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   During the summer months, ponds and lakes generally grow a ring of moss around the edge. In a small pond, it can cover the entire surface by late summer. Larger bodies of water, though not covered, can have enough moss around the edge to be really annoying. It makes fishing from shore almost impossible as each fish caught is reeled in with enough moss to break one’s line. Launching a boat is difficult as the moss has to be continuously cleaned off the motor’s propeller until open water is reached. Our pond or small lake is generally not affected by too much moss. In late spring or early summer, our lake usually floods, washing away excess moss and causes turbidity that prevents more growth. This was not the case this year. The water has remained clear, and the moss has grown at a great rate.

   I decided to do some research on cures for the problem. One day while driving through Ottumwa, I saw some DNR guys spraying a lagoon in one of the parks. I stopped to talk to them about what they were doing. The chemical they were using would kill moss and weeds but would not harm the fish. Supposedly, the fish were still edible after this water treatment. They did not know what the cost was to use so I got the name of the chemical and looked it up when I got home.  I discovered the cost to treat my lake would run into tens of thousands of dollars. That option was out. While online, I looked for other pond treatments. I found several different things; all approved for use in ponds that would not kill the fish or the people that subsequently ate those fish. This is according to the FDA and other government organizations that regulate such things without actually eating those fish themselves. As well as my questioning the safety of the approved chemicals, the cost of the amount needed to treat the lake was prohibitively expensive.

   In my research, I ran across several references to using barley straw to kill moss. I found the thought of this intriguing. Apparently, when barley straw gets wet, it develops a mold that attacks and kills pond moss. I even found places online that sold miniature bales of straw for six dollars each. These were designed for a small backyard goldfish pond. Eight or ten little bales of barley straw would be enough to control moss in a few hundred-gallon goldfish pond. It apparently does work since I read it on the internet. The only problem being is I would need somewhere around seventy-nine thousand small bales for the lake. Again, the cost would be prohibitive as well as the logistics of getting them.

   I have a neighbor that buys and sells hay, transporting both all over the country. I stopped in and talked to him about barley straw use in ponds. He had heard of it being done and also heard it was successful. He said he could get some, trucked in out of Canada for not much more than the cost of regular wheat straw. I told him I would take some when he got them in. He called Friday and Saturday I went over and picked up twenty-one bales of barley straw. I placed ten bales at various locations at different intervals as an experiment on what density would be the most effective. I am saving the other eleven bales to place on the ice this winter to see if having the bales in place before the moss starts growing will be more effective.

   I will keep you readers posted on the results. Hopefully it will work and my neighbor will not be stuck with most of the semi load of barley straw.

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