MY FAVOURITE WAY OF RIDDING PONDS OF BLANKET WEED

The simple answer is to get someone else to rake it out with a spring tine rake.

I have had various clients in the past for whom I have designed and built water gardens, who quite enjoy dipping into the pond with a rake or stick, twirling it up like candy floss, until they have almost as much as they can lift. It is a pastime for those people that cannot bear to just sit still and ‘ponder’, that is just looking into the depths of the pool and appreciating the other world going on in there.

This is the opportunity to ponder and prod.

Every now and then though even the most dedicated blanket weed dredger has pangs of consciousness that bubble up queries that he or she might be doing something more useful with their time.

At this point I am called in to dig out the latest cure on the market, which generally has an effect, but only for as long as there is dedicated application to rules. Unfortunately in my area, for many of these undoubtedly excellent products, we are permanently breaking one of the cardinal rules for making these products effective, and that is the high pH in water caused by the limestone in the soil.

Blanket weed thrives in a high pH, so keeping it under control is very often the only compromise along with trying everything else, including following all the usual pondkeeper rules about having plenty of plants especially oxygenators ( making up two thirds pool cover!) and keeping fish stocks low whilst with minimal feeding.

In this sort of situation, fairly environmentally friendly remedies like barley straw and associated products actually have some effect. But keep dredging, just in case.

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