Hello all. I have a existing rentention pond that is in pretty bad shape, had and still does have some duckweed on surface which I manually removed and used herbicide to get it under control. The pond has a bottom aerator to help. What I need to figure out is the best way to go about “muck” which seems to be pretty thick at my end of the pond, and I assume the whole thing. Also what is the next step at keeping the duckweed in check?
Duckweed is an indicator of ponds that are nutrient laden with little wind/wave action. Other than spraying it with a herbicide when it piles up into a corner of the pond, you are doing about the best that you can do. Some other options are:
1) Trim back the trees/bushes on the opposite side to reduce the amount of leaves falling into the pond, therefore reducing the nutrient loading of the pond in the upcoming years.
2) Treat the pond with PhosLoc to help bind up some of the nutrients.
3) Try to get the surrounding houses to use a fertilizer with less phosphorous in it within 40-50 feet of the pond.
