Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Barley Bales

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.