Re: [GSAS-Member] Frogbit

["Clifford Miller" <clifford@clevergeek.com>]

To answer Bette's question, frogbit doesn't do very well over the few hard
freezes we get each year...but I had some that survived in my
rain-catchers and came back just fine this year...it looked horribly
yellow for a while, but now it's everywhere again.

As for acquiring plants, know anyone with a farm pond?  That's how I've
gotten my lilies in the past...(although I don't have any now).  I would
say Water Hyacinth, water spite, frogbit, water lettuce, and especially
duck weed should be exploding across the surface of a pond in full sun.

My little plastic pond has only ever seen a few handfuls of dirt as far as
nutrients go, and I would say the frogbit doubles in volume every few
weeks?  If the plants you listed (duckweed!) aren't threatening to take
things over on a regular basis, it could be that you actually have a
nutrient shortage of some type that's giving the algae an edge over the
vascular plants.

Most ponds I've gotten to play in usually have vast excesses of nutrients,
not too few...but even under a single shop light my 10 gallon tanks inside
will grow a layer of duckweed over 1/2 and inch thick within a month.  In
full sun you should be having to scoop that stuff out almost daily. =)

I'd be happy to start saving Frogbit (or water sprite) instead of
composting it if you'd like some more, but if things aren't already
growing relatively rapidly, I'd guess adding more won't help.  If things
do seem to be going slowly and you want to live on the edge, I'd start
adding some osmocote and see if things take off...

Cliff

> Thanks Cliff and Betty,
>
> I agree plants would definitely be a good direction.  Right now the pond
> is about 1/3 covered with Water Hyacinth, water lettuce, lillies, frog
> bit and duckweed. There are numerous other plants in the pond as well,
> but, not ones that cover the surface.  The pond gets sun all day, full
> sun.  I agree chemicals are not desirable either.  Do either of you know
> where one might get inexpensive plants for the pond?  I think the
> surface needs to be more covered than it is.
>
> Clay
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Clifford Miller [mailto:clifford@clevergeek.com]
> Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 12:27 PM
> To: Greater Seattle Aquarium Society member chat
> Subject: Re: [GSAS-Member] Pond Algae is a hairy problem
>
>
> My in-laws have a rather large (acre+) pond on their property, and have
> dealt with similar issues as long as they've owned the lot.
>
> You can attack the algae (which I think is what the straw does by
> hosting bacteria incompatible with it) with additives, or short it of
> resources (usually with lots and lots of vascular plants).
>
> What kind of plants are currently in the pond, how full of plants is it,
> and is it in full sun?  If it's getting a lot of light, you'll likely to
> 'enjoy' the algae fight almost every year.  I'd try to find someone with
> some nice wild water lilies.  The cultivated kinds are probably showier,
> but they tend to go for $20+ each...the wild ones in my experience have
> been much hardier and are still plenty pretty--  I knew several people
> on the east coast that had to compost heaps of them every year just to
> keep some fishing area open in their farm ponds.  If it's getting more
> than a few hours of direct sun every day I'd probably try to cover
> 25-50% of the surface...
>
> In a very small pond (like my 200gal garden pond), a similar effect can
> be obtained with frogbit (which is what I use), water lettuce, water
> hyacinth (also pretty when blooming and a great nutrient sponge),
> etc...but you have to skim those off for compost much more often than
> the lilies.  Once some of the light has been blocked out, adding more
> oxygenating plants to the water column to help drain the nutrients and
> should slow the algae down quite a bit.  I prefer "highly invasive"
> since I don't have the greenest thumb...parrots feather, elodea,
> hornwort, etc...but once added to a pond of any significant size,
> they're eternal...and of course should be kept well away from other
> local water sources.
>
> The other route is to buy lots of chemicals every year and spending the
> time to make the pond look more like a pool (which is probably the
> desired result in many yards and gardens).  Your local nursery might
> prefer this option, but I find the time, money, and energy really isn't
> as well spent as finding more ways to enjoy the algae.  =)  It's
> surprising how the balance of power will often shift in a few weeks of
> neglect, and then the plants will have the upper hand again...
>
> Cliff
>
>>
>>  Sooo, I have a question for those of you keeping ponds.  Please read
>> the issue below and the response from Natural Solutions.  I need to
>> better understand what can be done to eliminate the algae growth in a
>> pond.  It is a long hair like algae and it covers everything...the
>> bottom of the pond, the plants, the waterfall....all of it.  The
>> solution last year was to put this bag of barley hay in the water and
>> it cleared the pond of the algae almost immediately, within a week.
>> This year, no such luck.  So, the letter below was written and the
>> answer below was given.  Now the question is, What do Microbe-Lift PL
>> and Bio-Pond Tabs do and will they actually work on the algae?  Any
>> help on this would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Clay
>>
>>  Dear Natural Solutions,
>> I purchased your product last year and had outstanding results. almost
>
>> immediately.  This year, I have used the product you sent me and had
>> no results.  I placed a bag of the barley in 4 weeks ago and added
>> another a week ago with no change.
>> My pond has not changed in any way.  Plants and fish count remain the
>> same.
>> I was hoping you could offer some advise as to what I may do in order
>> to clear the algae from my pond...  Have others been experiencing the
>> same results?
>>
>> Dear Customer
>> Sorry for the slow response. The warm season started a little earlier
>> this year in most places. This may contribute to more algae being
>> present. If you are not using some kind of bacteria in you pond you
>> might want to do that, like Microbe-Lift PL or Bio-Pond Tabs. If you
>> don't have any aeration in your pond it would help if you did. It
>> usually takes about 3 weeks for the barley to start breaking down and
>> working. I hope this helps in some way..
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>
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