The ice on our pond is just about fully melted off... had warm weather for a week (60's)... was 44 deg today... I already see a handful of new FA forming.

When is the earliest one would suggest using any of the following:

1. Blue Dye?
2. Cutrine-Plus Algaecide spray?

Our pond is now 20+ feet deep in some places and consistently 17 ft deep across 2/3rds of it (1 acre worth). If I do my calculations for Cutrine... I'd need around 26 gallons for one application (22 acre-ft). This seems like a LOT.

I seen some post mention granular algaecide for deeper waters and using spray where depths are 2' and under.

Wanting to be as proactive as possible, while being wise with my resources. Is there a method/order or sequence of when its best to use dye versus algaecide (or both)?

The amount of algaecide would take a long time to apply given the dilution required for spraying out of my 4 gallon hand sprayer.

Thanks in advance!