Ahhh, 'tis spring indeed - the string algae appeared almost overnight, and it was a race to get some fish-safe remediation going (a bacteria-based liquid and good old barley straw, coupled with "manual removal" - yuck.) I think we've "turned the corner" and the algae is under control.
Which leads me to my second observation, or maybe it's a question...
Pond muck. You know - that nasty stuff on the bottom of the pond, including fish waste, bits of decaying organic matter, and algae. (If anyone says they don't have pond muck, you must spend TOO MUCH TIME CLEANING YOUR POND *grin*)
But assuming everyone admits to having it, what does everyone DO with it? One book I read took a very dim view of pond muck and the author (in true British, no-nonsense style) instructed the reader to dispose of it, as it's of "no use to the compost pile or as a mulch."
Now, I tend to compost just about anything that I can and my pond muck either gets tossed on the compost pile or the odd handful gets scattered among nearby perennials. (I have TERRIBLE soil in many parts of my garden, so I figure ANY organic matter is better than none.)
But the author's stern warning made me wonder....is there a reason to not compost it or add it to the soil? Opinions? Advice? Dire warnings???
Spring pond - woes and questions ;o)
Morning Terry -
I'm of the same mind that you are.....anything organic that can help break up our adobe clay soil has got to be an improvement. We've been tossing about and dumping and distributing this "waste matter" for 5 years in pretty much the same manner you do.
I can tell you that it hasn't seemed to hurt anything. It is very evident and easy to spot where the backwash system for the pond empties in the wildland garden. The daylillies and the Echium (Pride of Madeira) in that area love it!
Terry, I'm one of those who is constantly cleaning my pond. :) It's just too darn close to my house. LOL Anyway, every little bit I take out of my pond no matter what it is, goes straight into my gardens. And everywhere it lands the plants flourish. Can you gather your "muck" into buckets and kinda spread it out in or on your gardens? Yes it would be alot of work but well worth it. Fish emolsion is the best fertilizer. Perhaps this person was concerned about the chemicals that some folks use in their water "features" ...not ponds. Let's face it...some people use chlorine in their water features to kill absolutely everything.
Sledder here's what I do: if the pond is really nasty and it's warm enough (which is about 6-7 months out of the year) I set a five-gallon bucket on one of the rocks around the edge and wade right in to scoop up everything I can. The muck goes in the bucket, and drainage holes let any pond water trickle back into the pond. If I'm filling several buckets worth of stuff (mostly in the fall if some leaves get in there), the bucket-loads go to the compost pile. If it's a quick cleanup, and the resulting muck isn't worth carrying to the compost pile, I do just scatter it around the perennials growing nearby.
Mucking out the pond seems to be about a 3-5 times a year chore, depending on the amount of leaves that get in there (and whether I want to get cooled off in the pond, lolol. (The leaf problem is because the former owners of the house installed the pond beneath a silver maple - sigh...)
Anyway, I'm happy to hear I'm not the "lone ranger" when it comes to using muck in my beds. The book isn't really geared toward chemicals in the pond, so I'm not sure what the rationale was for not including it in the compost or directly on the soil.
You've brought up a very good point. Why in the world people put ponds around trees is a mystery. I'm assuming they look more "natural" that way. True..but definitely more work. I think pine needles are toxic in ponds with fish so that's really bad. I have a couple tall grasses about 5 feet away from mine and they even can make a mess. The wind blows enough "junk" into my pond. :(
I still think the muck is excellent fertilizer.
"T" :)
Oh the joys of having a pond. Thank goodness I don't have to go through all this.
I got to thinking, instead of using buckets to scoop out the muck, would using a shop vac work?
I'll convince you someday to have a pond. "T" :)
I don't thiiiiiiiiiiink Sooooooooo.
Who knows, maybe someday I can come visit yours
Well, today's weather was quite summerlike, and one thing led to another...and I wound up in the pond. It's still a bit chilly, but I did get a few of the rocks around the edges settled down better, and the pot of blue flag was a bit overgrown, so I pulled it out and gave it a good haircut (actually, what I cut off was probably more than what was in the actual pot...) Lots more to do in and out of the pond, but in my "old age", I'm finally learning to pace myself, (otherwise my back and knees demand payback - in the form of stiffness and swelling ;o)
Pond muck is wonderful in your gardens!
I LOVE scooping that slimy goop outta my pond- it's a real joy- until something bites me that is. :-)
Right now (this year) I'll be working on a way to keep my pond clear'ish with hardly any "after work". I'll let ya know how that goes. ;)
This will consist of me removing EVERYTHING out of the pond- saving the old water and "tweaking" the biological filtration. (it's fun!)
Another thing that algae/muck is good for is your fry. (baby fish).
I have all my fry in buckets with green water/some plants and some muck in the bottom. I do not have to feed them and they are growing beautifully.
