Weed.

[Guest User]

It's not my imagination: there's less banket weed floating in the marina than there was a few weeks ago. Blanket weed is algal I think, and I guess it just starts growing in the spring when the water warms up and the sun shines. When it reaches the limits of waterever nutrient is in shortest suppy, it stops growing and sinks to the bottom.

 

So floating blanket weed may not be too bad as the summer continues, but it lurks on the bottom all year round. (Don't ask me how I know this.)

 

MP.

Yes, blanket weed is a filamentous green alga. Eutrophication (essentially nitrogen from fertilizers, mostly attributed to agriculture, percolating into the watercourse) promotes algal growth. As daylength and temperature increase in the spring, the algae start to photosynthesise more, which requires more light. The alga's boyancy also increases as it becomes more active, which brings it closer to the surface = closer to the light = more photosynthesis = more blanket weed. Thankfully algal blooms are cyclic and/or seasonal, when the weather turns or the macronutrients deplete .... also when the growth gets too dense it shades itself out of business .... but by which time you've got a clogged body of water. One of the best ways to deal with it is to have a good flow of water .... which of course is what many marinas and the Old West river don't have but yup there'll be a goodly stock of it lurking on the bottom through the winter ready for next year !

[MoominPapa]

Oh, when *ahem* someone who shall not be named fell in? Complete with gas bottle?

Actually I he didn't find the bottom on that occasion, but I've dredged the evil stuff off the bottom plenty of times going astern, frequently when I'd really like reverse to work.

 

MP.

 

 

Yes, blanket weed is a filamentous green alga. Eutrophication (essentially nitrogen from fertilizers, mostly attributed to agriculture, percolating into the watercourse) promotes algal growth. As daylength and temperature increase in the spring, the algae start to photosynthesise more, which requires more light. The alga's boyancy also increases as it becomes more active, which brings it closer to the surface = closer to the light = more photosynthesis = more blanket weed. Thankfully algal blooms are cyclic and/or seasonal, when the weather turns or the macronutrients deplete .... also when the growth gets too dense it shades itself out of business .... but by which time you've got a clogged body of water. One of the best ways to deal with it is to have a good flow of water .... which of course is what many marinas and the Old West river don't have but yup there'll be a goodly stock of it lurking on the bottom through the winter ready for next year !

That explains the Middle Level perfectly. Lots of agriculture and very little flow.

 

MP.

[FadeToScarlet]

Do you get your 15 quid back, if you get banned?

 

Probably not. The £15 is to join the organisation (and I only do it to more than double the amount of moorings available to me on the Ouse!) not the forum.

 

I wonder what it takes to get kicked out of GOBA.......

[WotEver]

Oh, when *ahem* someone who shall not be named fell in? Complete with gas bottle?

 

I fell into a deep lock on the Avon once... as I scrambled up the ladder after swimming across to it I realised I still had a death grip on the Windlass

[Dawnie]

No he had a life jacket on when he abandoned ship

 

In the avatar he just pinched yours LOL

 

 

I got a Board warning from GOBA because I said it was Bl**** cold

So I don't think you would have to do much to get banned from GOBA entirely.

We do have a bit of a crowd on there now trying to wind them up!

Mind you Sue - No Problem is a big fan, not!

Edited July 16, 2009 by Carol Whale

[MoominPapa]

We cruised from Ramsey to Whittlesey today. The floating green banket weed has more-or-less gone, but there's plenty lurking underneath. It made for hard work around the sewage-works at Benwick (Hmmm) and on Whittlesey dike between Well's bridge and Angle Corner. Nothing impassable, just a lot of prop fouling,

 

MP.