I recently built a 16 acre pond with about 250 acres of run off. The pond filled in before I could lime it with ag lime so a consultant used hydrated lime. He applied it by spraying the lime on a barge behind his boat with a pressurized water hose. I know this can be risky but he did a great job and we didn't lose any fish from a sudden rise in pH. I would like to avoid using hydrated lime in the future. I have 20 acres of pasture runoff into the pond and have limed it this summer with ag lime. Do you think the pond might get a significant beneficial effect from just liming the pasture? What about fertilizing the pasture as well? I do not have any livestock on the pasture or any other agricultural runoff into the pond.
Contact the co-op and have them use the spreader truck to put ag lime in the lake. You will get some benefit from liming the pasture but no where as much as by using the above method. Hydrated lime does not last long. It will dissipate in about a mth. Most land fertilizer is not the right mix for water. Example 13-13-13 is a common land fertilizer while 0-46-0 or 8-52-10 are common water varieties.
The good news is, with that large of a catchment area, your water should clear up in a short time even without help.
HIJACK...well somewhat........
I asked on another thread and got no response, I heard gypsum did the same thing as lime, if this is true would scrap drywall help a pond out??
So far the phytoplankton bloom has done well with a little fertilizer. I am keeping the visibility around 24 inches without too much problem. The water was clear from mud by the time it filled last spring. It may be difficult to maintain a good pH and algae bloom until after the spring rains due to the run off. If it is, I should be able to pick it up in the summer when the run-off drops. I already have 2-2.5 pound CC stocked as fingerlings in April. Of course the feeder has not hurt!!!
I don't know about the drywall. Seems like the paper would be a problem.
do not suggest the drywall addition and no gypsum does not do the same as ag lime. Bones have you tested the Alkalinity of your pond water? I suggest doing this to determine status.
Hydrated Lime is also dangerous to use. Don't get it in your eyes.
Ag Lime on the pasture wont move very well to the pond. If you have a CEC (cation exchange capacity)of 10 or greater and you probably do it will attach itself and be immobile for the most part. Always consider "putting" lime where you want it as the same for phosphate they just dont move much.
Agood rule of thumb is to lime the entire pond and then 40% at the water source to keep it active sometimes lime gets burried in the sediment and you loose the buffer. If you have a runoff feeding the pond on the surface line with 3/8 chips to feed pond this will last your lifetime as limestone breaks down 1/8 inch per 100 years also empty bag lime into crick will help in spring When liming always shoot the shore as far as you can reach.
Never place sheetrock in ponds it contains man made chemicals fibers I could really elaborate on this but I think US Gypsum will fill in the blanks with a phone call. Raw gyp is the best
PB on sheetrock thread.
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...=true#Post81495While gyp is a substitute for alum and does not use up alkalinity like alum, it is not a substitute for lime. Water is a solvent and therefore takes up the traits of the dirt in and around the pond. The object of liming is to change the dirt's traits/acidity and thus by absorption the water. Some lime will dissolve into the water directly when applied but it mostly sinks and changes the dirt. That is why ag lime when properly applied continues to work . It changes the pond bottom dirt (and upland where applied) until natural process make the dirt acidic again. At which time more ag lime is required. That is why soil tests are key and the lab recommendations are based on soil tests.
That is part of what Ted was describing: " If you have a CEC (cation exchange capacity)of 10 or greater and you probably do it will attach itself and be immobile for the most part. ". In attaching lime changes the soil acidity.
yeah what ewest said, very well written. I plan to steal this wording for my water quailty reports. We always say you do not lime the pond you lime the pond bottom thus the reason to have it spread out evenly over the entire surface.
Thanks, great replies...
I have been relying on my Setcchie (sp?) disk to indirectly monitor the photoplankton quality of my water. Obviously soil samples would be a much more scientific approach. I know my county agent can do the testing, but what entails a good sample (depth/number/water/mud/quantity/container/etc.)?
Check with your county agent. This is from the soil and water test links archive. Get about 10 to 12 samples from around the pond using a long piece of small pvc to get samples from pond bottom. Stick it in the bottom , pull up and take out core and put in a box mixed with the other 10 cores. When dry mix and take to county agent. He has the forms to send in.
Miss. -- Extension Soil Testing Laboratory, Box 9610, Mississippi State, MS 39762