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Hello All!
New member alert!
My name is Maurice. I found this site last month after moving to a new home with a pond. I new nothing about pond management, and woke up one morning to the beginning of a pond turnover. I scrambled around town looking for help and finally found a farm owner who told me how to construct a sump pump aerator.(whew!) Since that day I have been educating myself about pond maintenance and management. That's how I found this site.

My current problem is preventing shoreline weeds. I want to use roofing paper to keep the weeds down. Is this a good idea?
Rocks would be ideal..but too expensive right now.

Thanks in advance.
Mau

Congratulations on your purchase, new pond education and first emergency solution! Oh, and welcome to the forum Maurice !

If you wanted to just shade the weeds to kill them off, I'd opt for a week or two covered with black plastic in rolls. If you mean to use the roofing paper as a weed blocker like in landscaping, the water motions will likely just cover the paper with fresh sediments and new plants will grow.

If you happen to have some roofing paper laying around, give it a try and let us know if it works. It may be another new solution!

I believe most roofing paper has tar, asphalt or other petroleum products in them which obviously would not be good for the pond.

Did you intend to use this paper on a temporary or semi=permanent basis?

Bing

Thanks Rainman,
I think the roofing paper might not be as good a solution as I first thought. At best, it'll just be a base for further weed growth.

Thanks for the welcome- and the reply.

Thanks Bing!

I did intend for this to be a semi-permanent solution. I wondered about the tar in the paper, but I thought it would be no different than a tire in pond.

I guess I'll go for the rocks.

Thanks for the reply!

Mau

Mau,

Welcome to Pond Boss.

If the weeds are in the water, I'd think seriously about putting in some grass carp. They would start to become effective next year.

If they are on the shore, rocks aren't going to help a whole lot, unless they are really big. Weeds will grow between the rocks, the spaces will fill with debris, and more weeds will grow. A weed whacker or mower would probably be the best solution.

If you can, post some photos. We should be able to come up with a reasonable solution that won't be extremely costly.

Ken