Just the thought of it makes backyard water gardeners shudder: "green water," "blanket weed," or "pond scum," it's known to scientists as thallophytes and to calmed-down pond-owners as green algae.
Algae live just about anywhere you have light and water: in puddles, soil, even in your bathroom shower. It should come as no surprise that algae can grow like crazy in water gardens. Algae spores can enter your pond by wind, rain, on the sides of fish and on water plants you introduce into the pond. Single-celled green algae may form "pea soup" blooms, taking over your pond and overwhelming fish and submerged plants.
Green algae can not be completely eradicated from your pond -- and it shouldn't. Algae is a vital part of the natural ecology in all backyard ponds, keeping it in "balance" and helping to maintain a healthy environment for fish and other pond creatures. So a little algae is a good thing. But there's another reason why it's not sensible to to wipe algae out completely - it's simply not possible.
Why? Because, compared to nature, backyard water gardens contain several thousand times the number of fish and plants per gallon of water. Although we like to think that water gardens mimic nature, man-made ponds are very unnatural in just about every biological and chemical aspect, leading to uncontrolled algae growth.
So what can a water gardener do to combat the 'green monster'?
1. Avoid too many fish in your water garden; more fish mean more poop which breaks down and provides nutrients like phosphates and nitrates for algae to eat.
2. Put a good number of aquatic plants in your pond. Aquatic plants soak up nutrients that otherwise would be eaten by algae. Cover half your pond with floating plants like water lilies, hyacinths and underwater plants like Cabomba.
3. Snails and tadpoles eat "pond scum" algae. Add a few Japanese trapdoor snails and tadpoles.
Sometimes these "natural" tactics aren't effective, or you simply run out of time. In that case, you can use an algaecide. Bio-filers can also be tried; they're good at removing damaging ammonia, produced by fish, dead plants and too much fish food.
To sum up, the optimal way to curtail algae naturally is to minimize the amount of nitrates and phosphates in the pond. You can do that by lowering the number of fish, lowering their food supply, and increasing the number of aquatic plants.
Algae live just about anywhere you have light and water: in puddles, soil, even in your bathroom shower. It should come as no surprise that algae can grow like crazy in water gardens. Algae spores can enter your pond by wind, rain, on the sides of fish and on water plants you introduce into the pond. Single-celled green algae may form "pea soup" blooms, taking over your pond and overwhelming fish and submerged plants.
Green algae can not be completely eradicated from your pond -- and it shouldn't. Algae is a vital part of the natural ecology in all backyard ponds, keeping it in "balance" and helping to maintain a healthy environment for fish and other pond creatures. So a little algae is a good thing. But there's another reason why it's not sensible to to wipe algae out completely - it's simply not possible.
Why? Because, compared to nature, backyard water gardens contain several thousand times the number of fish and plants per gallon of water. Although we like to think that water gardens mimic nature, man-made ponds are very unnatural in just about every biological and chemical aspect, leading to uncontrolled algae growth.
So what can a water gardener do to combat the 'green monster'?
1. Avoid too many fish in your water garden; more fish mean more poop which breaks down and provides nutrients like phosphates and nitrates for algae to eat.
2. Put a good number of aquatic plants in your pond. Aquatic plants soak up nutrients that otherwise would be eaten by algae. Cover half your pond with floating plants like water lilies, hyacinths and underwater plants like Cabomba.
3. Snails and tadpoles eat "pond scum" algae. Add a few Japanese trapdoor snails and tadpoles.
Sometimes these "natural" tactics aren't effective, or you simply run out of time. In that case, you can use an algaecide. Bio-filers can also be tried; they're good at removing damaging ammonia, produced by fish, dead plants and too much fish food.
To sum up, the optimal way to curtail algae naturally is to minimize the amount of nitrates and phosphates in the pond. You can do that by lowering the number of fish, lowering their food supply, and increasing the number of aquatic plants.
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Want to find out more about water gardensin St. Louis? Then visit MPR Supply's website to learn more about water gardens.
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