pond and extract nutrient, thus starving out the blanket weed.

 

When researching my duck weed I read about blanket weed. The RHS advice was barley straw extract.

 

Same here blanket weed quite bad. I am not a believer in chemicals due to the small insect life that it may harm. As Pete and ARMANDII say it is about nutrients and sunlight. My water lilies and weeds are growing well so all being well it should be starved of sunlight. I intend to net this winter against leaves, remove as much as possible of the rotting vegetation that comes from my shallow area plants and lilies. The pond is busy with frogs, newts, snails and dragonfly larvae etc so the blanket weed doesn't seem to affect them and it is naturally occurring even though a nuisance.

 

Thank you for the replies, some interesting and helpful comments I will take a picture of the pond and post it. I have a small lily in there but it doesn't seem to be growing or growing so slowly as not to be noticeable.

 

Have you seen the price of the stuff

So I went to the pet shop and bought a small bale of barley straw, cost me £2.50.
Now I dont know how they make the extract, but up till this year you could buy bundles of barley straw in netting for putting in your pond, not seen any this year, only the expensive "extract".
I've filled a bucket with the straw and added enough water to cover it a few days ago, tonight I drained of a rich brown liquid and added it to my pond.

I will now sit back and watch what happens

 

On the RHS site it said to put it in a hessian(?) bag. There was even the formula for how much for your pond.

 

They used to sell barley straw in a net bag for putting in your pond, it was not cheap, but the last container of Barley straw Extract I saw, in liquid form, was£34 and no smaller containers were available.

 

Jeepers!
You gotta love your pond to spend that! The way that I see it mine is ok as it's still teeming with tadpoles and the water lily that I added on the tenth of May appears to have secured itself to the bottom and is fair romping away.

 

This has always worked for me. I assume you have a filter?