Topic: Weed in shallow ponds (Read 16536 times)

BlazingPenguin · « **on:** March 06, 2007, 02:54:16 pm »

Anyone any ideas on how to keep weed growth in control in a shallow pond and how to remove existing weed from same?

White Ensign · « **Reply #1 on:** March 06, 2007, 03:22:28 pm »

Blaze, we have had this problem at our pond and it became so massive, that boating was no more possible. The wife of a club-member is a biologist and she told us, that the over-fertilisation of the fields is the major reason for that.
Though we had to cut the weed and the only solution was a steel-wire, about 1/2 inch thick which was added with some steel-blocks and was pulled over the ground. Our pond has about 1,5 the size of a football-field and we used two SUV`s with winches.
To avoyd any further re-growing weed we set out some grass-carps, which digg out the roots of the weed and eat them.
Since that time weed was no more a problem. But it`s a lot of work and topok a while for a final result.

Hope this was out of any help,
Jörg

Bridkid · « **Reply #2 on:** March 06, 2007, 03:38:21 pm »

Hi Blazing Penguin.

Depends on what you mean by weed. At my club we have kept weed growth (mainly algae and floating weed) under control for years using a chemical called Clarosan. Sadly the EEC (Bless 'em!) have since September '06, outlawed the maufacture, storage, sale and use of Clarosan and so far there is nothing to replace it. I understand from information gleaned that there was a 1% additive that was considered toxic although this treatment was recommended to us by the National Rivers Authority as being environmentally friendly. We have some fish in our lake and plenty of other waterbourne widlife and they have not been adversely affected by this chemical. Prior to using Clarosan we had an infestation of Canadian pond weed and the only answer was to drain the lake (1.5m gallons!) and dig it out by the root.
This year we have a consultant coming to visit us from Bionetix UK who manufacture a range of 'natural, bacterial products in the hope that this will keep our lake free from weed. The unfortunate thing is that this is not a once a year treatment like Clarosan but needs regular dosing throughout the season. These bacterial products are used by fish farms to stop the fish from eating weed, so they eat what the farmer gives them. I fancy that this will be expensive but then the Clarosan cost £90 per bag and we used 8 bags a year. If you want to look at the product we hope to use, go to www.bionetix.co.uk
Perhaps I should add that our lake is wadeable with chest waders so is not deep.
http://www.bridmodelboats.co.uk/lake/lake.htm
Cheers,
Ian.

portside II · « **Reply #3 on:** March 06, 2007, 05:27:19 pm »

Hi Blazing Penguin.
We also have a problem with weed at the pond at goole with it been shallow and have to treat it with chemicals ,there are other ways available depending on your environment ,as weed relies on the sun for growth via photosynthesis and mainly one part of the spectrum cant remember which ,you could add a food colourant's to the water to block out that part of the light ,But this may also turn any fish that colour and may taint the bottoms of your hulls .
The other way is to add hydrated lime to the water but and its a big but this method will kill any wildlife if too much is added as the chemical ballence of the water is changed do this at your own risk and if you do whear protective clothing as hydrated lime will burn!!
We found that if the water was coloured then the weed was suppressed ,well thats what it looked like as we couldn't see the weed or the bottom of the pond .

BobF · « **Reply #4 on:** March 06, 2007, 06:04:31 pm »

Hi all,

I sail on the same pond as portsideII, so this year we may have a weed problem as well, as we can't use the old treatment any more.
It was discussed at length last year, and one of the methods mentioned was the use of chemical toilet fluid. This would turn the water blue and is supposed to solve the problem. But as already mentioned, it won't do any pond life much good. I believe it contains formaldehyde. Also mentioned in the past is the Barley straw, but this is not always successfull. This subject was covered a length in the past, so with Martins wonderfull site I think it can be looked up by typing in the search box.

Bob

portside II · « **Reply #5 on:** March 07, 2007, 12:14:26 am »

did you say sail Bob ?
i thought it was sink and crash lol

BlazingPenguin · « **Reply #6 on:** March 07, 2007, 12:15:12 am »

Im sure the barley straw thing was only a cure for the blue-green algae thing, but as for weed, other than cutting it down I have no real idea. I had considered the grass carp thing but I think permission has to be sought from a relevant authority for that.

