Pond Boss
Posted By: Dam'dWaters Fertilizing turf - granular vs liquid - 10/09/17 04:28 PM
I maintain lawn areas around my pond like I'm sure many do. I got a heavy FA bloom this summer. Many things contribute to this. My pond is stream fed and a city storm sewer and field tile upstream bring a lot of nutrients that eventually make their way to My BOW. I trust I contributed to the problem when I broadcast fertized the lawn. My question is this, does foliar feeding the turf around my pond offer any benefits over granular root feeding? I have used a product called Pasture pro on my pastures which is a 15-0-0 fert and includes a Broadleaf weed killer (probably 2-4-D).

I looked, but couldn't find info on this.
Posted By: DonoBBD Re: Fertilizing turf - granular vs liquid - 10/09/17 07:15 PM
I do know many local golf courses that have FA problems in their ponds go to spraying the grass in that water shed for the same reason. What they spray I do not know.

I too find a high amount of phosphates in the water that I fill my pond with. I use calcium hydroxide to tie up the phosphates. This is not a perfect science how much to use but you can kill fish if the PH shifts to much.

If you limit the soluble nutrients the FA needs to work to get food.
DonoBBD, I think you have a perch and GSH heavy pond like mine with few predators. Our water quality and make up might be quite different though. Do you have much problem with FA?

I had a few years with heavier FA, stocked Tilapia assuming it would always be that way, but last year, no tilapia and very little FA, and this year none at all.

I don't do anything special, run the aerator 12 hours a day, try to keep fertilizer out but my fert people do broadcast granules and I'm sure some gets into the pond.
I have had a terrible FA problem in my two year renovated pond this year, only a little in the pond built last December. The guy that gets my hay spreads turkey litter in the watershed. I asked him to go light above the ponds, but guess he forgot. I could stop the hay operation, but then would have to brush hog it a couple of times per year at my expense.

I wonder how early next year I would need to start with cutrine treatments to keep the FA from becoming a problem?
So what feeds the FA most? N? P? Or K? The stuff I spray on my pasture is a fairly light dose of N (15-0-0 along with broadleaf weed control). If the phosphates are the main cause of the FA bloom this may be the way to go. It sticks to the blades and goes pretty much right where I put it unlike a broadcast spreader which can put the eye out of an unsuspecting frog 8' away.
Posted By: ewest Re: Fertilizing turf - granular vs liquid - 10/10/17 02:06 PM
All 3 , N, P and K are needed for plant growth - see 13-13-13 which is a common grass fertilizer. The amounts vary. In water the missing link is usually P. That is why most pond fertilizers are low N and K and high in P for example 0-46-0 is a common pond fertilizer. The question is what is the limiting factor and it is usually low P.
Thanks Ewest!

I just built the pond last fall and haven't done any tests on my water other than ph which was normal. Just used my swimming pool test kit for that. So where is the best place to get water tested? County Extention office? NRCS? Had a guy tell me to send a sample to Tex A&M. Is it really necessary to send water half across the country?
Posted By: DonoBBD Re: Fertilizing turf - granular vs liquid - 10/10/17 04:10 PM
Originally Posted By: canyoncreek
DonoBBD, I think you have a perch and GSH heavy pond like mine with few predators. Our water quality and make up might be quite different though. Do you have much problem with FA?

I had a few years with heavier FA, stocked Tilapia assuming it would always be that way, but last year, no tilapia and very little FA, and this year none at all.

I don't do anything special, run the aerator 12 hours a day, try to keep fertilizer out but my fert people do broadcast granules and I'm sure some gets into the pond.



My FA problems have gone away now that I have been aerating at night. 8pm to 8am keeps my pond much much cooler than 24/7. Running the air 24/7 I had water temps in a low 80's.

So the surface gets warm but only the top 10-30"s depending on the day and wave action.

I have only used two quarts of blue dye this year.

Yes yellow perch only with a few walleye and common shiners, few emerald shiners. One pain in the ass mink.

Cheers Don.
Don, you might be on to something. I too have been very careful to run the aerator daytime in the spring when I want to warm up the chilled water, then switch to night time 8pm to 8am once we get to spawn temps (say 65-70 deg F) then to try to squeeze another spawn our of my SFS I switched back to daytime aeration as of a few weeks ago when the days were getting shorter and nights cooler and pond temps were dropping rapidly.

I have a bumper crop of what appear to be leopard frog tadpoles this late summer and fall and I'm not sure if they are helping keep shallows free of FA or not, usually in fall I have a thin rim of FA in the shallows.

Sorry about the mink! Do they scavenge on dead fish ever? Perhaps a tainted bait fish would take him out?
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: Fertilizing turf - granular vs liquid - 10/11/17 12:18 AM
For water testing near IA check with your state college extension agent. He may provide some advice for testing at Iowa State Univ.
I don't know the answer to this question either, but maybe this gardening blog has some information about it.
See if this is what you need.
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