Anybody used Evolution Aqua blanket weed control! I normally use Cloverleaf but it won't work below 10c.
I've run out of Cloverleaf and thought I would try E.A. blanket weed eradicator instead.
Spring is nearly here!
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roselanekoi
- Posts: 322
- Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm
Re: Spring is nearly here!
According to the advert on the Richdon Koi site the new Kusuri Powder Gold can be used at all temperatures. No idea how good it is and it's had mixed results on the Richdon forum, more bad than good compared to the old kusuri eco gold, it's also relatively expensive at £28.50 to treat 4400 gallons.
I've not used any blanket weed products for a long while as I never suffer from blanket weed, now that's a dangerous statement to make.
I've not used any blanket weed products for a long while as I never suffer from blanket weed, now that's a dangerous statement to make.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
That's almost exactly the price of treating my pond with two by 800g tubs of Cloverleaf Blanket Answer, that's at the cheapest I can find on eBay at £28.49p, that's not cheap anymore!
Hopefully I can get some bargain offer at the Koi show next month and stock up; fingers crossed.
From today we now have three cock pheasant visiting for feeds, the latest has a partial white ring around his neck and much tamer, the other two are very similar but, easy identification there, one limps, one doesn't!
With all this hot weather the first of my cherries are yellowing up nicely and swelling, should be ripe in a fortnight, yum yum.
Hopefully I can get some bargain offer at the Koi show next month and stock up; fingers crossed.
From today we now have three cock pheasant visiting for feeds, the latest has a partial white ring around his neck and much tamer, the other two are very similar but, easy identification there, one limps, one doesn't!
With all this hot weather the first of my cherries are yellowing up nicely and swelling, should be ripe in a fortnight, yum yum.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Interesting anomaly I came across yesterday and today whilst testing my pond water.
Yesterday afternoon at 4.00pm my PH test came out at 9.0ppm, second test for Phosphate, 0.0ppm, third test for Nitrite, 0.0ppm, fourth test for Ammonia, 0.0ppm.
I re-tested the water early this morning and as I expected the PH has dropped to between 7.5 and 8ppm, this is due to algae not functioning at night.
Obviously I had a quite high PH level but when considering the change in the pond conditions in last 5 months I would have to concentrate on a solution.
Quite some years ago I would have panicked and sought a chemical solution, something acidic to counter or reduce the PH.
With age usually comes common sense and the ability, with experience, to counter your rash mistakes and realise there is often no quick fix.
So, I sat down and considered my options to a solution to lower my PH.
Here are my findings that may be of some use to some Koi keepers.
The removal of the water lilies removed a very large area of shade, approximately up to a third of pond surface, also, the temporary bypass of veg filter has removed a secondary filter allowing more fine particles to re-enter pond and last but not least the hot sunny weather over last few weeks has resulted in a huge algae bloom that has caused a PH spike.
The UV is knocking out the free floating algae which is then clogging up the filter, I'm flushing the filter out almost on a daily basis which results in more water changes, hence more nutrients added.
The veg filter normally removes nutrients via watercress etc. and a lot of fine particles, it also contains a large bag of crushed oyster shell and Alfagrog?, being bypassed the algae now feed on the freed nutrients result, catch 22!
If I clear algae with an algaecide my Nitrite levels go up, however I have worked on a logical solution, re-connect the veg filter a.s.a.p. and provide;
SHADE!
I've found a company who sells closed cell foam that I can make a floating garden with to replace shade once provided by water lilies
I found several floating planters on Internet but the largest was only 40cm, square or round, (I want at least a metre and a half square,) the planters also allow nutrients to escape in to pond water, I want to isolate plants from water for this reason, I don't want more nutrients added.
Meanwhile I have got some 90% shade netting I will put on a wooden frame to cover part of pond with in this continuing sunny weather.
Yesterday afternoon at 4.00pm my PH test came out at 9.0ppm, second test for Phosphate, 0.0ppm, third test for Nitrite, 0.0ppm, fourth test for Ammonia, 0.0ppm.
