Preventive pond care is your first line of defense in keeping your pond healthy. To prevent is to make something unable to do something. In this case, the goal of preventive pond care is to create an environment unconducive for weeds and algae to grow. There are several ways to implement preventive pond care to help slow down pond growth.
Getting on a schedule is important. As summer approaches calendars fill up and before you know it, it has been 2 months since your last treatment of pond dye and pond bacteria. Pond dye and pond bacteria should be applied monthly depending on rainfall. These products are easy to apply and can be applied at the same time. Simply pour 1 gallon of each into a pond that is 1 acre with an average depth of 4-6 feet deep. If you aren’t sure the size of your pond refer to Part 1 of this blog series, the link is below.
Using pond dye is an essential part to preventive pond care. When you choose not to use a pond dye, you will be fighting an uphill battle to control weed and algae growth. We have 3 different colors to choose from: Crystal Blue, Ocean Blue, and Black Out. Pond dye’s often help settle out floating particles and give an overall crisp look to the pond.
Pond Bacteria also plays a very significant part in preventive pond care. Pond Bacteria not only helps neutralize fertilizer run off, but it will also help keep muck from accumulating on the pond floor. Muck on a pond floor is the most fertile material. Left untreated, this rich material becomes a feast for weeds and algae in years to follow. Sanco has a maintenance dose of liquid bacteria, Natural Pond Cleaner, that can be poured in with the pond dye. However, we also have a more concentrated form of bacteria, Muck Doctor, that can be used to clean up targeted areas like beaches and docks.
Pond products aren’t the only way to combat weeds and algae. Pond aerators and fountains will get the surface of your water moving. Some weeds must have very still or stagnant water to grow. By creating surface movement, you are not only adding beneficial oxygen to the pond, but you are preventing certain varieties of weeds from growing.
The final preventive pond care tip we have for you is to be careful when applying lawn fertilizers. Lawn fertilizers are used to make lawns green; therefore, they are going to do the same thing when they run-off into your pond. We advise all pond owners to keep a 20ft perimeter around the pond that you do not fertilize. Keeping grass a couple of inches longer around the pond will help filter run-off.
We want to remind pond owners that preventive pond care is not done to stop growth altogether. The purpose of preventive pond care is to make growth more manageable when it starts. This leads into Part 4 of our DIY Pond Care Blog Series: Curative Pond Care. Check back next Monday to see how to treat your pond growth once it starts.
Part 2: Pond Care…I Like a Natural Pond
Part 3: Preventive Pond Care (Current Post)
When the topic of pond care is brought up, many pond owners will say, “I like a natural pond…so I don’t really need to worry about pond care.” This statement couldn’t be further from the truth. Here at Sanco we like natural looking ponds too. What most pond owners don’t know is, even the most natural looking ponds are maintained monthly. Our goal is not to sterilize a pond, but to keep it maintained so that it stays healthy and can support life.
In this part of our DIY Pond Care Series we will discuss pond care for a natural pond and the consequences of not treating your pond. Ponds are living eco systems. The presence of some growth is a sign your pond is healthy and can support life. The purpose of natural pond care is to keep growth under control, not eliminated. Pond Care falls under two classifications: preventive and curative.
Preventive pond care is the use of pond dye and pond bacteria monthly and can be compared to exercising and eating right to maintain your own health. I know what most of you are thinking… I said natural and I don’t want to use pond dye! I urge you to go back to the example of your bodies overall health; if you eat right but don’t exercise there will be consequences. Both tasks, eating right and exercising, go hand in hand. Pond dye is a necessary part of natural pond care and there are a variety of colors to choose from to give you a 100% natural appearance. Regular use of pond dye and pond bacteria will help keep growth manageable.
Curative pond care is the use of algaecides and herbicides to keep pond weeds and algae under control. This can be compared to taking an antibiotic when you are ill. We encourage pond owners to treat sections of their pond for weeds and algae. Pond weeds are treated with an herbicide and pond algae is treated with copper products, algaecides. Designate areas that you are going to be using for recreational use, like beach and dock areas. Treat these spots with algaecides and herbicides to keep weed growth at bay. Other areas of the pond can be left alone or spot treated.
Pond dye and pond bacteria should be used monthly or whenever the dye starts to fade. Pond algaecides and herbicides should be used as needed. Most of the time you will start to treat for pond weeds and algae when water temperatures warm up.
Failure to implement any pond care can result in and unsightly pond and worse, fish kill. Letting pond growth take over a pond will eventually choke a pond resulting in a fish kill and lots of catch up to get the growth back under control.
Even the most natural looking ponds require some sort of pond care. Contact us if you have DIY pond care questions and we will do everything we can to help.
Don’t miss Part 3 of our DIY Pond Care series next Monday on Preventive Pond Care. We will be discussing more preventive pond care tips to help minimize the use of algaecides and herbicides.
Part 2: Pond Care…I Like a Natural Pond (Current Post)
Pond Owners frequently ask us what is the secret to successful DIY pond care. The first step to successful pond care is, knowing your pond! We don’t expect pond owners to be experts, but we do expect them to know their pond.
What do we mean by “Know Your Pond”?
The first thing we ask pond owners that call in for advice is, What size is your pond? After a long pause many pond owners will say, “about an acre.” The most important part in any DIY pond care plan is, coincidentally, step one in successful pond care, know the size of your pond. There are many things to consider when implementing a pond care plan, but you can’t do any of them until you know the size of your body of water.
When we ask for the size of a pond we are talking about the surface acreage or the amount of area covered by water and the average depth. Surface area is often described by comparing a familiar area to give a better understanding/visual of size. For example, a 1.3 acre pond has roughly the same surface area as a high school football field. I promised not to get to geeky or scientific, but the best way to calculate the surface acreage of your pond is by multiplying the length (in feet) by the width (in feet) and divide the sum by 43,560. The 43,560 is the number of square feet in a surface acre.
The pond below is approximately 148 feet in length and 80 feet wide. For the pond pictured below, this is how the calculation will look:
148’ x 80’ = 11,840
11,840/43,560 = .27 acres
This pond is approximately ¼ (.25) surface acre
Pond owners often give the deepest point in their pond as the average depth. Average depth is not the deepest point in the pond. Average depth can be calculated by taking multiple depth measurements (in feet), adding them up and dividing by the number of measurement taken. If a pond owner takes 10 depth measurements this is how the calculation will look:
12’+9’+7’+6’+6’+4’+4’+3’+3’+2’=56
56/10=5.6’ is the average depth
Now that you can answer the all-important question: What size is your pond? You are ready to tackle your pond care plan. If we have gone too geeky or scientific on you, contact us and we will gladly help you calculate your pond size. You can also visit our pond measurement resource page.
Next Monday we will release Part 2 of our DIY Pond Care Tips: Pond Care…I Like a Natural Pond
Part 1: Before…Pond Care (Current Post)
