Ask the Question

squiggle · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 4 Location: UK

Anyone know of an effective method of getting rid of blanket weed? We made a pond last year and it is thick with the stuff.

Jon

AlanE · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2004 1:44 pm Post subject:

Pump to airate the water and create movement by using it to create fountain and waterfall plus oxygenating plants normally help.

Read somewhere that blanket weed is attracted to barley straw. So put a clump of that in. You can then replace it when the weed saturates it.

Alan

squiggle · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 4 Location: UK

Thanks, we use barley straw in another small pond but it doesn't seem to work in this pond. I think a big problem is it gets too much sunlight - its on a strip of land we rent that borders a big field. Matters should improve in time when other items which include a coupe of fruit trees and blackcurrant bushes grow. For now, I think we need some chemical but I'm not sure what to try and at the moment, I don't want to risk killing the tadpoles.

We did try a solar powered pump last year - a little sort of self contained "island" which had both the panel and the pump - but returned it as useless, it was stop/ start (mostly stop) even on the brightest of days. Maybe we should try another type and see how that goes.

Jon

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4631 Location: Bath

If your going to have fish in the pond a few oxiginating such as water violet, blanket weed and eloda will help to provide oxygen for the fish, often refered to as water-weeds they are an essential part of the pond planting scheme.

It may occasionally be necessary to remove surplus oxiginating weeds with a rake or fork, floaring bits can be removed with a net.

Fish and water snails will help to keep the water clean.

scruff

squiggle · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 4 Location: UK

We had some water plants last year though I'm not sure about eloda ( reminds me of the old biology class joke in school where we would say 'ello dear') that still survive.

We did have fish last year 2 of which I believe were called shubunkin. All 4 were to me gold fish like. They died. Today, my brother and family paid us a vist and my nephiew saw fish in the pond - I thought he was mistaking tadpoles for fish but when Mark took me to the pond, sure enough I saw fish as well as tadpoles - grey things he said were minnows. Not sure whether the gold fish bred and early colour is grey or whether it may have been eggs laid on a plant we bought last year...

Whatever, and still away from the gardening side of ponds, I'd like to see efts (newts but I've loved that word since reading "Tom And The Water Babies" as a kid"). I know where to find some but I believe it is ilegal to move them. And in any case wouldn't even consider it unless the pond was "stable" for them.

Jon

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4631 Location: Bath

Breeding pairs of goldfish and shubunkins should be fine and can grow very big depending on the pond size, some area's you may have to protect them from birds etc.

Whatever you do remember, Kill the weed you kill the pond.

Avoid chemicals at all cost.

scruff

squiggle · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 4 Location: UK

Cheers. you have persuaded me to do the weeding even if it will be at least a weekly job in the summer. The last thing I want to do is kill the pond. It's amazed me how quickly life found it - frogs and/or toads have already laid there and last year, I remember spending some time watching a blue skimmer (I think - blue dragonfly like thing) over it.

Pond is only about 8x8 so I doubt we will see fish growing very big.

Protection, I'm not sure round here. We don't have problems with the other pond of a similar size which has fish but the locations are quite different - one being right by the house and the other in a field. I remember when I lived in N Wales, someone having a heron not only taking fish but also piercing the pond lining as well!

Jon

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4631 Location: Bath

Try planting the weed in a basket and weighing it down, stops it spreading quite so fast, Water lilies can also be planted the same way and will shade the pond to a degree.

scruff

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4631 Location: Bath

Jon,

Discovered some stuff called "Pond Balance" which may help your problem, take a couple of weeks to control it ??

A site you may be interested in.

http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/water_garden/garden_ponds.htm

and,

http;//www.thegardenersalminac.co.uk

scruff

joe25 · Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 21 Location: Middx

there's a plant on ebay for removing nitrate which is what blanket weed feeds on it takes nitrate out of the water,it certainly reduced mine an awful lot