How Pond Plants Help Control Algae

When it comes to controlling algae, few people understand just how effective the addition of pond plants can be. Most people tend to just zapp their pond with quick-fix chemicals and algaecides that promote more of a dependence on the chemicals than a long-term solution and also tend to create more maintenance work than what is should really be required. Planting various pond plants in and around your pond can help control algae naturally by effectively limiting the growth factors algae need to survive. It is a cost-effective way to create the naturally balanced pond you’ve always dreamed of.

 

To control algae using pond plants, it is important to understand the 3 things algae needs to grow: sunlight, nutrients and low oxygen water. To naturally control algae, control the factors that allow it to grow. For instance, to limit sunlight, plant Lilies or Lotus.  These wide spreading plants have broad green leafs and bright colorful flowers and are excellent at shading the pond from sunlight.  It is recommended that between 40% and 60% of the pond surface be covered in plants to effectively reduce algae growth. Lilies and Lotus are also efficient at reducing problematic nutrients that fuel algae.

 

Speaking of nutrients, algae derive their nutrients from decaying fish waste, excess food and other organic waste that is left in a pond. The use of pond plants will control nutrients, limiting what is available for the algae to consume. Plants like marginals and even submerged grasses are voracious consumers of nitrates and phosphates and will out compete algae for them, effectively starving the algae.

 

Finally, adding more oxygen to the pond will also create an environment that is not conducive to algae growth.  Algae typically prefer stagnant, carbon dioxide rich ponds, but through the addition of oxygenating grasses, like hornwort, additional oxygen can be added to the pond naturally, while also adding another level of defense against excess nutrients.

 

Again, controlling algae is done by limiting one or all three of the growth factors algae need to survive.  Fortunately for pond owners, pond plants are natures cure and are an easy and attractive addition to any pond or water garden. A combination of lilies, marginals and grasses will make for a more clean, ecologically balanced pond and also a more eye catching pond.