I use barley straw, which works very well, also I have just bought a UV/bio filter to help with the general murk!
Bill

I use barley straw too, which is natural, and a lot cheaper. You just have to remember to put it in BEFORE the blanket weed takes hold (Barley straw works by the chemicals released as it decomposes - and you have to wait a while before it starts decomposing)

I'm always a bit suspicious of chemicals and "treatments". If they work at all, they tend to be expensive, and you have to keep buying them... the only stuff I use is something to remove the chlorine etc from tap water when I need to top up the pond.

Where do you put the barley straw, i thought maybe in the top of the waterfall where it wont be seen, would it work there. I will let you know if i think my £14-99 has been worth it, but i think next year i will try barley straw, what month do you think is the best time to introduce it.
derek

I suspend the bag of straw under the outlet from filter so the chemicals have to travel the length of pond before it hits the pump :-)
Bill

Top of the waterfall should be good. Just needs to be somewhere where there is a good flow, and such that the decomposition by-products ciculate in the pond downstream as much as possible. When to use it... I find it won't start decomposing until the weather gets warmer in Spring. So that's when I put it in.

It's unlikely to stop blanket weed completely, there will probably be "dead spots" where the water doesn't circulate so much, but in general it should keep it under control. Actually I like to have a little blanket weed - the wildlife likes it...

By the way any new planting (if soil or compost in the planters) is likely to sprout great swathes of blanketweed no matter what you do, because of the concentration of nutrients. I think new ponds are likely to suffer too, until they mature and reach a "balance".

I have tried everything in the past to stop blanket weed, chemicals, the bio clare products and barley straw with no success. Last year I finally redesigned my pond to include a vege-filter which is a 1 foot deep channel running around the edge of the main pond with the filters feeding in at one end and the water going into the pondat the other. This was heavily planted, all plants in baskets with gravel only, and water cress was put in to finish it off (a recomendation from this site).
This year hardly a sign of blanket weed. The water cress and other planting uses up the nutrients fantastically. I even introduced duck weed last year to try and control it and this has almost dissapeared through lack of nutrients. All this in a 300 gallon pond with over 15 12 to 18 inch Koi plus goldfish their babies. A vege-filter works if you can fit one and put in the water cress to finish it off.

I've been removing the blanket weed by hand so far, trying very hard not to remove baby newts with it - would like to try the barley straw, but a couple of you mention the water circulation. Mine is a wildlife pond without pump.
Will barley straw do any good in there, and where do I put it? thanks.

BirminghamRob What planets are you using in your veggi filter?
I made one out of some liner that i had left over from the pond but it's leaking like hell so going to make a version 2 useing expansion tanks.

I was going to use reeds that i all ready have plus some cress. i have a green water problem, my fish eat the blanket weed before it takes hold

dean33 I put a big range in to see what would work well. Almost everythig has grown well but the real star has definitely been watercress. It took a while to get going and I did have a bit of blanket weed at the start of the year but as soon as the cress was growing strongly it dissappeared. I thin the cress back evry month to keep it in check a bit, it swamps the other plants, but otherwise it needs no maintenance. In addition I have Zantendentia, various Irises, Stipa zebrinus and a few other bits and pieces. It is a long filter (surrounding 2 sides of the pond) so the water takes some time to get all the way through, I think this is important. It also has the bonus of being a big bio filter.