I re-tested the water early this morning and as I expected the PH has dropped to between 7.5 and 8ppm, this is due to algae not functioning at night.
Obviously I had a quite high PH level but when considering the change in the pond conditions in last 5 months I would have to concentrate on a solution.
Quite some years ago I would have panicked and sought a chemical solution, something acidic to counter or reduce the PH.
With age usually comes common sense and the ability, with experience, to counter your rash mistakes and realise there is often no quick fix.
So, I sat down and considered my options to a solution to lower my PH.
Here are my findings that may be of some use to some Koi keepers.
The removal of the water lilies removed a very large area of shade, approximately up to a third of pond surface, also, the temporary bypass of veg filter has removed a secondary filter allowing more fine particles to re-enter pond and last but not least the hot sunny weather over last few weeks has resulted in a huge algae bloom that has caused a PH spike.
The UV is knocking out the free floating algae which is then clogging up the filter, I'm flushing the filter out almost on a daily basis which results in more water changes, hence more nutrients added.
The veg filter normally removes nutrients via watercress etc. and a lot of fine particles, it also contains a large bag of crushed oyster shell and Alfagrog?, being bypassed the algae now feed on the freed nutrients result, catch 22!
If I clear algae with an algaecide my Nitrite levels go up, however I have worked on a logical solution, re-connect the veg filter a.s.a.p. and provide;
SHADE!
I've found a company who sells closed cell foam that I can make a floating garden with to replace shade once provided by water lilies
I found several floating planters on Internet but the largest was only 40cm, square or round, (I want at least a metre and a half square,) the planters also allow nutrients to escape in to pond water, I want to isolate plants from water for this reason, I don't want more nutrients added.
Meanwhile I have got some 90% shade netting I will put on a wooden frame to cover part of pond with in this continuing sunny weather.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
I have transferred all the toad tadpoles from the Koi pond veg filter into the wildlife pond and covered it with mesh to stop the various birds from eating them, I still continue to feed them on a daily basis.
The PH levels have dropped again in main pond now that veg filter is re-connected, the algae development has dropped within 3 days, thus taking the strain off the filter, just flushed it once since Wednesday.
Today there is a mass exodus from overflow pond as the frog tadpoles now developed into tiny frogs head for the shrubbery.
I've stacked some logs and pavers for them to hide under as most of the rank undergrowth has been removed from back of veg filter, this was taken out when I rebuilt veg filter wall.
This year has been a good year for the frogs, one of the best yet, just hope some survive!
Saw one of the huge dark blue Damsel flies twice on Friday, first one down by the Elwy when we were walking dogs in the early morning, I saw the second one hawking around my Koi pond in the afternoon catching midges, they really are a beautiful creation!
One item of good news this week is the large hedgehog poo discovered on the lawn this week means the female hedgehog is back, only she produces such big black jobbies on the lawn.
The PH levels have dropped again in main pond now that veg filter is re-connected, the algae development has dropped within 3 days, thus taking the strain off the filter, just flushed it once since Wednesday.
Today there is a mass exodus from overflow pond as the frog tadpoles now developed into tiny frogs head for the shrubbery.
I've stacked some logs and pavers for them to hide under as most of the rank undergrowth has been removed from back of veg filter, this was taken out when I rebuilt veg filter wall.
This year has been a good year for the frogs, one of the best yet, just hope some survive!
Saw one of the huge dark blue Damsel flies twice on Friday, first one down by the Elwy when we were walking dogs in the early morning, I saw the second one hawking around my Koi pond in the afternoon catching midges, they really are a beautiful creation!
One item of good news this week is the large hedgehog poo discovered on the lawn this week means the female hedgehog is back, only she produces such big black jobbies on the lawn.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Went out very early this morning to finish watering the garden, (I stopped at 8.00pm last night when Springwatch on telly started) and discovered there are tiny frogs hopping everywhere! even in the shrubbery down the bottom of garden.
