weed!

[AJC]

The ice was pretty thick on both the ponds this time, took a few days extra for it to all melt propperly in the koi pond.

and when it did what did i find? blanket weed, tons of the damn stuff and i swaer it wasnt there before it was iced over! even the small pond has some, but the thin slimy stuff

coldest winter for decades lol and the weed gows, typical, wonder what it will be like in spring.

[alison]

Gosh I've only just seen this post. Sorry Alan.
I am suffering in this way too. There is loads of it in the pond. I couldn't believe it either. I was in two minds wether to take it out but then I thought what if it has lots of creatures on that the fish could eat so I left it.
I love to pull it out though as I think it feels nice and looks like soft hair sometimes but I know the creatures do like it also so I usually take about 2/3 of it out and leave 1/3 in. At the moment though I am tempted to take it out, as like you say, spring is coming and so will the blanketweed in abundance.

[kaz]

Like you, I have tons of the stuff . I also have left it in place for the same reason as Alison... bit of an eye-sore though.

[retropwr]

Not a strand of it here Probably saving itself for the summer.

[kaz]

I'm pulling the blanket weed out in huge sheets... quite an addictive little job! Then about 2 hours later, my pump stops... so that has to be cleaned. I seem to repeat this cycle every couple of days!!! Anyone else?

[dampflippers]

No blanket weed at all thanks this year, and the water in my big pond is clearer than it has ever been at present.
One thing I HAVE got is a moorhen though! We first saw it on Friday and it has really made itself at home.
It hasn't done too much damage, but I'm worried about it eating my newts.

[kaz]

How wonderful to have a moorhen!!! My ducks returned again this year... I do like having them around.

The pond here is clear... even better to see the blanket weed . When I went to pull out more sheets today I noticed loads of koi fry, so abandoned the clear out.

[alison]

Well I don't know where my reply went maybe I forgot to submit it
I also said that it must be wonderful to have a moorhen in the pond and ducks for that matter. They do make a mess though and I don't think my pond would be big enough for the mess not to matter. As to the weed, it is back with a vengance and the pond is pretty murky at the moment. I wonder if my UV works at all.

[dampflippers]

I was in two minds about the moorhen because of the possibility of eating my newts, but he / she was very cute.
Now it seems to have gone (I saw neighbour's cat chase it to the top of a tree) and I quite miss it.

Talking of birds- I have a friendly blackbird who demands food and comes into the porch to look for it.
I was out today and hubby said it came right in and got stuck behind front room curtains. Obviously looking for me!

[alison]

Surrogate mother The blackbirds are quite friendly here as well. They are particular about the apples they eat though. It is amazing that the red ones always go first and they take ages to eat the green ones. Maybe the red ones are sweeter. I put two out yesterday and they have gone now. The green one that has been out for a week or more still hasn't been eaten.