Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water Great Natural way to fertilize a small pond 2 acre's or less!

I dug out a 1/4 acre pond 5 foot in some areas, and the deep part is 12 feet. I decided to purchase 3 bails of hay at our local feed store. I broke the bands, spread the hay out and watered it for about 2 weeks until it was saturated. Now my pond way pure brown water ( like a cup of creamed coffee) I Spread out that composted hay across the banks, covered the water and just pilied it on. Not no more than 5 days later that pond water looked like bath water, i was shocked and it's stayed that way for 2 years. But i am gonna get some artificial fert. cause i'm rasing bluegill so I need to make sure they have food. try it out, it works real good for me peace out!

Rattler, that is pretty much what I did when I started my lake. I spread native prairie hay over the bottom and then up the sides of the lake. What I was really trying to do was to provide a place for bacteria and small plants and animals to live. I bought bacteria from many different suppliers. Then I collected mud, muck etc. from shallow wetlands that I knew didn't have any "yuckies". It seems to have worked, at least for me.

Bill Cody works with this kind of thing much more than I. He might have some ideas.