Mark

Lavender And Barley Straw In Ponds

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A few weeks ago I talked about the history and research behind the use of barley straw for stopping pond algae growth. In truth, many people ask about barley, and a number of other folks claim to use it regularly in their ponds to help keep them clearer. There’s no doubt that for some situations it works pretty well and of course, it’s natural which is also desirable.

lavender barley straw But this particular article has come about because I’ve been reminded once again, after at least a few comments each season, that people are effectively using lavender sprigs or straw and this appears to help with algae restriction too.

So what’s up with that?

I love lavender and I’m not afraid to say so. You’ll find the stuff in just about everything these days, from essential oils to perfumes, but many people would rightly ask, what does this have to do with pond algae at all? Well this started, like many things I think where people get so desperate that they try whatever they have on hand to produce a remedy. Even going back years ago, a woman wrote to me with a story outlining her success by using several lavender stalks in her small pond. Word of mouth was that it could help, she tried it, and sure enough, the algae went away!

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Is There A Conflict In Your Pond?

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You’ve probably heard the saying, “oil and water don’t mix”, and that’s certainly true. A lot of people however don’t stop and think before they apply certain things to their pond in an effort to control algae. I’m not being critical here, it’s simply a matter of having the attitude that you want the stuff g.o.n.e., and no one can blame you for that.

The problem is more headaches can come up when you start trying to use products that really don’t go well together. There likely won’t be any explosions or anything dramatic, it’s just that you may not get the results you want with the algae.

So let’s talk about a few of the more common things that don’t quite jive when you’ve put them together in your pond.

UV Light And Beneficial Bacteria

UV or ultraviolet light is an effective tool to use against green algae problems in a pond. The single cell algae can create a pretty ugly look in the water, but UV light can kill or damage a lot of these little critters, along with other pathogens that float along in the water as it passes through the device. The problem is, there’s no way to tell it to leave the good bugs alone and kill only the bad ones. So good bacteria can be affected by UV too.

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Ticks And Fleas May Be Rampant This Year

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With the warm winter and spring, it’s a good bet that ticks and fleas, will be abundant this year and they represent two of the most unwanted and nasty things you could have around your pond or backyard. It goes without saying that you sure don’t want them in your house. Where ticks are concerned … Read more

The Many Forms Of Barley For Ponds

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For such an age old remedy to keep ponds cleaner, barley straw has certainly evolved in a variety of ways.

Word on the street is that during the middle ages, a moat surrounding a particular castle was infested with a terrible algae bloom. (It’s good to know royalty is not immune from such things). Anyway by accident some lowly peasant accidentally dumped a load of barley straw in the moat, which we assume was intended to feed horses or something, and low and behold, it started clearing the algae up!

The King was pleased, but there’s no word on if the peasant was promoted to the official moat manager or not. I hope so.

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How To Tell If Your Beneficial Pond Bacteria Is Depleted

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Beneficial bacteria for ponds is impossible to see with the naked eye. These little good bugs do a lot to help keep a pond cleaner and clearer, and we owe a lot of thanks to Mother Nature for giving us the head’s up on just what these microbes can do.

In ponds that are naturally clear, it’s a pretty good bet that good bacteria is playing it’s part in the equation. Without it, the pond bottom will accumulate stuff to the point where you’ll end up with a lot of muck or sludge, and water quality problems, like algae, will start to develop out.

But beyond the obvious issues that come from poor bacterial performance, we often get the question…”How can I tell if my pond bacteria is depleted?” It’s a good one to ask, but a bit tougher to answer, but I’ll try to do justice to the question below. Namely, I want to discuss how pond bacteria can be damaged, diminished, or wiped out due to some simple pond management mistakes.

In all man-made ponds and particularly those you’ll find in the backyard, it’s long been suggested to add some beneficial bacteria to the water once a pond is started up. This goes for new installations and for upstart ponds that are coming off a long winter season of little to no activity.

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New PondBiotix Small Pond Combo Pack Offer

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We’ve been getting a lot of questions about using our PondBiotix line of pond bacteria. As you might know the baseline product for small ponds is a concentrated liquid bacteria which is particular good at nitrite and nitrate reduction and we consider this good for pond wide cleaning. However customers have been asking about the … Read more