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#485652 01/29/18 08:47 PM
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I might have a .25 acre pond. 8 ft deep is the deepest and in the middle its 6 ft deep when full. Gets more shallow as it tapers off. Pond is fed by wet weather spring and surrounding water shed. Pond is full 8 months a year and shrinks to a .10th of an acre pond in July August.

Question I am fighting alge all the time and now Sango weed. I am hai g pond dye currently and manually cleaning the pond. I am Barried in research . In April I will introduce aeration and some sort of muck away.

Thoughts on how to control nutrients, sango weed and what aeration have others had luck with.

Also how can I get the pond to keep its original size thought about difffing deeper. Thanks in advance . Gallatin, Tn.

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You've got some inherent challenges with the way your pond shrinks, essentially concentrating the nutrients each yr. I have nutrient rich water flowing into my pond and causing a lot of FA (filamentous algae). Your addition of aeration is the most important first step, but I'll share a couple things that I'm doing to mitigate the issues without chemicals.

1) Physically remove as much surface FA as you can and till it into your garden or find someone who wants a great garden soil amendment.

2) It is best to avoid fertilization of plants and the lawn areas near your pond.

3) Add a couple floating islands. You could spend a lot of money on these, but in a pond the size of yours I think you could float a couple tires. Fill them with foam or plastic bottles, milk jugs, etc, place a grate on the bottom of the hole, and set a few potted plants in it. Cannas, some annual flowers, and many ornamental grasses are great plants for this.

You didn't mention anything about fish. Grass carp can help with many rooted plants, but don't expect them to change FA occurrence. Don't put more than one in a pond your size.


J Waters
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If no fish I would nuke it with hydrated lime. It will tie up allot of the nutrients in less water soluble compounds. Rooted plants would have to then grow off it.

Dwarf sag is a great plant for ponds that fluctuate in water level. It can live out of the water and when the water returns will grow under the water. The crown or root will not die off but the green will dry and die then grow new. When the water returns it returns back to underwater life. I am working very hard on propagating this my self right now.


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7/8th of an acre, Perch only pond, Ontario, Canada.
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J, never thought of using tires for that. I have plenty of those! I have the same problem...agriculture land. We have cattle, they must have access to the pond, surrounding land gets litter for fertilizer also. I noticed after the FA dies off during the cooler months I got a GREAT bloom. I have limed, probably need to again as we live in a very acidic area.

Not trying to highjack, thanks for the idea!

J and Dono, do you have trouble with your potted plants during heavy rain events?? Do you use some kind of burlap, peat, or netting to keep the soil in place?

Pondfun, we haven't met, so WELCOME!! you are in a great place!


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Great ideas. I definitely will try. Pond is in the front yard so I will do my best to maintain. Fish currently are two new grass cap . Bass, Chanel cat and some blue gill.

Thanks again for the tips.

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Alum will permanently bind up the phosphorous currently in your pond, and should greatly reduce the FA blooms later this year....about 400 pounds Alum with 200 pounds hydrated lime should work well



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Ok , I have also thought about barley straw. Where do you by the alum and lime. I have a co op close by. Thank you.

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Peach, Sorry I didn't respond in a very timely way, but yes, you could use burlap as a liner. By the time the fabric fails, the plants will be rooted to the point that they will retain and hold soil in place. I've found that you don't need much soil for most plants. Experiment. Do a quick search on hydroponics and you can learn how to grow with no soil at all and still pull nutrients from your pond. I'm actually going to try to grow some edibles on my pond this year. I'm attaching a pic of a tire still on it's rim (from the web) that grew a few weeds for inspiration smile although I'd only use the tire in order to build a more attractive planter. I wish I'd taken pics of mine before they were covered in ice and snow. Hope to make some more this spring and put the build pics on the forum.

Your question was also directed to Dono, but I think he was referring to plants that are planted into the bottom of the pond.

Happy Birthday too! I think I saw your name up there last week.

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J Waters
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J that's awesome! Maybe I'll grow some floating plants on my pond this year


Mat Peirce
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Do it Mat. From what I've seen from the pics of your pond, you seem to have some shady areas and could use some hostas, which are a plant I wish I could use. They are so common, so hardy, and grow low and vigorously. I just have too much sun to use them in my pond, but they might be good for you.

I'll admit that I'm as interested in plants and trees as I am in fish, probably more smile


J Waters
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I have hostas and lilies to split so I'm sure they'll end up at the pond...floating the hostas sounds like a great idea to me. What would you do with them in the winter time?


Mat Peirce
1.25 acre southeast Iowa pond
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I'd leave them in there Mat. If you can kill a hosta you have a really black thumb!

In all seriousness, I haven't floated any hostas or daylillies, but I'd expect you to have success with them. If you could add some grasses it may help because they have more fibrous roots which (I think) would create more winter protection for the coarser roots of a hosta and/or daylily. Miscanthus and feather reed grass 'Karl Forrester' are a couple choices that are easily found in our area garden centers. Like I mentioned before....experiment. The nice thing about all those plants is that if they die you can take a chunk from another one in your yard or on the bank of the pond and start all over.


J Waters
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J you've got the wheels in my mind turning...I will come up with some kind of floating planter for sure. My wife will be happy to get rid of our lilies and over grown hasas


Mat Peirce
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Originally Posted By: peachgrower
J, never thought of using tires for that. I have plenty of those! I have the same problem...agriculture land. We have cattle, they must have access to the pond, surrounding land gets litter for fertilizer also. I noticed after the FA dies off during the cooler months I got a GREAT bloom. I have limed, probably need to again as we live in a very acidic area.

Not trying to highjack, thanks for the idea!

J and Dono, do you have trouble with your potted plants during heavy rain events?? Do you use some kind of burlap, peat, or netting to keep the soil in place?

Pondfun, we haven't met, so WELCOME!! you are in a great place!


Well growing out some dwarf sag right now in our shop. With all water plants that are not quite evasive when transplanting they can melt. Melt as in the leafs they have die as new ones grown. That first few days of growth and melt is the most difficult.

I am trying to figure out how to pot these guys so they can be easily transplanted with little melt. I have moved about 30 or 40 new plants that have grown in the shop this winter to our planted fish tank. They did some melt and are starting to take hold. I think the melt happens when you bare root plant them.

I have some thoughts and will post them if they work.

Picture is of our transplanted sag and Fire Red cherry shrimp. They clean the dead leafs that melt and gobble up alga. They are very prolific and a pair will have 20-30 baby's every 3 weeks. we started with about 6 pair for sure. Like the pond stocking the shrimp first then adding fish they should be able to keep up to depredation of the fish.

Cheers Don.

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Last edited by DonoBBD; 02/07/18 08:21 AM.

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7/8th of an acre, Perch only pond, Ontario, Canada.

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