Pea soup cycle has begun. I need cold hardy plants.

[Lardeelion]

The new pond is going through the expected pea soup cycle. At the moment there are no leaves on the trees to shade it. I have a few emerging water lilies but they have a long, long way to go before they're mature. Is there anything cold-tolerant I can put in there to help with the pea soup? Watercress maybe?

Northern West Virginia. Zone 6. Temps at night are still in the 30's and the pond is staying in the upper 50's.

Thanks.
Laura

 

[slakker]

I have some string algae growing right now but haven't turned to pea soup. Too early even for my climate to put in floating plants but noticed my creeping jennies are growing into the water and staying on the surface with really strong floating root structure. I'm sure that's taking some nutrients out of the water for me.

 

[Lardeelion]

I was shocked it happened so quickly, but we had an 75-80-degree weekend and bam, there it went, despite the water not climbing out of the upper 50's.

 

[sissy]

Mine started to turn green when I rebuilt the pond but after i got the new aerator it cleared up .I have no uv and won't get one .I feel the more aeration the less problems and so far it is proving correct .I am beginning to think all the stuff i read on ponds with more aeration had a lot less water quality problems is true .

 

[Tula]

Sissy, Do you run your aerator year round? I started mine last August and haven't turned it off yet, and ma thinking of keeping it on all the time.

 

[sissy]

I just bought it after I rebuilt the pond because i needed a bigger one since the pond was bigger old one only had 4 outlets and new one has 12 outlets .I put 1 air stone in each of my filters

 

[haver79]

I certainly have some very murkey water right now. Some tannins from leaves and green water combined. It isn't looking good right now.
I didn't have to deal with that last summer as my pond was new and filled up the last week of june so plants went in right away. Got the occasional murkieness but a few days of quilt batting took care of it. I really don't have any established plants from last year. I hate how my water looks right now but just trying to wait it out and hoping when I get some plants in there it will help. I cant even see my lilies at the bottom right now and water has been too cold to get in there and get them pulled up and fertilized etc.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Is there anything cold-tolerant I can put in there to help with the pea soup?

I know cattails are cold tolerant. Mine were once frozen in ice over night and were fine after that. Hornwort is also cold tolerant.

 

[Lardeelion]

I've been reluctant to use hornwort, since it once clogged the hell out of my 55g aquarium, but I think I'll give it a shot. Haver79, that's just my problem. When I set up the pond, I didn't think spring would be 5 years late. I thought we'd have leaves by now shading the dang pond.

The problem is finding the plants. Nobody local has any yet, due to the 5-year-late winter...

 

[sissy]

I don't use in pond plants like that either since it could burn out a pump fast .You could get one of those prefilters like Colleen and JW are using .You can get pond plants on ebay at not to bad a price with free shipping .I myself use grasses the really suck up the nutrients .Fountain grass ,zebra grass.Lemon grass .Plus at your local nursery you can look at plants for wet areas .Just tell them what you want them for and they will guide you .Corkscrew rush works

 

[Lardeelion]

Well, the skimmer does a pretty good job, so I'm not so worried about surface stuff, but gunk on the bottom is possible. I just found a bunch of 99 cent watercress. I'll try it.

 

[jmajid]

we have hornwort that my wife bunched into spare mesh bags we had from our groceries... weighed down with a few larger stones, it has helped a lot with the green water...
aeration also has helped - bought a two port aeration pump with large stones... and took care of those more stagnant areas of the pond
the lilies here have been green for a few months and just a couple of days ago got the first blooms...
having some issues getting that cattail to grow - the goldfish love to eat it before it gets a chance to grow

 

[haver79]

Well it has been slow to warm up here. We get a warm day here and there but still up and down. Temp right now is 45 and rain. Last weekend 84. Always windy here so leaves have been a problem for me even this spring. Going to get some grasses in Sissy as soon as I can. Just waiting on the temps. Greenhouses just now getting plants in. I do have a patch of variegated grass, forget the name. Will dig out some and add to the pond. Have some rush from last year. Not looking very good. I am wanting to add a bog. Just need to make up my mind and order the liner and vacation time from work to do it.

 

[haver79]

I've been reluctant to use hornwort, since it once clogged the hell out of my 55g aquarium, but I think I'll give it a shot. Haver79, that's just my problem. When I set up the pond, I didn't think spring would be 5 years late. I thought we'd have leaves by now shading the dang pond.

The problem is finding the plants. Nobody local has any yet, due to the 5-year-late winter...

Yes same here. Trees have leaf buds but no leaves yet. Well I think my crab trees have bitsy leaves now. Got some leaf bud shells blown into the pond as well. I'm sure it will get better my filter needs to get some good bacteria established which is probably slow due to the cooler weather too. I have never been so impatient for spring to get here as I have been this year since it is the first spring for my pond. Of course spring is taking its sweet time this year!

 

[sissy]

The big thing with grasses the roots grow fast and have to be trimmed often .I also divide mine and cut the tops so they don't get to tall