You may have read in the press that using barley straw (pads, bales or Extract) to prevent algae is under threat from EU regulations, despite only recently having been successfully registered as an algicide for use here in the UK. In the short term the threatened ban has been removed and we will continue to sell this good method of algae control.
The Chief Executive of OATA (Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association) says "It just seems frankly bonkers that tonnes of barley straw can be put into the water which eventually comes out of our taps to drink, but we’ll no longer be able to put a small pouch of it in our garden ponds." No-one wants to see a totally safe and very effective solution to algae control being removed from the pond-keepers’ armoury for bureaucratic reasons