Amazing the distance they covered through the short hours of darkness, this is one of the reasons I watered everywhere around garden to give them a fighting chance to disperse to hidey holes.
Walked the dogs along the river as usual this morning but we went a different route, this time we climbed over the stile by the allotments, I've not been down that section since last year before the Autumn and Winter floods.
Pleased to see the Sandmartens are back in the high bank here but nothing like the numbers there were last year, I observed just three or four pairs.
Not surprising really after the disastrous nest wrecking this time last year, we think by a Badger, when most if not all of the nestlings were dug out from the bank and eaten.
The winter floods have radically altered the banks again along this stretch, scouring a much deeper pool right opposite the stile and ripping the far bank away, it's exposed a massive tangle of Alder roots dipping down the eight foot high bank into the river.
Another flood of last winters proportions and the row of Alders will be gone too as at least half their roots are now exposed, the upside is a Wren is nesting somewhere in the matted tangle of hawser like roots spilling down the river bank. As I stood quietly and watched, I saw it carrying food in to nestlings.
We now have three different thriving colonies of bees occupying nest boxes around the garden and also a colony of wasps. We did have four lots of bees until I unwrapped and unfurled the large table umbrella and was cascaded with bits of nest material and bee pupae falling from inside (the Koi appreciated the grubs though!)
The umbrella had been stored lengthwise in its waterproof cover for the winter under the new G.R.P. roofed pergola and the bees had obviously set up home inside the furled brolly, its normally stored in the summerhouse.
Amazing the distance they covered through the short hours of darkness, this is one of the reasons I watered everywhere around garden to give them a fighting chance to disperse to hidey holes.
Walked the dogs along the river as usual this morning but we went a different route, this time we climbed over the stile by the allotments, I've not been down that section since last year before the Autumn and Winter floods.
Pleased to see the Sandmartens are back in the high bank here but nothing like the numbers there were last year, I observed just three or four pairs.
Not surprising really after the disastrous nest wrecking this time last year, we think by a Badger, when most if not all of the nestlings were dug out from the bank and eaten.
The winter floods have radically altered the banks again along this stretch, scouring a much deeper pool right opposite the stile and ripping the far bank away, it's exposed a massive tangle of Alder roots dipping down the eight foot high bank into the river.
Another flood of last winters proportions and the row of Alders will be gone too as at least half their roots are now exposed, the upside is a Wren is nesting somewhere in the matted tangle of hawser like roots spilling down the river bank. As I stood quietly and watched, I saw it carrying food in to nestlings.
We now have three different thriving colonies of bees occupying nest boxes around the garden and also a colony of wasps. We did have four lots of bees until I unwrapped and unfurled the large table umbrella and was cascaded with bits of nest material and bee pupae falling from inside (the Koi appreciated the grubs though!)
The umbrella had been stored lengthwise in its waterproof cover for the winter under the new G.R.P. roofed pergola and the bees had obviously set up home inside the furled brolly, its normally stored in the summerhouse.
Last edited by pollygog on Mon Jun 13, 2016 6:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Update to our bee colonies is I have identified them today,we have a thriving community of Early Bumblebees in a single nest box and a family of Tree Bumblebees in a communal sparrow box.
The Tree Bumblebee (Bombus Hypnorum) only arrived in the UK in 2001 (Wiltshire) so its a relative newcomer to us, this is a very welcome immigrant as they are very early and very efficient pollinators of gooseberries, raspberries and blackberries!
Its rapid spread through England and parts of Wales is because of our much greater siting of nest boxes in our gardens than on the European continent, the bee uses these as a convenient substitute for holes in trees, particularly if they already contain a nest.
We also now have two nest boxes full of wasps, very close to each other, about 12 feet apart.
A pair of sparrows have just started nest building this week in one of our communal sparrow nest boxes, this is our second nesting pair, the first pair are raising their second brood in a single nest box in the porch of our summer house.
