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A Workable Natural Cure
Perhaps a great many water lily 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 at a time when the pool could not 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 construction plans.
If you cure the pool in this way, I suggest you help nature a bit by filling and emptying the pool a couple of times during the winter -- early and late in the season, when there is no danger of freezing. Let 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.
Best Curing Treatment We Know
If you will allow me a certain pride of craftsmanship, I will describe this particular curing treatment as the best one I know. It is a treatment developed at the Fisheries and apparently it has worked perfectly for the hundreds of customers to whom it was recommended.
- Fill the water lily pool to the brim and let it set for five days.
- Drain the pool, refill it, and let it set another five days.
- Drain the pool again.
- Mix up a solution of one quart ordinary kitchen vinegar and 10 quarts water.
- With a stiff brush (an old broom does splendidly) and generous sloshings of the solution, scrub vigorously over every square inch of the pool's inside surface. Mix more solution if needed. The surfaces may bubble up a bit as the vinegar works on the free lime, but do not worry, it will not weaken the concrete.
- Rinse out the pool with a brisk stream from the garden hose and it is ready for goldfish and water lilies.