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pond muck for sandy soil additive?
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Posted by oldryder (4),MN (My Page) on Sun, Feb 7, 10 at 16:15
| I have a pond thats got about 12-18" of "muck" on the bottom. its all decomposing organic material easily identified by the smell. pond is spring fed and its been several years since any fertilizer or herbicides were used in the adjoining fields so there should be little contamination from runoff. I do use a copper algecide to manage the "pond scum".
wondering if anyone else has ever used pond muck as a source for additional organic material for sandy soil. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: pond muck for sandy soil additive?
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| Its use is very common in other parts of the world, China for instance. It normally should be an excellent addition and probably is in your case as well. However, it is possible to get toxic levels of copper in soil (e.g., Florida citrus groves that used copper fungicides repeatedly). If that is a concern (depends on how many times copper was added) you might fill a few pots with it and grow some fast growing early vegetables as a test. If their roots are not inhibited you are probably quite safe. If only limited copper went in, I wouldn't bother personally. I wish I had a source. |
RE: pond muck for sandy soil additive?
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| I know a commercial organic farmer who swears by pond muck. |
RE: pond muck for sandy soil additive?
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- Posted by bboy USDA 8 Sunset 5 WA (My Page) on
Thu, Feb 11, 10 at 13:35
| I'd be concerned about water molds. |
RE: pond muck for sandy soil additive?
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| oldryder, Were you wanting to clean up the pond anyway?? If so, then I'd go ahead and spread it. If you're just looking for soil amendments, there are easier ways than dredging a pond. I took a large trailerload of pond weeds from a friend last year, and they took forever to die and decompose. Of course, last year was incredibly wet. Brook |
RE: pond muck for sandy soil additive?
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| brookw not dredging the pond, just exploring options. pond weeds usually are dead out in a couple of days if they're spread out so they can dry out. (they stink!) I'll probably just trey a few loader buckets of muck in the garden and some of the fruit trees I'm planting this spring and see what happens. It's "rich" in organics and pretty much smells like a cesspool. |
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