Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Hay/manure for fertilizer?

Hi all,

Just finished construction of my one acre farm pond last month and it's now full, since I have two streams flowing into it. I'm about to stock 5-10lbs FHM but I'm wondering if there's any forage for them, since the pond is new and muddy. I do have hay and cow manure I'm cleaning from the barn and was thinking of putting that in the pond for fertilizer.

Is that wise?

Thanks!

FH are cheap and tolerate poor water conditions - go ahead and stock them.

Have you had your water tested or soil? That will tell you about the need for any fertilization. I would hold off until I knew more. If you are worried about food for FH for a couple weeks then buy a small amount of fish food from the hatchery.

Don't use hay or manure for fertilizer, no matter what you find out about your water chemistry. It's way to "hot" to use to initiate a plankton bloom. If your pond filled with runoff from agricultural fields, it may already have enough nutrients to start a plankton bloom.
I agree with Eric to have your water analyzed, but don't fertilize until you see if a bloom starts, or until your water analysis comes back, whichever happens first. Measure visibility of water. If you can't see further than 18-24", then you don't need to fertilize.

If you have streams flowing into it, I would still get the water tested, but think that there is enough food in the water for the FHM already. Like Bob said, don't add hay or manure.