The second pair have started nesting in the opposite end to where the colony of Tree Bumblebees have set up home!
Watching them from the conservatory, their antics are entertaining, they bring really long stalks of grass to the nest hole then try to pull it in to wind it round inside.
Last night to help them, I put a large bunch of shorter softer dried grass on top of box and by 9.00 this morning they had pulled it all in, well, almost, they're not the tidiest of nest builders!
I rescued the second newt from the Koi pond today, also with part of its tail freshly missing, close encounter Rudd damage I'll bet, I also found an extremely lucky tiny frog sitting on top of skimmer in pond, it had swum the entire length of pond undetected and climbed out onto back of skimmer.
Its now in wildlife pond with toadlets.
The Tree Bumblebee (Bombus Hypnorum) only arrived in the UK in 2001 (Wiltshire) so its a relative newcomer to us, this is a very welcome immigrant as they are very early and very efficient pollinators of gooseberries, raspberries and blackberries!
Its rapid spread through England and parts of Wales is because of our much greater siting of nest boxes in our gardens than on the European continent, the bee uses these as a convenient substitute for holes in trees, particularly if they already contain a nest.
We also now have two nest boxes full of wasps, very close to each other, about 12 feet apart.
A pair of sparrows have just started nest building this week in one of our communal sparrow nest boxes, this is our second nesting pair, the first pair are raising their second brood in a single nest box in the porch of our summer house.
The second pair have started nesting in the opposite end to where the colony of Tree Bumblebees have set up home!
Watching them from the conservatory, their antics are entertaining, they bring really long stalks of grass to the nest hole then try to pull it in to wind it round inside.
Last night to help them, I put a large bunch of shorter softer dried grass on top of box and by 9.00 this morning they had pulled it all in, well, almost, they're not the tidiest of nest builders!
I rescued the second newt from the Koi pond today, also with part of its tail freshly missing, close encounter Rudd damage I'll bet, I also found an extremely lucky tiny frog sitting on top of skimmer in pond, it had swum the entire length of pond undetected and climbed out onto back of skimmer.
Its now in wildlife pond with toadlets.
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Checked out all of our 15 nest boxes yesterday between the downpours and discovered 6 have other than birdies in them.
Three are occupied by bees, two are Bombus Pratorum or Early Bumblebee and the other is a colony of Tree Bumblebees, two tit nest boxes have wasps in and the sixth nest box has a field mouse? with tiny pink babies in, never really saw it, just out too quick and into hedge. This nest box was recently vacated by a newly fledged family of Great Tits so it moved in pretty smartly!
I also discovered that the House sparrows second brood of tiny young in the nest box on our summer house have all recently died. I would guess that the Sparrow Hawk on its regular visits hurtling through garden has killed the mother bird and possibly her mate also.
Tidying up around my pond recently I discovered several owl pellets coughed up on my Koi pond parapet, curious about such unusual objects, I broke them open to see what the owl had been eating.
The first pellet contained fur and the tiny bones and skull of a small mammal, second one had the very strange mixture of fur and undigested dry hard grains (looked like barley) and seeds, like the mixture you get in wild bird seed packets.
Playing the detective, I pictured the mouse or vole stuffing its face on somebody's bird table at night where it was caught by the owl and killed and quickly eaten before it could digest its meal of grain and seed, that the owl also couldn't digest, hence coughing it up with other indigestible matter in its pellets alongside my Koi pond.
Perhaps it had a drink after?
Three are occupied by bees, two are Bombus Pratorum or Early Bumblebee and the other is a colony of Tree Bumblebees, two tit nest boxes have wasps in and the sixth nest box has a field mouse? with tiny pink babies in, never really saw it, just out too quick and into hedge. This nest box was recently vacated by a newly fledged family of Great Tits so it moved in pretty smartly!
