It seems that every new subdivision has a retention pond of some sort. These retention ponds are built to retain the runoff water during a storm event and allow it to soak into the groundwater without damaging surrounding properties. Golf courses typically have many ponds for aesthetic purposes and irrigation of their greens and runoff retention. Every one of these Retention Ponds and Golf Ponds is different, but they all have at least one thing in common. They need to be maintained.
We can work with you to implement long-term, eco-friendly, and cost-saving maintenance methods starting at around $1000 to get your pond on the path toward self-sufficiency and natural beauty.
The Pond Life
A pond in the wild, left on its own, will eventually fill in and become dry land. Obviously, this takes a very long time, but not so long that it shouldn’t be a concern for anyone who is tasked with managing a pond. As you likely already know, the pond is a magnet for any debris that might be blown around by the wind. In addition to wind-blown debris, the pond collects the runoff water from any surrounding land that pitches in its direction and any animal waste from the critters that enjoy the pond.
The Problem
This is all very natural, and the process has been occurring long before we ever thought about golf or subdivisions. The problem that we have now is that there are so many of these ponds that have been neglected for years and currently need our help. Many of these ponds get installed with no thought of how they will be maintained until they become unsightly and filled with algae. At this point, someone decides that something must be done about this pond problem, and they call around to find someone to treat their pond.
The Call
I get these calls quite often, so I know how they go. The person typically says something like, “I’ve got this retention pond in my backyard, and it has weeds all around it and a bunch of algae. I need someone to kill the weeds and the algae. Can you guys do that?” Their intentions are good; they just want a nice new-looking pond with grass cut to the edge like the new one that just went in last year in the subdivision next door. The problem is that they are asking the wrong question.
For some reason, we humans tend to look for the quick fix answer when we are having pond problems, and there are plenty of companies out there who are making a ton of money promoting these quick fixes. I guess in the pond owner or manager’s mind, they kill the dandelions in the yard with hazardous chemicals; why not kill the unwanted plants in the pond with hazardous chemicals also? What we fail to realize, in both situations, is that we cannot keep dumping chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides, and chemical herbicides on our earth if we expect it to continue nurturing our life.
The chemical companies have been pushing their products for so many years that we just think it’s the only way. We have been sold on the idea that these chemicals are safe and that we shouldn’t worry about them. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The chemical abuse must subside, and we must begin once again to work more harmoniously with nature to manage our natural resources in a way that improves our environment for many generations to come.
So, back to your pond problems. All of the issues people have with their ponds can be controlled naturally, but nature takes time to do anything. We can’t be impatient and want a quick fix. We are simply causing ourselves more headaches in the future. With a bit of ingenuity and patience, our ponds can be easier to care for, nicer to look at, and better for our environment.
If not for environmental reasons, we should reverse our thinking for financial reasons. The natural way of maintaining your pond will be the most cost-effective in the long run. Not only will you avoid costly chemical applications, but you will also have a more simple and naturally beautiful pond, and you won’t need to bring in an excavator to clean it out ten years from now.
The Vicious Circle
Your pond is filling in from debris entering it from the outside, but it is also filling in from the debris that it is creating. Any plant material that dies in your pond falls into the water and releases nutrients into the water. These nutrients, along with the nutrients that blow or flow into your pond, will feed more and more plants. If these were all pretty flowers, we would be delighted. Unfortunately, all of these extra nutrients will typically mean large amounts of algae.
Every time that chemicals are added to your pond to kill algae or weeds, the dead plants fall to the bottom of the pond and begin to rot. This creates more nutrients in your pond water so that as soon as the chemicals wear off, you get a larger algae bloom than you had last time. More nutrients mean more algae. This is job security for the chemical applicators, but it is a nightmare for the pond owner.
Layer after layer of debris is falling to the bottom of your pond and getting thicker and thicker. This is speeding up the process of your pond filling in and turning back to dry land. I assume that this is not what you want, although if chemicals are your only alternative, maybe you’d prefer dry land. Luckily, chemicals are not your only alternative. We have plenty of natural ways to bring your pond back into shape that don’t include any chemicals.
If left unchecked, the ponds are filling in. With humans adding chemicals, this process speeds up, and the chemicals are leaching into the groundwater. Not great. If you stick with the current chemical treatments, you will eventually be looking into dredging for your pond to scoop out all of the muck and bring it back to new condition. This, as I’m sure you have guessed, can get quite costly.
Working with Nature
A natural, properly maintained eco-system pond can break down the debris and keep itself in prime condition indefinitely if it is properly balanced. In nature, some ponds that have very little water flow will fill in on their own over time, which I perfectly natural. Some ponds with natural springs and plenty of water running through them can maintain themselves quite nicely without our help.