We vacuum ours with one of those thingys that hooks up to your hose and then the muck goes right into a bag. All muck goes right to my plants and I feed them with it. They love it. Our pond is clear but we started pumps, filters, and uv lights March 16 and have run everything 24/7 except for 2 nights that it went to 25 as we didn't want to cool the water down too much.
terri, Gat a product called Algaefix, follow the instructions and add barley straw after you add algaefix. My method after I open the pond in the spring and I have clean clear water all summer. I change the Barley straw bundle after 2 1/2 to 3 months and say goodby to the string algae. I add the new straw about 2 weeks before I pull the old bundle,this gives the new straw a chance to get workingbefor you pull the old ond, this has worked for 4 years.Good luck Annabelle15
So many ideas with one pond. Our preform is sitting right next to the house, only 1/2 under ground and mostly under a large window awning. We still get a large amount of leaves and pine needles in the pond. I try to net them out, but can't always keep up with it.
Luckily, our fish aren't concerned with the rules that pine needles kill....not in our pond. I certainly like the idea of using the muck in the garden, and why not, if it didnt kill the fish, why would it kill the plants?
:^)
Molly
This is the first time I've heard of 'muck use' being a problem.
Strange.... every Spring we shoot the muck right into the garden.
After running a hose cleaner thru the piping, to clean the insides, I just hand clean the larger stuff out of the pond.
I then reattach the pump, disconnect the top hose and turn the pump on.
This allows me to shoot the water all over the garden.
I allow the pump to run until the pond is about 1/3 empty.
Refill (and water the yard down), de-chlorinate and I'm done until Fall.
The bucketed muck from the hand and net cleaning goes straight into the compost.
This is my 5th Spring of doing it and I've never had a problem.
I've been using the water from cleaning the aquarium filters on my houseplants for 30 years and again no problem.
I am rather new to this Forum so did I miss something?
Ric
Ric, you haven't missed anything - I was simply getting some much-needed confirmation that my methods weren't completely out of the ordinary.
The book is titled The Water Garden by Peter Robinson. I may have been mistaken when I referred to him as a Brit - the book is part of "The Wayside Gardens collection"
Here's what Mr. Robinson says about muck:
"....Once all the plants and livestock have been removed, you can scoop out the bottom mud into buckets and dispose of it, keeping a watchful eye for creatures like newts and frogs which bury themselves at the bottom. This mud is of no value as a top-dressing or addition to the compost heap." (emphasis is mine)
That's the statement that made me stop and wonder if what I had been doing for the past four years was a beginner's mistake perpetuated in ignorance, but apparently not ;o)
Terry the only reason I can think of to not use it in your garden or compost heap is that a lot of us have 3% salt in our ponds and after a while that salt might build up in the garden. But if you don't have a salt problem then go ahead and do it. Here we only get 12 inches of rain in a year so we have to be very careful that what we put on our gardens doesn't accumulate excess salts that won't be flushed by rains.
Good point. I don't think I recall even reading a mention of adding salt to the pond.
Which brings up another question - should I be adding salt to mine?
I saw somewhere about adding salt to the water but I can't remember why.
Salt can kill some parasites... but it can also kill plants and fish if the level of it is high enough. I have never had to use it and wouldn't unless there were a real reason to. There are a lot of people who do use it regularly though...
If you google about this I think you'll get some good info. If I remember, LOL, thats how I had read about it.
I remember reading about the salt too. I "think" it had to do with clearing the water but I'm not sure. And yes, too high would kill the fish...
I was thinking it has to do with preventing stress in your fish...??? Pleading ignorance here!
i added Salt, but it is a certain type and you put the correct amount for the size of your pond. it is called koi pond salt. It has done great so far w/mine. And it does keep down stress!
Thanks,
Traci S
I can't type much due to injury but one of the things it can do is help the slime coat which helps the fish repel a lot of problems. Another reason is as stated above where it helps with parasites. A 3% salt solution may kill or harm water hyacynth or water lettuce but doesn't harm waterlilies or bog plants.
Try a google search it will bring up more reasons. Wish I could type more but I need to get off here. Hope this helps ya.
As soon as the muck goes on we water it in (hey we're filling the pond anyway) so salts aren't a problem here.
We usually get too much rain in the Spring so any I miss is quickly diluted.
As we garden in about pure clay ANY organic material has to help. LOL
Ric
Funny, I'm in Tennessee, Happenstance is in California, and henryr10 is in Ohio - but we all have the same clay soil problem ;o)
I have sand. lol
I'm in NY and I have clay in the front half of the property and NICE soil on the other half......
veggie gardens are in clay.......
I keep wishing I could find a little clay on this property to use for potting my water plants. No such luck yet but I am not finished looking either.
Ponditis,
Get a truck and head east.
We have millions of tons of the stuff out here.
2' down in our yard to at least 14' is solid blue clay!
Thanks Henry but I think if I look around I can probably find clay soils here too.