Natural Swimming Pond and weed

[Pinky]

Hi there
We have constructed a natural swimming pond in our garden. It started in October 2017 and this year I have finally finished planting it. I put in the last plants during early lockdown. I tried to choose good oxygenators but Iam having trouble with weed. We don’t have a filter system on it yet but four air stones in each corner. The water is really clear but the weed is really annoying!! What can I do to get rid of it? We have no experience of ponds and built this from watching YouTube channels so any help gratefully received!
Thanks Rachael

 

[Jhn]

The weed is algae, which is consuming the excess nutrients in the pond contributing to your clear water. You need a lot more plants.....You want bog/marginal plants that spread quickly, and that grow right at the pond edges/shallow water. Water cress, forget me not, water celery, creeping Jenny, all are ones I use in the bog in my pond for nutrient export/banking, and they Grow quickly plus are easy to weed out. Parrot feather is another good one although it can take abit to get going, but once it does it goes crazy.

what is that tall plant by the slide? Reminds me of phragmite, which is non native invasive species in the u.s., stuff is unbelievably tough to eradicate.

 

[Pinky]

The weed is algae, which is consuming the excess nutrients in the pond contributing to your clear water. You need a lot more plants.....You want bog/marginal plants that spread quickly, and that grow right at the pond edges/shallow water. Water cress, forget me not, water celery, creeping Jenny, all are ones I use in the bog in my pond for nutrient export/banking, and they Grow quickly plus are easy to weed out. Parrot feather is another good one although it can take abit to get going, but once it does it goes crazy.

what is that tall plant by the slide? Reminds me of phragmite, which is non native invasive species in the u.s., stuff is unbelievably tough to eradicate.

Hi
they are Lily’s, reeds and bulrushes.

im not a natural gardener! How do you deal with the rising and lowering water levels when planting at the edge. They will be wet in winter but when summer is here the level can change by quite a bit.

Also we get weed in it that is like angel hair! Only way I can describe it. You can scoop it up but it just keeps growing.

thanks for your help x

 

[Pinky]

Not Lillies but Irises. Sorry

 

[JamieB]

That’s string algae, which is a hair like form of algae. It will die off once you have enough plants to deprive it of nutrients. Until then, when you wish to use the pool, take a dedicated pool only toilet brush to twirl up the hair algae, and toss what you collect into a compost heap, or on your garden. As it breaks down, it’ll help other plants.

 

[Pinky]

A toilet brush! That is genius, thank you.
So I thought I’d done quite well on planting. I obviously need more so working on rough percentages how much more planting do I need to do? 25%?