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A few weeks back I talked about doing your best to keep organic debris out of your pond. In the fall this can be a challenge and in that particular video I discussed leaf netting for smaller ponds. Along with a good pond vacuum, these are just about all that a small pond owner needs. But this generated a few very good questions from large pond owners since netting and vacs just aren’t great options for them.
So what’s a large pond owner to do, since leaves and ponds just don’t mix well? You know the story. Leaves fall in the pond, begin to rot and decay, create a lot of compost and muck and this feeds a lot of unwanted growths, like algae, when the weather warms up again.
About the only thing a large pond owner could to in a proactive sense is to remove trees from around the pond. This isn’t always practical or even desirable in many cases. So the next best thing is taking some reactive steps to reduce the leaves that fall into the water. These will inevitably sink, and if you’re the type of person that likes unusually hard work, you could drag the bottom and try to rake some of these out.
A more effective tool however is to use a degrading catalyst made up of enzymes. We would and could also use a pelletized form of beneficial bacteria but these are usually temperature sensitive, whereas enzymes are not. Also, bacteria could never really be mixed with any kind of chemical herbicide or algaecide (should you ever need to use one). Enzymes can be.
These two facts make enzyme catalysts one of the most useful pond cleaning tools that a large pond owner could use.
So for our purposes, in the colder water of fall, the application of a degrading catalyst such as the PondBiotix MDC will speed up the natural decomposition of the leaves. Eventually these will break down into simple sugars where the beneficial bacteria can consume them. As long as the surface of the pond is open you could apply the MDC topically and it will drop down through the water column and continuously work on breaking down any organics at the bottom. When spring time arrives the pond will normally be much cleaner and will certainly have a lower organic load coming into the main algae growing season.
Visit the following link for more information on the PondBiotix MDC Formula.
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Mark, you might suggest if they have enough time to go out to the pond just after the leaves have fallen with a bib plastic FAN rake and scoop under them and out before they have a chance to sink. They usually blow to one end of the pond and my husband, Charley, uses this method and it only takes about an hour, a couple of times after the big winds, to lift them out of there.
Maxine Hodges
Hi Maxine…great suggestion and one that can certainly work if you remain proactive with it. I have had a few folks drag sunken debris out and I favorable to whatever works for someone. Thanks for sharing!