Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Barley Bales

I have questions concerning the use of Barley Bales to control algae growth. How well do they work & how long till it makes a noticeable difference. I first heard of useing them several years ago at my local golf course. The owner had put 4 of them in a 1/2 acre pond at the course. When I seen them I asked about them & he said it was to contol algae growth but it took along time to do any good. He also said regular hay bales would work but that would take even longer.By regular I mean timothy,alfalfa or clover.Does anyone here know much about useing regular hay bales in place of Barley Bales. I have access to all the regular hay bales I would ever need for free but to get Barley Bales I would have to invest quite a bit of $.Does the age of the bales matter? I have bales that are anywhere from 2-8 years old & they are all the big round bales.Does the rotting of the older bales make a big difference? The bales do decompose after you put them in the pond anyway do they not? I have some that are well docomposed already & some that are not decomposed hardly at all.

I have pond owners that swear by barley straw and some they swear at Barley straw. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. As far as using regular hay to control algae growth you are on you own with this one. Do a search for barley straw using the search feature and there has been a fair amount of previous discussions about barley straw. One key feature that I read today in a scientific report was that the straw needs water circulation through the straw to get at least some noticable algae control affects. The researchers were not impressed with the algae control from using barley straw.

Bill:

1) Isn't it the products of decomposition of the (barley) hay that may reduce algae?

2) Would you agree that it shouldn't hurt anything for him to TRY regular hay?

Theo -
1. Supposedly it is the lignins that leach from the barley straw that provide the stimulus for algae control. Barley straw supposedly contains the highest concentrations of lignins of the straws / grasses. The leached lignins degrade in the presence of sunlight and produce substances (oxidizers) that inhibit certain types of algae.

2. Hurt anything? Probably not. It depends on how you define "hurt". I did say he was on his own on this one. I have no strong opinion pro or con. I do believe that proper amounts of hay in a pond will cause the suspended solids such as soil particles to more rapidly settle out of suspension. But on the other hand clearer water will allow more light penetration deeper into the water to probably stimulate more filamentous algae or rooted plant growth at deeper depths, especially if adequate nutrients are present. Fair amounts of decaying straw-hay will increase the Biological Oxygen Demand and contribute to the amount of dead organic materials which do contain nutrients on the bottom. Nutrients stimulate plant growth. Adding hay? As I said, He is on his own. If he tries it he can come back here and tell us how well it worked. I would like that.

I had one local guy have good algae control with barley straw and a neighbor said the filamentous algae GREW on top of his barley straw!!

Well I know I kinda acted before I thought & reseasrched this much but in the fall around Oct I pushed 2 large round bales into the pond just by rolling them across a field with the front end of a tractor. There is quite alot of FA growth on them now.But there is a ton of it on the rest of the pond also. The water has been getting much clearer as the winter has progressed but that probably has nothing to do with the bales.I can see quite well thru the water down to depths of 8ft.Those bales were not decomposed at all that I put it. The one real problem I did have is that they floated & the wind kept moveing them all over the place. I took long metal rods & drove them into the sides of the bales tied wire to the ends of them & staked the wires down to the banks to keep them in the places I wanted them. I took well over a month but they did sink to the bottom then. I can see the tops of them quite clearly now probably 4-6ft. under water. Hope this doesnt turnout to cause more harm than good but I guess its too late to do anything about it now.When I put them in the water was very black & I could only see to depths of 2ft. There was no FA in sight anywhere but its all over the pond now.I do beleive those bales were Timothy for the most part.

DanB - Pond water typically gets progressively clearer as fall-winter progresses. The density of living organisms dramatically decreases as the water gets colder. Ice cover and lack of wind action also allows solid particles to settle out of the water column. During late winter your pond water will often be the clearest of the year. Pond water usually gets cloudier as the water progressively warms in the spring. Exceptions occur.

In your situation the straw bales and the filamentous algae have both probably helped to further improve water visibilities. Filamentous alfae competes against phytoplankton. I think it would be a good idea to try and remove the compact straw bale before it develops a late stage of decomposition and the bale is still solid enough to drag out of the pond. I think allowing the straw to completely decay in the pond will contribute to additional filamentous algae growth when a majority of the organic materials are converted to soluable nutrients. Algae growing on the bale I think is a sign that nutrient leaching from the hay is already starting to occur.

I thank you for the reply & helpful info. here is another part of the situation that is also probably contributing to the clear water I now have. I replaced the spillway as the depth had fallen to less than 4ft for the last 3yrs. there had been grsses & weeds all grown up all over the steep banks of the dam. I mowed off the grasses & filled the pond back up to over 15 ft. The grasses & weeds that were on the babks are now all underwater & have tons of the algae all over them same as the hay bales do. The darn stuff is growing everywhere but the water is crystal clear & keeps getting even clearer . I have not had much ice or snow cover all winter,just for very short periods & it melts away.I am also getting huge globs of Milfoil blown by the wind on the edges of the pond.I use a rake & remove all I can 2 or 3 times a week.I think I now have several hundred lbs. of it in piles near the banks just from raking it out.