Blanket weed problem

Hi all, I have been reading this post.

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/blanket-weed.22410/

My neighbour, with a few fish, has a really bad prob with this at the moment. My pond, no fish, has no probs at all and full of young newts and creepy crawlies. Both ponds have been upgraded this year so they are undergoing a settling in period. We both use pumps although mine is seldom on, it seems to stay crystal by itself with plenty of oxygenating plants. The pond in question is around 1500 gall. Any further advice on this horrible weed. thanks

 

I remove as much as I can by hand, because we have koi and they eat the straw out of the net bags if I put them in

 

Hi there.

I assume we're talking string/blanket algae? In that case, barley straw is a waste of time, as it's only effective against suspended algae. For the string/blanket type I use 'Cloverleaf Blanket Answer'. I've found it very effective at getting rid of most of it. I say most of it because there's usually some left on the sides of the pond, although even this goes after some time. Assuming he has a filter, he will need to be aware that this treatment CAN 'knock it back' a bit. That is to say, the biological activity will be reduced, so the water will need to be monitored for rises in Ammonia and Nitrite, but no big deal. I find that using half the stated dose is sufficient to do the trick

Cheers...Freddy

 

Blanket weed only grows if the nutrient in the water is high enough to allow, in effect its using up spare nitrogen in the water, so actually serving a purpose.

But I know its not desirable.

My answer would be to use more weed, elodea, watercress, anything that grows in water without soil in order to use up the excess of nitrogen.
Be prepared to haul it out and compost it, by doing that you are taking away nitrogen produced by the fish.

 

Thanks for your inputs folks, just come online family day today. The type is stringy and seems to cling to everything and there is loads of it. I will suggest removing as much as he can by hand and trying the Cloverleaf Blanket Answer. He has a waterfall which splashes into his pond so the oxygen level should be good. There is some new weeds and lilies (from my pond) and these are growing/ flowering away nicely so it may all sort itself out with help from here.

 

Neighbour has installed the CBA above, and it is congealing and being trapped by his filter and his 'kiddies net' ( I have one also, I remember rockpools at the seaside, ah those were good days... I don't see why I could not still go hmm). So I have put the info into the pond folder Open Office. Many thanks

 

Hiya Hans.

Did he use half strength?

 

He is a bit tight as the saying goes, when it comes to money, but a very good neighbour. I know he bought the smallest size and complained about postage charges... That is a good sign, he also has some left over for a dose next spring so half strength Freddy seems most likely. We help each other often no money changes hands runner beans/tomatoes in exchange for jubilee clips last week. Great chap.

 

This is a great reference site also. My same neighbour has a return of the problem but both of us have lost exactly what he used. Old posts are so handy. I may tattoo the link on him this time. http:/...... Amazon here he comes.

 

My pond has this problem (think its blanket weed??) but my pump runs 24/7 so no idea what's wrong there!

 

I've made a suggestion in your thread