Personally to my thinking the problem is when we put all our eggs in one basket. :-) When we do this we create a vacuum of sorts which as we know nature has a tendency to want to fill. As is the case with any mono crop. In one of my Permiculture books the great Bill shows how by alternating crops each row with just 2 different species of plant the ability for plants to resist disease and pests is greatly increased simply by presenting a a physical barrier. To my mind when a whole range of flora and fauna are encouraged to grow in a system right down bacteria and algae the whole system becomes more robust and disease resistant as long as DO remains high. Its just the same as slamming down a few yukults to keep our good bacteria count up which keeps the bad bacteria count down!
Of course the whole concept of permiculture is based on the use of as many outputs from one system to benefit the outputs of another. This is where I first heard of the practice of manuring ponds and to be honest I did initially dismiss it because of the “gross” factor but that was about 7 years ago now.
On the other hand if you want to catch an extremely resistant form of golden staff, visit the intensive care ward in Brisbane hospital, one of the most sterile and bacteria free environments in Bris, nature hates a vacuum and will fill it with something! I am not suggesting that RBH change its hygiene policies but it is a proven fact that children raised in clean and sterile environments are often sickly adults never having developed a good immune system.
As far as is manuring a pond in nature, just watch NAT GO, keep an eye out for anything to do with African water holes. Just about everything is taking a dump in those waters. I recall one program on Hippos living in a spring fed pond. They has a diver in with them. (Mad as a cut snake!) I recall that there was a heap of manure on the bottom and there were some pretty big fish in with those Hippos. I think the same would apply to most animals. Deer and other such animals tend to drink in the morning and at dusk, plenty of manure going into the water at these times.
Reply With Quote