I have used some products in the past, but find that the whole "barley straw" thing is just a gimmick and have NOT found that one with barley straw or barley straw extract works better than ones that do not. I tried a product by Pond Biologics, I think they call it Muck Buster, last season and seen very good results in a short period of time. I am continuing to monitor the muck loss, but so far have seen over about ten inches last year alone.
As for the water dye... Well, I guess that depends on whether you like blue or black water. But the theory makes plenty of sense to me.. block the sun from getting to the bottom and slow the growth of weeds.... That's just my $0.02
