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Nutrients
are plant food. They exist in the soils, float freely in the
water and they are released when dead plants, leaves and animals
decompose. The presence of free nutrients in the water can lead
to so-called ‘algal blooms’. Being small and quick to reproduce,
the algae (or phytoplankton) can replicate exponentially causing
a murkiness or algal cloud (sometimes quite thick) to form in
the water. Often what’s lacking in these situations is an animal
predator – a classic is the water flea (Daphnia), a species
capable of reducing phytoplankton in a matter of days.
If your pond lacks water fleas then (with permission) consider
asking a nearby pond owner for a small amount of silt and water,
but be very careful not to transfer any plant fragments with it
and find out if there have been amphibian diseases present in
the past. Both duckweed and blanket weed are indicators that the
pond has a lot of free nutrients in the water. To tackle this
consider adding larger pond plants - their growth will use up
some of the free nutrients in the water and hinder growth of
problem plants. If this doesn’t work it might be worth
considering cleaning the pond out the following autumn.
Pond plants.
>>>
Autumn jobs.
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