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| Curing the Pool |
So I can't say that the natural mellowing story is an out-and-out misrepresentation. I can say only that it is a very slow and disappointing
way of doing business. Why put up with a green pool for a whole,
wasted season when you can cure it quickly, plant it, and within a few
weeks see growth in your pool that is really worth watching!
A Workable Natural Cure
Perhaps a great many water gardeners have confused so-called natural mellowing with a procedure we used to recommend to our
customers. We told them to build their pools in the fall, finishing them up at
a time when the pool couldn't be planted for several months. The natural washing action of rain, sleet, and snow through the winter did a
fine job of scouring the free lime off the surfaces of the new concrete.
This is still good, efficient practice if the time element happens to fit
in with your own construction plans.
If you cure the pool in this way, I suggest you help nature a bit and
fill and empty the pool a couple of times during the winter, early and
late in the season, when there is no danger of freezing, letting the water stay in the pool two to three weeks each time. As a final test, fill the
pool and dip a piece of pink litmus paper in the water. The litmus will
turn blue if appreciable alkalinity remains in the water. In this unlikely
event, fill and empty the pool a few more times.
Curing with a Coat of Paint
Sealing off the free lime in a new concrete pool with paint is another
technique I cannot recommend, although many new water gardeners
try it. This, I must say, is much more effective than natural mellowing.
For a while water-lilies and goldfish do well enough in a pool so treated.
The bad thing about curing by painting is that the paint does not
hold up well. Although I do not paint the inside of my own pools, I do
not urge you against it. If you feel a coat of paint will make the pool
look better, then apply it by all means. But apply it only as a beautification, after the pool has been cured. Paint sticks better and holds up
far longer on chemically neutral concrete.
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