My 2 cents in addition to my posts above. Every pond is different. You need to know how your pond reacts and what its limiting factors are. Get the soil and water tested. As Todd noted , dead plants and plankton , excess fish food , added fish waste from feeding and from more fish biomass are all sources of organics. I would add to that list the organics in the pond detritus. Those are more than enough organics. I don't want to add more to those sources by using organic fertilizer. As Greg noted I can add very small increments of inorganic fertilizer to get the bloom I need over the period of time required. I know how it will react in the pond and what will happen. I have no confidence in the ability to gauge what reaction will occur from using organic fertilize or how to reverse the process if its to much.

The archive thread on fertilization notes that it is a tool to be used only in the proper circumstance. Slowly and with understanding. The obvious downside being if you don't know what will happen or understand what you are doing you may well kill all your fish or make a sewage pond. I for one am not going to take that risk or suggest that someone else do so until they understand the what and how of fertilization. Using a fertilization source of unknown potential that adds unwanted organics is not one I would use on a pond that I knew little about. Way to much risk for me.

This does not mean that Todd is wrong just that I would not try that on a pond. His advice may well be just right in this circumstance.

Last edited by ewest; 02/18/09 09:35 PM.