Maintaining your container pond this Autumn

Maintaining your Container Pond this Autumn is important as it is such a small volume of water.

Container pond maintenance plan:

1. Remove tree leaves that land in the patio pond water.

2. Trim plant foliage so that tall upright plants will not drop their leaf into the water. But don't cut below the water level.

3. Remove some rafting plant growth. Control excess spread and allow more light into the pond water in Winter.

4. Leave all oxygenating plants in place for now and thin out in Spring if you have more than 1/3rd of the volume filled with them.

5. Reduce the adding of Barley Bio Algae Control once the clocks change in October to monthly. Resume adding fortnightly again when the days brighten in Spring. Return to weekly as the weather warms.

• Doing these tasks will reduce the formation of sludge on the container bottom.
• This will reduce the need to completely clean the out the container pond.
• Ideally you would manage the silt like this and never need to throw out the water and start afresh.
• Refilling with new water means having to mature the water again and the newly added water will bring with it nutrients or chloridamides from the tap.
• Remove water from the container pond after a rainfall so the paint finish on your container does not sit under water for a period in the Winter.
• As Winter gets colder allow space for the water to expand as ice on the container pond surface without the ice touching the container rim paintwork.

See our Tips and Advice page for more details.