Grass in Pool

by Ashley
(Fort Valley Ga)

How do you stop the grass from growing through the liner of your pool, I am on my second pool going to the third? I need help.

Hi Ashley

Nut grass, other types of grass and weeds can all create problems for above ground pools. I always clear all the vegetation from the pool area before I set the pool up. I also treat the ground with a strong grass and weed killer. If the grass, or surrounding trees look like they could cause future problems I will probably spread out some black plastic to go under the sand.

When the pool is completed I instruct my customers that the three foot extra we dug up around the pool should always be kept vegetation free. The area outside the pool should be treated with grass killer and covered with plastic and rocks.

When the grass is kept away from the pool, it always stays out of it. The only problems we ever have with grass growing up in the pools we install is when the grass is allowed to grow up next to the pool on the outside.

There are also ground shields available that say they can prevent grass and weeds from growing. I have not used them, but it might be worth looking into. Some of the pool stores advertising on this site carry them.

Nut Grass

by: Janet

My above ground pool is 12 months old and has been replaced once when it was 3 months old. I bought it from a very good pool company in our area. They replaced the liner and supplied labor for all the work. I just took pool cover off..MORE nutgrass and pool is losing water slowly. The grass is not on outside of pool and the grass inside is 2ft from wall. Would perfect pool bottom solve my problem?

Hi

There are pads like Gorilla pad that claim to prevent grass growth and I have no reason to not believe them, I have not heard otherwise.

Grass Growing Through Liner

by Kris Freshour
(Red Bay Al)

I have sprayed gallons of weed killer and laid a weed prevent roll down and placed a tarp down and then placed pool only to have miniature corn stalk weeds grow through. help !!!

Hi Kris

Your problem sounds a lot like the nut grass I have had to deal with for the 40 years or so. No matter what you do it keeps growing back through your vinyl liner.

A sure fix is to pour a concrete slab. This is not always in a persons budget but it does take care of problems like nut grass and gophers.

The product I have been using for years is called Zap It. It is sold at many stores that sell above ground pools and was formulated to kill nut grass without harming vinyl liners.

You do need to be careful using oil base weed killers because they can literally melt a pool liner. It sounds like you are fine by putting tarps and such over the ground. Otherwise it is best to wait several weeks before installing the pool. This gives the nasty fumes time to disperse and it also give you time to know if the stuff has worked. My favorite oil base killer is Ortho All Vegetation Killer. I've been accused of killing nearby trees with this stuff, it is powerful.

I've had people tell me that diesel fuel is lethal to all vegetation. The same with salt. I have used the store bought salt, the stuff for water softeners, with success. It was just a little expensive for my purpose. If you get about ten bags of it, spread it out and water it in, it will kill most anything.

There are several pool bases on the market now that are supposed to prevent anything from coming through. I believe Gorilla Pad makes that claim and I just saw a new one the other day that seems to be a hard plastic cut to the shape of your pool. These are probably worth looking into.

I hope this helps a little.

Grass Growing Thru Pool

by Laura
(Lakewood, ca)

I have a 14 ft round soft side pool. My question is...Will using a 20ml pond liner under it control the grass and weeds from growing thru it? I have killed the grass/weeds for now but that alone didn't work last summer!!

Hi Laura

The pond liner will certainly help, as will the grass killer. Nut grass will grow through just about anything so if that's what you have you need to make sure it is killed.

I use a product called Zap It for killing the grass under the pools that I install. It's a special formula guaranteed to kill nut grass. Many places that sell above ground pools also sell small bags of this product or one similar. This might be something to consider as well as the plastic.