I also discovered that the House sparrows second brood of tiny young in the nest box on our summer house have all recently died. I would guess that the Sparrow Hawk on its regular visits hurtling through garden has killed the mother bird and possibly her mate also.
Tidying up around my pond recently I discovered several owl pellets coughed up on my Koi pond parapet, curious about such unusual objects, I broke them open to see what the owl had been eating.
The first pellet contained fur and the tiny bones and skull of a small mammal, second one had the very strange mixture of fur and undigested dry hard grains (looked like barley) and seeds, like the mixture you get in wild bird seed packets.
Playing the detective, I pictured the mouse or vole stuffing its face on somebody's bird table at night where it was caught by the owl and killed and quickly eaten before it could digest its meal of grain and seed, that the owl also couldn't digest, hence coughing it up with other indigestible matter in its pellets alongside my Koi pond.
Perhaps it had a drink after?
-
roselanekoi
- Posts: 322
- Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 7:38 pm
Re: Spring is nearly here!
There's a lot more going on in your garden than mine although next doors next box did have a family of great tits this year.
I visited the RSPB reserve at Burton Mere a few days ago although it was generally quiet with all the winter visitors now long gone. After hearing on Spring Watch that none of their avocet chicks had survived it was pleasing to see quite a number of survivors at Burton. It's quite difficult photographing the birds at Burton as they are usually quite far away. The best photos of the day were of a juvenile common lizard sunning itself on a fence rail, not in the least bothered by people walking along the adjacent footpath and a rather pretty purple southern marsh orchid.
Then, as I was walking back to the car park, I could hear the distinctive sound of some Oystercatchers and looked overhead to see these three flying around, surprisingly I managed to capture a few sharp photos of them which rather made the day.
I visited the RSPB reserve at Burton Mere a few days ago although it was generally quiet with all the winter visitors now long gone. After hearing on Spring Watch that none of their avocet chicks had survived it was pleasing to see quite a number of survivors at Burton. It's quite difficult photographing the birds at Burton as they are usually quite far away. The best photos of the day were of a juvenile common lizard sunning itself on a fence rail, not in the least bothered by people walking along the adjacent footpath and a rather pretty purple southern marsh orchid.
- Common lizard.jpg (151.72 KiB) Viewed 12559 times
- Southern Marsh Orchid.jpg (252.51 KiB) Viewed 12559 times
- Oyster Catchers.jpg (76.17 KiB) Viewed 12559 times
Re: Spring is nearly here!
Well done Colin, excellent photo's I do like particularly the pic of the lizard basking on the fence, although I find the name 'Common' nowadays a strange one when they are anything but!
Possibly they were common, but many many years ago though!
I viewed Springwatch again, annoyingly still hosted by 'Nerd of the Year' and watched the demise of the Avocet chicks
To all who watched events unfold on Springwatch recently, the general public can only wonder in disbelief at the RSPB Minsmere Reserves inane policy of not interfering, they allow great numbers of Black Backed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls to breed unchecked alongside the rare Avocets, then wonder why the Avocet chicks are all predated.
Yet, they went to great trouble and expense to erect a fence right around the breeding ground to keep out the badgers who ate all the chicks and eggs last year!
I wonder, has any of the committee there ever tried to organise a p##sh up in a brewery, possibly way beyond their capabilities at present I would guess!
Possibly they were common, but many many years ago though!
I viewed Springwatch again, annoyingly still hosted by 'Nerd of the Year' and watched the demise of the Avocet chicks
To all who watched events unfold on Springwatch recently, the general public can only wonder in disbelief at the RSPB Minsmere Reserves inane policy of not interfering, they allow great numbers of Black Backed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls to breed unchecked alongside the rare Avocets, then wonder why the Avocet chicks are all predated.
Yet, they went to great trouble and expense to erect a fence right around the breeding ground to keep out the badgers who ate all the chicks and eggs last year!
I wonder, has any of the committee there ever tried to organise a p##sh up in a brewery, possibly way beyond their capabilities at present I would guess!