Stagnant water a problem!

Having bought 3 water butts this Summer to recycle rain water from gutter, shed & greenhouse they all suffered from foul smelling water. Tried water Refresh which had no effect at all. Tried charcoal in water - no effect. Also had what looked like mosquitos on top of water which flew out when the lids were lifted.

Do you have any advise for next year?

Regards Rob.

As promised, I have some further information for you with regard to the stagnant water which has collected in your water butt, and hopefully some ideas for avoiding this in the future…   Keeping the water which has been collected from roof guttering will always be difficult due to the high content of organic matter and algae it will contain, but the following techniques may help – and apologies if you have already tried some of them;  

A Barley Ball or pouch, filled with barley straw, is commonly used in ponds to control algal growth and weed, but is perfectly safe to use in the water butt as well. We can supply this product, and it can be viewed on our website product code GDN-350 Keeping the lid on securely will help prevent mosquitoes and flies from entering and laying eggs – our range of water butts have clip-shut child-proof lids so are ideal – view them at the above web address Other pond care products such as Pond Magic (a 100% organic micro-nutrient additive), Pond Relief (a natural granular treatment for ponds which prevents algae) and Water Feature Clear (which helps to prevent green water, algae and slime and prevent stagnant odours) – all of these products feature in our 2007 range and should be available online by mid-December.

Potassium permanganate is used as an anti-parasite treatment in fish ponds and reacts with organic matter so should be used with great caution. As we take a completely organic approach to gardening, we would recommend you try some of the other products listed above.    

This information should prove to be of some help; please feel free to contact us should you have any further questions and many thanks once again for your enquiry. 

Martin