BobF · « **Reply #7 on:** March 07, 2007, 12:22:17 am »

As long as Andy can't work out how to post pictures on this site, I'm safe.

Bob

John W E · « **Reply #8 on:** March 07, 2007, 12:37:40 am »

Hi All,

Mrs Bluebird reckons - if you visit www.julianrollins.co.uk and email Julian on this email address:

[email protected]

email him with your queries regarding the pond weed - and solving problems with it - and Julian will no doubt come up with a brilliant answer - he belongs to the Garden News weekly magazine - and can you tell Mrs Bluebird does all the gardening around here whilst her lazy hubby builds models

anyway, any queries of this sort and Julian is the guy to ask.

Hope this helps.

Aye
John E
BLUEBIRD

tigertiger · « **Reply #9 on:** March 07, 2007, 02:59:28 am »

The pond I sail at has little weed.
Evey winter they cut back to the root all pond edge plants and thin dramitically.
Every summer they drain the pod about 40% and jet wash all the algae from the rocks around the edge.

They also have thousands of fish. A few hndred carp (goldfish) some are over a kg. and the water is also teaming with small fish like minnows.

They use no chemicals, and discourage overfeeding of the fish.

White Ensign · « **Reply #10 on:** March 07, 2007, 06:41:19 am »

Gentlemen, using chemistry isn`t the final solution as you will have drastic punishments for being caught by officials, though a "biological weapon" must be the final answer.
Won`t harm any pondlife anyway.... though chemistry was out of our mind.

Jörg

Telstar · « **Reply #11 on:** March 07, 2007, 08:34:55 am »

Hi Blazing Penguin.
Have you tried contacting your local water authority.
In a different lifetime my job brought me into contact with a seasonal problem that was eventually traced to the water supply. It was traced from there to the fact the water authority used (at that time) an aluminium salt in there reservoirs as a weed inhibitor each spring. At the levels they used it, it was not harmful to wildlife or persons although the aluminium upset the chemical process we used in the factory.
Maybe they could advise on treatment, also check with the "owners" of the pond. Adding wildlife (Grass carp) or chemicals could without their approval could cost you use of the pond.
Best of luck with your endeavors

Telstar

BlazingPenguin · « **Reply #12 on:** March 07, 2007, 09:08:49 am »

Its actually for the owners Im asking the question, a bankside conversation led to me to try and find a solution for someone.

Our own pond is pretty good as weed goes, but the algae thing can get pretty bad at times, bet this summer it gets right out of hand.

Telstar · « **Reply #13 on:** March 07, 2007, 09:53:46 am »

Sorry I assumed the discussion was about your sailing water, my mistake.
If the pond is a garden or fish pond my recommendation would be to prune the plant life about this time of year to keep it in check. I introduced a Grass Carp (2 to 3 inches long) to my garden pond to keep down the weed. After 2year I had not vegetation of any kind the carp now14 to 16 inches long destroyed all vegetation including the water Lillie's and with a bio disaster on my hands the koi carp were living in green pea soup (green algae)
I have since removed he Grass carp, reintroduced some Lillie's and oxygenating plants and each year before the spring growth starts I partially drain the pond and cut back on the plants

Sorry again for the missassumption
Best of luck

rats · « **Reply #14 on:** March 07, 2007, 09:55:23 am »

A lot of the sailing waters near me are brackish / salt water and there doesn' t seem to be any weed problems
so maybe a solution would be to add salt ......

White Ensign · « **Reply #15 on:** March 07, 2007, 10:15:13 am »

Aluminium-salt or any traces of Aluminium are known by scientists as catalysator for the Alzheimer disease.

Just my penny ... (before my brain starts to leave...... *%&?ß@.....- who am I?)

Jörg

P.S: Telstars experience with the grass-carps are right, if you set them out in a small pond. Our pond where we use to sail has about the size of 1,5 football-fields, with some luces in... though the population of the grass-carps is always under.... "control"

DickyD · « **Reply #16 on:** March 07, 2007, 10:29:28 am »

Never realised we had so many experts on pond weed on here.

