Good advice from a national garden centre chain

My wildlife pond is full of blanket weed. Being about 4 metres x 7 metres x 1 metre deep in size, fishing it out is quite a chore. This morning I called in a local garden-centre with an aquarium/pond section to see if  could buy a net with a long enough reach. I told the assistant what I was looking for. His advice, whilst maybe not good for trade, was really invaluable. Get a 3 metre bamboo cane, split the end and find a way of holding the split open and then use it like a spaghetti fork to twist around the weed and drag the stuff to the side. Grand lad saved me about forty quid

What! And risk the poor lad getting fired for accepting payment in return for advice that was to his employer's disadvantage? I'm far too tight socially aware for that

He must have been a "Grand Old Lad".   I remember doing that about a hundred years ago.   When you have split the bamboo, wedge it open with another bit of bamboo, and bind around with anything !.    Barley straw is really good as well, as has been said.  I wonder what makes the straw work ?  Mrs Bouquet

Hello have you tried Aqua Plancton it looks like lime you have to calculate the pond area then spread it on the top or mix it with the pond water in a watering can and let it run into the water just under the surface  it doesn't harm plants or animal life  jezza