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Putting manure / hay bales into lake


philocalist

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I'm vaguely aware of the practice of putting bales of hay, and / or manure into managed lakes, though I'm unsure of whether or not this practice is still followed.

Can anyone tell me if this is still being done, and what the perceived benefits (and possible drawbacks) are?

There was an ill-informed row developing in the pub this afternoon, and I'm trying to form my own, 'educated' stance, as I was asked for an opinion ... is the practrice still encouraged / frowned upon, or perhaps even illegal?

Thanks

Edited by philocalist
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Barley straw is sometimes advocated for garden ponds to prevent the growth of algae, and more specifically blanket weed.

 

I've never heard of manure being used for anything similar, although in some natural ponds that must happen anyway.

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Aye, from what (I think) I understand, the two are generally used to achieve different ends, the manure to 'feed' the lake, and barley straw to combat algae. For something that was / is common practice, there is surprisingly little info about on the web, and most of what there is originates in the US.

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Philo,

 

A HORRIBLE idea for a pond intended for sport fishing is as follows:

Cowdung is commonly used as a fertilizer for fish ponds in India but fish production is limited to 15002000 kg/ha. These yields can, however, be more than doubled if the dung is first fed to a biogas plant and the digested slurry then used instead of the raw dung.

MUCH Much much more likely is this:

Excessive algae growth is one of the most common problems occurring in ponds. Traditional mechanical and chemical control methods are not always efficient or economical.

 

In recent years, the use of barley straw has become more common as an alternative method for controlling excessive algae growth. This method has been extensively studied by Dr. Jonathan Newman at the Centre for Aquatic Plant Management in Great Britain. When applied at the proper time and rate, barley straw has been a very successful algae control techniques.

Barley straw does not kill existing algae, but it inhibits the new growth of algae. The exact mechanism is poorly understood, but it seems that barley straw, when exposed to sunlight and in the presence of oxygen, produces a chemical that inhibits algae growth.

It is likely you can get more than enough information from the highlighted source. I don't know where this Centre is?

Phone

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Philo,

 

A HORRIBLE idea for a pond intended for sport fishing is as follows:

Cowdung is commonly used as a fertilizer for fish ponds in India but fish production is limited to 15002000 kg/ha. These yields can, however, be more than doubled if the dung is first fed to a biogas plant and the digested slurry then used instead of the raw dung.

MUCH Much much more likely is this:

Excessive algae growth is one of the most common problems occurring in ponds. Traditional mechanical and chemical control methods are not always efficient or economical.

 

In recent years, the use of barley straw has become more common as an alternative method for controlling excessive algae growth. This method has been extensively studied by Dr. Jonathan Newman at the Centre for Aquatic Plant Management in Great Britain. When applied at the proper time and rate, barley straw has been a very successful algae control techniques.

Barley straw does not kill existing algae, but it inhibits the new growth of algae. The exact mechanism is poorly understood, but it seems that barley straw, when exposed to sunlight and in the presence of oxygen, produces a chemical that inhibits algae growth.

It is likely you can get more than enough information from the highlighted source. I don't know where this Centre is?

Phone

:fishing1: Barley straw is supposed to inhibit algae growth, especially in flowing waters, it's not so good in still waters but does inhibit growth local to the bales. Dung, liquid or lumps is supposed to neutralise the water and encourage the growth of water fleas, worms, larvae etc. which fish feed on and the manure also encourages plant growth, again providing feed, oxygen and cover for the pond life. So all in all a very good addition to ponds, if all can be believed. :clap3:

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Anyone have any specific knowledge on the legalities of putting manure into a lake - I'm currently getting 'opinions' elsewhere that are the polar opposite to each other, but none of them are from an educated standpoint ... and trying to contact the EA with a simple question such as this is worse than useless :-(

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Following professional fishery advice that we had a few years ago; we have been placing bales of barley straw into our inlet stream (just before the water enters our 4 to 5ft deep 3 acre Estate lake via a small waterfall) for quite a few years now; and it definately has appeared to inhibit the growth of algae in our lake while other lakes in our area have suffered severe algae blooms.

 

We do still get the very occasional algae bloom in really exceptional conditions but so far we havent suffered them nearly as often or as bad as we did before we used barley straw; especially on the side of the lake nearest the inlet; so it does appear to work to a point.

 

We also use *SILTEX each year to control the build up of silt across the whole lake caused by decaying leaves etc. (our lake is surrounded by woodland) and this has also appeared to work quite well and we get far less silt building up on the lake bed.

 

* SILTEX is used as an inexpensive way of reducing organic silt and improving water quality in ponds, lakes and waterways. SILTEX is environmentally friendly, harmless to plants, fish and all other water inhabitants, and as it recycles the organic materials (silt), it is a great benefit to the water body ecosystem.

 

Keith

Edited by BoldBear
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Happiness is Fish shaped (it used to be woman shaped but the wife is getting on a bit now)

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Siltex is just chalk it merely changes the PH of the lake bed so its less acid and the debris rot down easier ,it also makes weed grow like weeds lol

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Believe NOTHING anyones says or writes unless you witness it yourself and even then your eyes can deceive you

None of this "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" crap it just means i have at least two enemies!

 

There is only one opinion i listen to ,its mine and its ALWAYS right even when its wrong

 

Its far easier to curse the darkness than light one candle

 

Mathew 4:19

Grangers law : anything i say will  turn out the opposite or not happen at all!

Life insurance? you wont enjoy a penny!

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical." Thomas Jefferson

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Anyone have any specific knowledge on the legalities of putting manure into a lake - I'm currently getting 'opinions' elsewhere that are the polar opposite to each other, but none of them are from an educated standpoint ... and trying to contact the EA with a simple question such as this is worse than useless :-(

:fishing1: The EA are fence sitters, they don't commit to anything. When a friend of mine informed them of illegal netting they waited until the nets were pulled then swooped and "gave them words of advice", they weren't charged. :fishing1:

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With barely straw as an algae inhibitor its important that its on the surface for it to be effective. Dumping a whole bale in wont do much as most of it will be submerged. Put it in mesh tubes, like sausage casings if you imagine, and float them. We were thinking about it on a 102 acres i cant remember how many bales we calculated but it was a lot!

Owner of Tacklesack.co.uk


Moderator at The-Pikers-Pit.co.uk

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