Richard

Telstar · « **Reply #17 on:** March 07, 2007, 10:32:28 am »

Your dead right Jörg about aluminium

Perhaps I should say the "company" I worked for was the NHS and the "process" Renal Dialysis.
The problem was a form of demeture with the patients which was fortunately reversable and it was a long time ago. Since then aluminium pots and pan which were commonplace have virtually dissapeared

White Ensign · « **Reply #18 on:** March 07, 2007, 10:47:15 am »

DickyD, if you are astonished about the "experts" in the case of weed in ponds- you should ask about the experts in the case of Alzy.... (*?ß§%@x... can`t find my passport..... still no idea who I am)...

Jörg

barriew · « **Reply #19 on:** March 07, 2007, 01:41:16 pm »

Quote from: BobF on March 06, 2007, 06:04:31 pm

I believe it contains formaldehyde.
Bob

Not anymore! Something else banned by the EU.

Barrie

Bridkid · « **Reply #20 on:** March 08, 2007, 12:16:26 pm »

Thanks Bluebird,
I have e-mailed Julian Rollins and will report back on here because I can forsee many lakes being unsailable this year and don't want ours to be one of them!
Cheers,
Ian.

Bridkid · « **Reply #21 on:** March 11, 2007, 09:29:13 am »

Nothing from Julian as yet but if it is blanket weed (algae) you are worried about I have found this site. Their ' Viresco Aqua' product seems to do the trick and is environmentally friendly. I have e-mailed them for more information and advice.
http://www.viresco-uk.com/aquatic_main.htm
Cheers,
Ian.

catengineman · « **Reply #22 on:** March 19, 2007, 05:05:32 pm »

Hi, Deep sadness here,

I have (or should I say my wife has) read this thread and now I have to purchase her a full set of S/S pans to replace the aluminium ones that have just been thrown out? :'(

Then to top that I want some "Lime" to kill off any and all the residents that are living in the sea inlets of the ship I work on!
There is some Eco stuff aboard but I find opening up the strom box and shouting at them is more efficient ??? ::) we even found crabs thriving on the chemicals we put into the system.

My first real sailing of the Tito Neri was thwarted by the ASD's being jammed by pond weed.

Richard, much poorer from this thread. :(

Bridkid · « **Reply #23 on:** March 22, 2007, 01:54:16 pm »

Hi guys,

Well, had a long conversation with John from Viresco yesterday in which he explained the relationship between algae and nitrates in the water plus lots of techno-chemical stuff that I can't boast to understand but he was extremely helpful. It would seem that their product may well fit the bill for our lake and following some 'nitrate level testing' I am ringing him back for advice on the amout required. One word of warning though, it costs £660 per kilo. Having said that you would never need that much unless you have a huge lake filled with fish........we have 6 in ours, because these microbes multiply at an incredible rate. It was developed for carp lakes to keep the chemical composition balanced so that algae (blanketweed) will not thrive. We will see.
Sorry you are poorer for reading this thread Richard :'( but without something to keep the weed at bay we may well all have weeded up ASD's by the end of summer, then we will all have to take up flying!

Cheers,
Ian.

catengineman · « **Reply #24 on:** March 29, 2007, 07:18:38 pm »

Well I may have to write to my local council!

I'm now a tad P####d OFF, spent a few hours at my local pond which I may add has been great fun until

I sailed around to the far side (if that is possible on a round pond which you can walk fully around) and all was going great then the tug slowed and veered slightly to starboard, I stopped bot motors and tried astern, still no drive on the Stbd motor so I brought the tug to the side on one motor and lifted it out.

To my horror one ASD unit was solid with weed and leave matter, clearing it was not easy and I had to remove the prop in order to accomplish this, back to enjoyment only to have the same problem half an hour later. On investigation it would appear that there is a large clump of weed growing in the center of the pond.

so its me using the outside area only from now!

Stbd ASD is now makes more noise than before... I just know my local council will do less than nothing about the pond..

Richard,

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Author Topic: Weed in shallow ponds (Read 16536 times)

BlazingPenguin

BlazingPenguin

Telstar

BlazingPenguin

Telstar

Telstar

catengineman

catengineman