Farm pond question

[larry@stinescorner]

The pond was very low early this spring,it was dry for that time of year. Lots of green algae was on top. Now that it rained it is full. The wind blew the algae to one side.I rigged up a rake on a stick and pulled as much as I could off the top of the pond.

now that the pond is full of water,will the algae come back right away? And,,is that pile of algae good to spread on the garden or to compost it?

 

[larry@stinescorner]

heres the pile of green algea

 

[TKE850]

cant say whether or not it is good for your garden, but raking it is not good for your back. Do yourself a huge favor and go to your local feed store/ Southern States and order 2 grass carp. I've been down the road of algae and unwanted vegetation growing in my pond. These grass carp literally cleaned my pond up in less than a year. Absolutely amazing....

 

[larry@stinescorner]

I think they have some law here where you cant buy them///I,m pretty sure,,, I would like to get some...

 

[ray hofstetter]

Does your daughter know you're doing that???

 

[Pitch]

Try some Barley straw.
Untitled URL Link

 

[RusselAZ]

If you don't have fish in it get some floating chlorine treaters for swimming pool. Looks like a nice swimming pool anyway.

 

[TKE850]

I don't know of any law about grass carp. I'm in the state of West Virginia. No laws here on purchasing grass carp here.

 

[Bob Bancroft]

Wife tried it and didn't like it. After it dried out it was so thin and light weeds grew up under it. She didn't feel it added anything to the soil.

 

[JD Seller]

The only things I know for algae in farm ponds are:
1) Grass carp
2) Copper sulfate
3) Barley straw

The only ONE I have had any luck with is copper sulfate. You have to watch and only do half the pond at a time or you will kill the fish.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Get in touch with Mid Atlantic Stocking they can fill you in about the permit to get the sterilized carp and they most likely deliver into your area.I bought some Rainbow Trout from
them this Spring to stock a mountainside pond of mine.

 

[ditchwitch]

you can buy the stuff from tractor supply to kill that pond algee

 

[RBoots]

Larry, my mom's uncle had a pond about like
yours that would fill up with scum like
that. He had an old mattress box spring that
was just the steel springs, and a long rope
tied to it. He would lay the box spring on
one side if the pond and drive around it
until he got across from the spring, then
drive straight away from it, and drag it
across the pond, then just keep heading in
different directions until it was so loaded
up with weeds and scum that his 8n could
hardly pull it, then he would drag it out of
the water onto the land. Then he would
either cut the stuff off it and go back for
more, or leave it lay there for a few days
to dry out, untie his rope, and burn the
stuff off it. Slow, but it was an easy way
for an 85 year old guy to clean his pond.
That is a nice looking pond you have there
Larry

 

[4520BW]

Get some coarse copper sulfate and
treat about a quarter of it a week. Be
clean in a week. As for grass carp they
eat more grass than algae. We had them
trying to eat grass out of the water.
The law in Indiana is the seller must
go with you to watch you place them in
your pond and not into moving water
were there's a chance they can
reproduce.

 

[jacksun65]

lots of nitrogen when it is composted.

 

[old]

Go to a bait store or some place like Wal-Mart and buy some gold fish they are a breed of carp and they do in fact eat grass and things like your having problems with

 

[Dr. Walt]

Larry:

You might try using "AQUACIDE" . It is specifically made for removing algae and weeds from ponds & lakes. Google it.

HTH

Doc :>)

 

[jeffcat]

You are wasting a H...... of a lot of time and effort. Go on fleabay and buy a bag of Copper Sulfate. If I remember the dose it is like two pounds for a one acher pond. Mix a little in your pump sprayer and spray it out over the green stuff. Keep putting a little more on till the weeds croak. Couple of days. Best stuff "old school" you can find. If you ever need to dig up you septic and had a root grow into the pipe. fix the pipe and sprinkle this stuff along the bed where your pipe is. Cover her up and you will NEVER get a root in the pipe again. NEVER.

