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Field report by Patrick Smrz Patrick Smrz has been a landscape gardener since 1988. "I come from a family of gardeners, who have worked in the business for three generations." He gained his diploma in 1995 and started his own business in 2003. His company "Teiche & Garten" (ponds & garden) includes a garden centre and a water-plant nursery. The main element is pond construction along with all the relevant features. Whether it's ornamental and fish ponds, brooks or other water features, Patrick Smrz handles all the planning, implementation and aftercare. He first came across EM in 2005.

"My wife brought me a bottle of EM-Active (EMa) to try." Patrick Smrz first tried it on a tricky indoor plant. "I fed the plant with EM-Active (EMa) but didn't give it any other attention. Some time later I noticed that the plant had grown and flowered; that was when I decided to try it out on water plants too. I found it helped them to take root much better. These initial tests won me over and I've been using EM on a regular basis in my nursery ever since."

How and where do you use EM?
"I use EM when putting in water plants. Before the pond is filled, we pour EM-Active (EMa) into the soil for the water plants so the nutrients are more accessible to the plants and they will take root much better. I also use EM for cleaning ponds. I use eMC cleaner to remove dirt from linings and heavy soiling from the film. Then I spray the film with water and wet it with EM-Active (EMa) once more. The cleaners are biological so there are no chemicals getting into the pond, and spraying EM-Active (EMa) stabilises the system much more quickly after filling with water."

Do you have a pond tip for other EM users?

Cutting back plants
Autumn is the time to cut back all plants going brown. Two to three areas of reeds should be left spread across the pond as these ensure an exchange of gases over the winter and allow oxygen into the pond.

Hibernating plants
If you have exotic, non-domestic plants, you should take these out now and put them in a pan or bucket in the cellar over the winter.

Pumping out the pond
You should never completely pump out the pond or fill with fresh water; that only disrupts the ecosystem established in the water and restoring this take a lot of work. The amount of time before algae coverage and clouding occur is greatly reduced. You should therefore always try to maintain and improve the natural system.

The essential thing to do before treating a pond is to establish causes. Are there enough water plants? Is surface water getting into the pond? Is water from roofs getting into the pond? Are there too many fish, and is the pond even capable of sustaining a fish population? All these questions should be answered before any treatment takes place.