Ponds are naturally filled with life. Bacteria are breaking down the debris in a pond., there are all sorts of microscopic organisms and bugs taking in the nutrients and bacteria; the little bugs are eaten by the bigger bugs, which are eaten by the frogs, fish, birds, etc. The plants in the pond are surviving on the nutrients in the water.
Don’t Be Fooled
You must understand that adding chemicals to a pond kills more than just the algae. Don’t be fooled by a label or an applicator that tells you the chemicals are fish and plant safe. Just because it’s not a high enough rate to immediately kill fish and plants doesn’t mean that it isn’t killing the bacteria and microorganisms. This puts your entire pond out of balance.
Helpful Bacteria
Ponds naturally have aerobic and anaerobic bacteria in them. The aerobic bacteria do a great job of breaking down debris in the pond, which keeps the pond clean and provides food for the plants. The anaerobic bacteria do this also, but they aren’t nearly as quick. If we can keep the muck layer thin and encourage more aerobic bacteria, we will have a more well-balanced pond.
When we have a deeper pond without circulation, the deep areas have very little oxygen. This is where the slow anaerobic bacteria will live while the fast aerobic bacteria thrive in the more shallow oxygen-rich areas. Over time, as the debris begins to fill the pond, we get thicker and thicker, oxygen-deficient muck which means more anaerobic bacteria and less aerobic. When the bacteria can’t keep up, the pond gets more shallow.
Increase the Oxygen
By increasing the oxygen levels at the bottom of the pond through aeration, we can begin to turn this process around. As an aerator circulates a pond, the oxygen levels increase throughout the circulated areas. Higher oxygen levels mean more of the quick aerobic bacteria, which means the muck on the pond bottom will now be decaying more quickly. Aeration can also be provided by surface aerators, water agitators, waterfalls, streams, and wetlands. With the addition of more beneficial bacterial products to the pond bottom, we can increase this breakdown rate.
Keeping the Clean Look
Most pond owners seem to like the clean look, which leads them to mow lawn right to the pond’s border and cut down or kill off any pond plants growing at the pond edge. This, as you can imagine, is putting more debris and nutrients into the pond.
If we can create buffer zones of plants that the runoff water passes through on its way to the pond, we can significantly reduce the amount of nutrients entering our pond. These buffer zones can be made up of any plants that would survive and thrive in the area. Also, it is a good idea to slow down runoff water so that any suspended solids settle out before they get into the pond. Suspended solids are dirt. More dirt in the pond will fill it more quickly.
Striving for Balance
A balanced pond needs circulation, which provides oxygenation. It needs plants that take in the nutrients. It needs bacteria to break down debris, and it needs animals to eat plants, algae, bacteria, etc. With the proper balance of these elements, the pond will take care of itself. Most ponds that I see have; too little circulation, too many nutrients on the pond bottom from years of anaerobic muck buildup, and too few aquatic plants.
The Problem with Aquatic Plants
Aquatic plants can often be the sticking point for pond owners because they picture shorelines full of tall cattails that creep in and fill the pond over time, but this doesn’t need to be the case. In a natural bottomed pond, planting aquatic plants along the shoreline can be problematic because the plants tend to spread and multiply, and they can be challenging to remove. These plants that grow in the pond bottom are also not that effective at extracting nutrients from the water because they get most of their nutrients from the soil.
The Plant Solutions
We can solve these dilemmas by finding creative ways to get all of the benefits of aquatic plants without the problems. Nature’s wetlands and bogs have been cleaning the earth’s water from the beginning. They are the best water filters around, and we can use man-made versions of these to keep your pond water clean.
Up-flow wetland filters allow us to circulate the pond water, clean the pond water and remove nutrients naturally using plants. The water is pushed through the plant roots, which allows the plants to extract the nutrients. Plants in moving water remove more nutrients and grow more quickly than plants in still water. More plants taking in nutrients means fewer algae.
We can also mimic nature’s floating bogs by creating floating plant islands for your pond. These plant islands are loaded with aquatic plants whose roots hang down into the water and absorb nutrients.
Both of these natural nutrient filters allow us to get all of the benefits of plants in our ponds without the downside of overgrown plant material spreading where we don’t want it. The added benefit is that these systems can be created to increase the aesthetic beauty of your pond as well as its health.
We Can Help You
No matter what sort of pond you have, where it is located, or what condition it is in now, we can help. We’d be happy to come out and talk with you about your retention pond or golf course pond and help you come up with a plan for how to maintain your pond without any hazardous chemicals. Don’t worry; we have many solutions to fit many budgets, and your pond plans can be implemented over time so that the initial costs don’t unbalance your budget. We are all about balance.