 

[JerryS]

Man, you just flat wear me out!

 

[Fred Werring]

I'll divide up the copper sulfate I need between (3) 5 gallon buckets of water, and dissolve it with one of those paint mixers that fit in a drill.

Pour it through a strainer into your sprayer tank, (mine's a 15 gallon spot sprayer) as there's always little chunks left to plug things up.

Lot cheaper than the pre-mix stuff you can buy.

And it works

Fred

 

[rick1]

I buy Aquash adequate from tsc makes it a
real pretty blue color stops the suns rays
from penetrating ma king things grow.l also
have a dozen grass cards and a fountain
sprinkler in mine
RICK

 

[larry@stinescorner]

I did try copper sulfate one year,,the fish were fine,but 1000s of snails died,,the s
snails are back now,I Dont want to risk killing them again,they are supposed to be good for the pond?

 

[WAYNE-N-TX]

Read up on Crystal Plex. Might not do whole pond because the dieing stuff might remove the oxygen. I used 2 cups in 9 gal water in my sprayer I carry on my side X side.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Trouble is in a couple years you'll have pond full of carp,plus in many states a big fine if Game folks find out about it.

 

[glennster]

larry, i would nix the grass carp idea. we have them here in illinois on the illinois river. terrible invasive fish. heres a video of what they do.
poke here

 

[old]

Ah so your saying you can not stock a pond on private land with what ever you want??

 

[denglish]

We have a similar sized pond and used to have the same problem. Several years ago we put ducks (Khaki Campbell) on the pond and they have solved the weed problem. There is a little duck house next to the pond and at night they go in there and I close the door. I let them out in the morning and they spend the day on the pond eating all the weeds. When the weeds are gone, they roam the lawn and garden eating bugs. Consequently, they don't eat much feed or grain but provide many eggs which they lay at night while in the duck house. Often I have a duck-egg sandwich after making my morning rounds.

 

[JML755]

(quoted from post at 11:35:54 06/14/16) Ah so your saying you can not stock a pond on private land with what ever you want??

here in Michigan you can't:
"the DNR strongly opposes the use of triploid fish and reminds the public that live grass carp are illegal to possess, transport or stock in both public and private waters."

 

[Traditional Farmer]

Not in my state you can't because like when your place was flooded the fish will escape the pond and be in rivers.

 

[Hammer house]

I see other people are cleaning out there pond. Well I have that problem too. I wanted to try to make me A drag or rake to
attack to my boompole on my tractor to see if it would work. I tryed it out. Well, it worked very well. Just have to be carefull
not to back in too for, or could get stuck easly.

I use 2-3/8 pipe to slip into my boompole,what was A size bigger. Got A 2x6 . bolted 6 scratch teeth to it. Run A small cable
from end to end and around the boompole.
Yes, I know I am not killing it. Just removing some if it.
Enjoyed your pic, they all look good.

Hammer Man

 

[old]

Ya I can understand that. There is a fish hatchery not all that far from me that has the Coy fish in them and they get out and into a creek all the time. There have also been Parana caught in the lake of the Ozarks from time to time.

 

[samn40]

A bale of Barley straw will help the algae problem...dunno why but it works......Sam

 

[Rons b]

You can compost the algae first before you put it on the garden.
You can use copper sulfate but not to much or it will kill any fish. You can also aerate the pond that will reduce the algae. There are small algae eater fish you can get from pond maintenance company's. I don't recommend using chlorine.

 

[01gentdc]

just going to mention about the barley straw ,, but you best me to it

 

[jeffcat]

Flippy

 

[jeffcat]

Don't know about the snails but I wish it would take out snapper turtles! You see mommy Mallard with her little ones swimming along and then BLOOP!! One of the little ones goes by by!

 

[Texasmark1]

I mix CS granules with water making a spray or use Glyphosphate (Roundup) spray. Both work; can't say which is best. Once or twice a year is all
it takes. Never killed any fish.