Green is a great color for your garden, but not your pond! The next step in any pond care plan is knowing how to control growth once is starts. I want to remind pond owners, our goal is not to sterilize a pond, but keep it maintained so that it stays healthy and can support life. Your curative pond care plan should be implemented when you have weeds and algae that your preventive pond care plan cannot control. Therefore, you must find a cure. The pond owner must take an active role in controlling growth through manual weed removal or chemical control. Curative pond care can vary drastically depending on the condition of the pond. We will discuss what curative pond care looks like for newer ponds vs. older, overgrown ponds.
The first and most important step in any curative pond care plan is to identify your growth. Is your growth a weed that grows underwater or is the weed an emerged weed growing up out of the water? Is the growth large algae mats or chara algae that looks like a weed? Use our Weed Identification page to help you pinpoint what type of growth you have. Once you have identified your growth you can use the following three products to control just about any growth in your pond.
Crystal Plex Algae Control- 1 gallon per acre foot
Tsunami DQ Underwater Weed Control- ½ to 2 gallons per acre depending on growth
Catt Plex Shoreline/Emerged Weed Control- 3 oz per gallon of water & 1 oz of Plex Mate
Just like preventive pond care it is important to establish a schedule of curative treatments. For new ponds, this will create good control of the shoreline and submerged portions of the pond. Shoreline treatments to control grasses, cattails, shrubs, and trees will head problems off well before they begin. These should be done every 14 to 18 days once growth starts until peak growing season is past. Algae patches will need attention and should be treated on the same schedule, otherwise their blooms will grow and eventually float all over the pond. Submerged weeds will also need to be treated; however, these are only treated as needed and usually only 2-3 times a season at most. Remember, even though the new pond looks great, you will need to keep up on the maintenance or it could turn into a nightmare!
For mature ponds, you will most likely begin with curative pond care since everything is likely growing well. Once you have handled the brush, trees, cattails, and grasses as best you can with mechanical means (weed eater, chain saw, mower, back hoe, etc.), then you can begin treating with a good shoreline vegetation chemical. Don’t be afraid to overspray into the water; these products are water safe when used correctly. Treatment of the shoreline can be done aggressively. Water treatments usually should be done gradually, due to the presence of fish. The pond should be treated in thirds when dealing with algae and underwater weeds. Then you can begin establishing your 14 to 18 day treatment protocols to get this pond back on track. Remember, take your time; it didn’t get this way overnight!
All curative pond care products should be sprayed on, not poured in. You will get the most out of the product and can target your applications to problem areas. General dosing is listed above. For specific dosing, you can refer to the product labels on each product page or contact us for help.
We believe in prevention, but you always need to be prepared to actively treat your pond for weeds and algae. We will be wrapping up our blog series on DIY Pond Care next Monday with a post about expectations. It always helps to have realistic expectations.
Part 2: Pond Care…I Like a Natural Pond
Part 4: Curative Pond Care (Current Post)