blanket weed

[paulm]

help after a long winter got out to the pond today to tidy up ect to my horror its a carpet of green need some advise here on how to get rid of the blanket weed

 

[stroppy]

is the pond covered in it ? how deep is the pond ? any chance of some photos ... is the pond in full sun ? i shade mine in the summer but its a bit early for blanket weed i would have thought

 

[DrDave]

Just net it out and put it into your mulch pile. I sell it to tilapia farms, they buy everything my ponds can produce.

 

[j.w]

Maybe we should be cooking up that blanket weed for dinner instead of throwing it in the compost. If it's what makes the Tilapia grow nice and healthy maybe it's good for us? I bet it's full of nutrients

Some people use Barley straw to get rid of the stuff.

I used Wal-mart kitty litter called "Special Kitty" (the kind w/ 100% bentonite clay in it only) and that got rid of mine. I hung it in a nylon type sack under the water fall. It turns the water a bit cloudy at first but never hurt anything and cleared up well. The litter is super cheap for like 25lbs for a few bucks. Don't ever use the kind w/ any perfumes or dyes in it

 

[addy1]

Neat idea jw.........didn't know that would work, but have never had blanket weed (yet) in my pond.

 

[DrDave]

I presume that you are calling Duckweed blanketweed. It likes the cold climate and this time of the year it is very prolific.

 

[DrDave]

This is Duckweed.

 

[j.w]

I was thinking it was the stringy algae. I would never want to get rid of my duckweed. But the kitty litter gets rid of the string algae for me. DrDave your photo looks like Azolla or also called water fern to me but it's hard to tell.

 

[addy1]

I have ice again, so no green stuff growing yet. A nice warm 5 degrees this am.
Nice to know it works with the string algae jw. If I get an attack with this pond will give that a try.

 

[Christy]

I didnt know that either,last year i had a nasty green mossy like stuff floating in my pond,it wouldnt be there in the morning but as the day went by it started to come to the top,then it went away,how do you get rid of it if it comes back? because koi dont eat it.

 

[DrDave]

JW
That is Duckweed with Parrotts Feather poking through it.

 

[paulm]

the pond gets sun in the afternoon it is blanket weed the liner is covered in it the filter hoses are covered in it the pond is 10*6*3.5 feet the whole sides of the pond are emerald green

 

[stroppy]

well its good to have it on the sides of the pond the fish like to eat it ... it also covers up the liner so looks better ..if its really long you can try to yank it out ... barley straw also supposed to be good at getting rid of it .. mine is worse in spring but it clears up later in the season there are lots of things on the market you can use but i would be wary of putting them in my pond
floating plants for shade are really good, but its a little early in the season for them and lilies

 

[j.w]

This is Duckweed.

Weird, mine looks like this:

Duckweed:

Azolla:

Does yours look like mine closeup? I guess there are different sizes of the stuff also :regular_waving_emot

 

[DrDave]

Your Duckweed and mine look the same out of the water.
That photo is Duckweed 1/4" thick on the surface