Garden pond care: Tips on managing aquatic weeds

Most common pond plants may become weeds if the conditions are favourable for their rampant growth. Once this rampant growth becomes difficult to control, it may be time to start administering some control methods.

Controlling weeds in your water garden

The constant battle to keep the weeds under control is more than most gardeners want to deal with, and you risk damaging the environment of your water gardens if you allow them to continue growing. The main goal for controlling weeds in your pond gardens is so you don’t deprive your water wildlife of sunlight and oxygen. This is why implementing effective method controls to manage them is important.

It is also important to identify the type of weed you have in your pond, either, submerged weed, floating weeds or emergent ones. This will help you know how to control and prevent them. In small amounts, these pond weeds might not pose a problem but because pond weeds tend to grow quickly in summer, it is therefore key you quickly deal with them.

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Effective methods to use

Depending on how large your pond may be, there are 3 safe and effective ways to deal with weeds. The success of each weed control method can be dependent on the pond and how well it responds to the method.

Physical control method

This method can provide immediate control of weeds by physically removing them yourself. The method only works if the weeds are not growing excessively. Physical removal may sometimes require large equipment and can be expensive. The method should be avoided if the weeds are regrowing from plant fragments, as this may mean that the weeds are coming from deep within the pond.

Adding weed-eating marine

The method provides long-term control of some aquatic weeds. Using certain weed-feeding fishes can be effective with relatively quick results within a few weeks or months, depending. It may be one of the easy, cost-friendly ways to deal with aquatic weeds.

Using chemicals

Chemical control involves the use of aquatic-friendly herbicides that control specific weeds. For the herbicides to work, it is important to know what type of weed is growing in your pond. The downfall of this method is that it may provide short-term results, requiring repeated application. Chemical control should only be used as a last resort.

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