Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction New member, questions on copper sulfate

Copper sulfate will not work on Chara. Some have success killing Chara with Cutrine Plus Granular. I would try it in one area maybe 10-30 ft long using a fairly heavy coverage. Go to another area of the pond and use a lighter coverage. After 7-10 days compare the results of both applications. Evaluate, then treat more shoreline based on your pretreatment tests.

The pond is fairly small thus if using the proper rake it should make removal feasable. IF you dont have a Lake Rake or Beechcomber Rake get one. It will make your job of Chara removal a lot easier. The most effective time to physically remove Chara is in mid-summer when it typically is on the seasonal decrease. Then it often does not rapidly regrow until late fall or early spring.

The expert was IMO not an expert. Raking is very beneficial for the pond especially a smaller pond. Raking not only not only removes some plant matter (stored nutrients), it minimizes the amount of decay that has to occur, and it aerates the sediments which is very important in maintaining healthy oxygenated sediments. Oxygenated sediments are cleaner and do not smell, nor to they result in black septic sediments which occurs when sediments are not moved / turned. The more you can rake the shallow sediments the cleaner they will stay and the faster the organic build-up will decay and disappear.

Copper is a heavy metal and will not decay in the pond. You can use it but use it sparingly, save if for especially bad algae problems. Cutrine products are also copper based but the product is buffered thus less actual copper is applied in each application.