Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Fertilization Pros and Cons of Fertilizer Options

I am planning on fertilizing my 1.5 acre pond this coming spring. I have a mild to moderate amount of runoff during the year (depending on rainfall amount). My initial plan was to build a small platform and use grannular fertilzer. What are the pros and cons of the grannular and liquid fertilizers for this application?

Pros of granular fertilizer. Slow dissolving, good for perpetuating a bloom.
Liquid fertilizer quickly initiates a bloom, but tends to be used up by plankton more quickly than granular.
Either way, fertilizer works best only if dissolved into the water.
Liquid is easier to dissolve.
Be sure you get the correct amount of nutrients into your water, or neither type will be effective.
Lots of talk on this site about fertilizer

Thanks Bob.

Additionally, before you fertilize make sure your water alkalinity measurements are above 20ppm and 30 to 80 ppm is better and will more likely encourage a better bloom of micro-algae and zooplankton animals in the water column. Ponds in sandy soils are famous for having low water alkalinity. Note. Numbers were adjusted with advice of G.Grimes.

Cody,
I have alot to learn about northern ponds but in the SE you should strive for 20 ppm alkalinity. Rarely will you get it above 50 ppm, but good point. Also Sarchasm you should look into water soluble pond fertilizer. Even easier to use than liquid.

One other note for this thread. Some areas of the world, alkalinity is too high. In those cases phosphorus tends to be quickly bound and unavailable for uptake.
In west Texas, for example, there are ponds with alkalinity of 400 ppm, with lots of gypsum naturally dissolved from soils.
Put 10-34-0 liquid in a lake like this and you can watch the phosphorus precipitate before your eyes.
These ponds need two to three times recommended doses to start a bloom, so we tend to emphasize feeding, rather than fertilizing these warm water ponds.