Barley

Bunches of Barley - 2 pack $10.95

Pond Strip (mat) 7"X33" $79.00

Pond Pad Floater $11.95

Pond Barley

Barley straws or pond barley are used to clear and clean the water in garden or backyard ponds. It is sold in one or ½ pounds bales that are easily available at any pond store. It is grown during wheat seasons and its plants are collected to be bound up in bales to be sold for use in treating pond waters. Although, pond barley is not registered as a pesticide, however, it is still effective prevention of excessive growth of algae. It eliminates controls and removes algae after a week of its use. As pond barley is a natural product, therefore, it does not pose any threat either to human life of wild life in the ponds.

Although it is not known how barley acts to eliminate algae, it is said that straw decays in the presence of sunlight and oxygen and releases some type of chemicals that help in clearing and clearing pond waters. Around ½ pond of bale of pond barley is enough to treat around 1,000 gallons of pond water. If a pond is infested much with impurities and toxics, you should use this amount twice of thrice and its concentration could prove highly effective in treating water.

The hazards of pond barley are unknown, but decays in water in more than required qualities reduce oxygen level that in turn require treatments. Even its massive dose has not created any known problems. Pond barley can be used unbundled or packed in a bale in such a way that water should flow freely from the pack. It should be placed in the pond at such a place, where water flows through it to oxygenate it and carries its byproducts toward the pond. It should be used with some sort of weight so that it should not flow down with the water. It works well if placed inside the filtration system.

The success in treating water through pond barley depends on several factors that include temperature, quality of barley and its application. When the straws begin fermenting in the water, you can observer its effectiveness through the elimination of algae. Its most effective use is applied in the spring before the fall of leaves. You can apply it during midsummer and also in winter. Several people complaint that pond barley is not effective that could be perhaps due to wrong way of application and wrong temperature. The reason is that the factors listed above drastically reduce its effectiveness in treating water and removing algae. Therefore, in order to make it more effective, attention must be paid to the aerated water and sunlight so that proper decomposition of pond barley could take place.

Several people say that it could be harmful for fish, however, no proofs in this connection exist. Nobody has come up with evidences where pond barley has proved harmful for wildlife. However, one disadvantage is that it proves ineffective against higher plants, but it could be effective if conditions necessary for its use exist and it is use in a proper way.