Garden Gravel Stones going green!

 
In the past few weeks I have noticed that large areas of our gravel -
its a landscaped garden area turning green on top (sort of limey
colour).

Thought it might be the dog 'wee' but it seems to be in areas that he
never goes to.

Has anyone any ideas what might be causing this and if I can doing
anything to reverse/stop it?

it has been very wet/damp recently down here in the South West.

thanks

Jeff




--
newbiegardener

 
newbiegardener;941780 Wrote:

Hi Jeff, Yes, I think you've nearly got the reason, its a combination of
wet warm weather and dog wee. I have 2 spaniels and a large natural flag
stone patio which due to the same reasons has gone green. I use
hypochlorite, which is what dairy farmers use as a sterilising agent,
which is more animal friendly than bleach (available from any
agricultural merchants) It comes in a

5 gallon drum and costs about £12. Mix this at a rate of 1/4 of a pint
to 10 pints of warm water and either apply with a watering can or as I
do using a pump up type sprayer and in either case, apply to damp stones
and this will kill this algae. (the sprayer will give you much better
coverage) Obviously, dont use a sprayer that you use on plants, mine is
normally used for weedkiller. Hope this helps.

regards, Lannerman.




--
lannerman

 
lannerman;941797 Wrote:

Thank you Lannerman - much appreciated - will try this - though how long
should you keep your dog off after spraying - is it caustic to the dogs
pads do you know?




--
newbiegardener

 newbiegardener wrote:

A photo would help but it's probably algae.  There isn't much you can do
about it unless you want to spray a lot of chemicals that will have
substantial side effects.  It will reduce in dry weather and grow in wet.

Instead of trying to eliminate the algae it would be easier to adjust your
expectations of what a garden should look like.  Gardens are full of bugs,
bacteria, fungi, algae, spiders, grubs etc, the list is endless, which
superficially are not desired.  Some turn out to be beneficial and all have
a role in the ecology.  You can spend your life trying to beat them (and
inevitably fail) or recognise that is how the world is and reach a
compromise.  The compromise might need to be more in your favour (say) where
a horde of birds are about to eat all the fruit that you wanted to eat but
it might be more in favour of the natural result in matters that are not so
important.

David

PS

South West of what?  This is an international newsgroup.

D

 David Hare-Scott wrote:
...

  i'd assume it was moss or algae, if it's spring
it could also be pollen.


  only in the last case does washing do much
good.  if algae, it will die back when it
gets dry again.  if it is moss, leave it alone
and enjoy a beautiful mossy garden.  well worth
leaving alone...  if the climate is nice enough
you can find bits of other mosses and include
them in a patchwork pattern.

  moss and algae are in the air so there's no
way to get rid of the permanently.  chemicals
will knock it back for a while, but the
poisons or changes to soil chemistry are not
worth the use.


  songbird