Forum home› Wildlife gardening
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Blanket weed

mariank145mariank145 Posts: 2
in Wildlife gardening
How can I safely get rid of blanket weed in my wildlife pond without harming the newts that live there?

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I use a combination of Blagdon Barley Straw extract and Blagdon Sludge Buster in my w/l pond and it seems to do the job.
    I use Cloverleaf in my fish pond.
    Cloverleaf seems to work very well, but it does turn the water milky for a few days then leaves a coating on plants, so I prefer the Blagdon products for my w/l pond which is full of plants, so the plants generally out compete the blanketweed and algae anyway.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    I remove it by hand, I insert a short bamboo cane into water and twirl it round and the blanket weed comes out beautifully. That said I only have a tiny water feature 
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    debs64 said:
    I remove it by hand, I insert a short bamboo cane into water and twirl it round and the blanket weed comes out beautifully. That said I only have a tiny water feature 
    That's a good idea for a fish pond and something I do if needed - I find it very satisfying especially when I get a really big bit.
    But my little w/l pond also has a lot of newts too and their young (and goodness knows what else) and they'd easily get trapped in the blanket weed as it was twiddled out and would not be able to escape.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    edited June 2020
    I have used Nishikoi Clear Waters with great results. They claim the product is organic and completely harmless to wildlife and aquatic plants. I hope I am not being naive in taking these claims to be true. The product definitely works unlike, for me, barley straw bales or therapeutic twirling.
    Rutland, England
  • debs64debs64 Posts: 5,184
    I keep a bowl of clean water nearby transfer blanket weed into that so any little things could escape but I am not lucky enough to have newts so not sure if it would work for their offspring. 
  • joe.shimminjoe.shimmin Posts: 214
    I have used cloverleaf in my wildlife pond. It says to put the same dose in but in thirds with 3 days in between each time you add it. It worked well at the start but isn’t really shifting the weed now. I have millions of frogs/tadpoles in the pond and it hasn’t affected them or any of the other life in the pond.
  • mariank145mariank145 Posts: 2
    Thank you all for your helpful suggestions! Now I have some ideas to work with....
Sign In or Register to comment.