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Comment by C Barb on July 10, 2011 at 4:41pm

Yesterday i went out and scooped out some grass with a large net and it was full of bluegill fry, grass shrimp and this little fellow.  Another food source getting cove from the weeds. Im pretty sure I have a good bit of crawfish in the pond. My property used to be a crawfish patch. Even before I dug the pond I had to constantly knock down crawfish mounds. Im sure the bg and bass are loving those

Comment by C Barb on July 10, 2011 at 4:33pm

Not sure if any started dying yet. The pond goes a good ways out before it drops off. The areas where its shallow enough for me to see it doesn't look like any has been dying, just growing like crazy.  I thank you for all of your advise. I think I am gonna stay away from the herbicides and the grass carp and continue raking as I have been doing. Its not too bad when I do it a few times a month. Its time for me to get back on top of it. Thanks

Comment by Walt Foreman on July 9, 2011 at 8:00pm

Have any of the weeds started dying?  If you have a good plankton bloom any weeds in water deeper than the level of visibility (18" or so with a good bloom) should begin dying from lack of sunlight.

Comment by Walt Foreman on July 9, 2011 at 7:59pm

It looks to me like Southern Naiad.  Here's a link to info on herbicides that will kill it:

 

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/management-options/southern-naiad/

 

If I were you, I would just control it by raking as long as it doesn't get out of hand.  Any herbicide runs the risk of having a collateral effect on other organisms in the pond besides the weeds, from fish that can be killed if too many weeds are killed at once during the summer months, to invertebrates that can be killed by some herbicides.  And, like I mentioned before, it's good cover for your grass shrimp.  It's awesome that you have them in your pond, by the way.  They would be toast without the weeds - grass shrimp almost never make it in ponds or lakes that don't have weedgrowth.

 

The shrimp will definitely benefit the bluegill - no doubt about that.

Comment by C Barb on July 9, 2011 at 10:00am

One more thing, the pond weed is definitely rooted

 

Comment by C Barb on July 9, 2011 at 9:49am

Ok here are a couple of close ups.  I'm pretty sure this is not filamentous algae. I do have some FA in there, not much that it worries me at all. And you can clearly see the difference between the two. 

I do have grass shrimp in the pond and they seem to be reproducing well. Hopefully its enough to benefit the BG

Comment by Walt Foreman on July 8, 2011 at 11:02pm

Can you pull a couple plants of the weeds and take a close-up photo with the plants lying on a white background?  It looks like a species of algae but it's hard to tell for sure without a closer pic. 

 

If it's only covering ten to fifteen percent of the pond, and it's not overly difficult to keep it at that level, it can provide good cover for invertebrates that your bluegill will eat.  If your pond doesn't have grass shrimp, that weed you have pictured would be perfect cover to stock them in.  If you had grass shrimp and high-protein food, your bluegill would get enormous. 

 

Raking is a great method of weed control when it's effective, which it sounds like it is for you.  You avoid having to mess with chemicals. 

 

Keep us posted on the effect the bloom has - the weeds you have are definitely ones that grow from the pond bottom, so the bloom should start knocking them back soon.

Comment by C Barb on July 8, 2011 at 8:16pm

Thanks Walt. I would have to say its about  10 to 15 percent cov ered with weeds. Definitely not more than that. But its really dense. I rake out about 60 percent of it weekly.  This is a pic of the weeds that are growing. Its alot more dense now. Even with my constant raking out weekly. 

Comment by Walt Foreman on July 8, 2011 at 5:44pm

Forgot to mention, the main reason for not stocking grass carp is not just that they love pellet food, but that they'll quickly grow to a size at which they bully your bluegill away from the food so they can eat it all, which they'll gladly do.

Comment by Walt Foreman on July 8, 2011 at 5:43pm

I'd strongly recommend not stocking grass carp.  They love pellet food and will ignore the weeds as long as there are pellets to be had.  Also, there are many types of weeds they don't eat, including filamentous algae, which is easily the most common weed in ponds and very possibly what you have (I'd have to see a picture to tell you for sure). 

 

Fertilization needs to be started in the spring before the weeds get growing well.  Here in Tennessee the ideal time to begin fertilizing is early to mid-March; in your area you could probably start in February.

 

But - even though you have a lot of weeds right now, the fertilizer may still knock them down in a few more days.  If you have FA, it will often seem to grow more briefly after the fertilization, but then after a week or two of the plankton bloom shutting out the sunlight from getting to the pond bottom, the FA disappears.  It may already be dying; if you're seeing mats of it floating on the surface, that means it's already on its way out.  If you can see a lot of it growing on the bottom then you may need to use some Cutrine Plus, or ideally just ride it out as FA doesn't harm fish but if you kill a pond full of it at once with herbicide it can cause a fish kill by taking up oxygen in the decomposition process. 

 

Post a couple photos of your pond if you like, showing the weeds up close and also wider shots that show how much of the pond is covered, and I can tell you more exactly what should be done.

 

Installing an aerator would go a long way toward knocking down FA, if that's what you have; an aerator helps with the control of most weeds.  Don't run it all the time initially, as you'll mix the unoxygenated lower portion of the water with the oxygenated portion and cause a fish kill.  Start with an hour the first day, then 90 minutes the second day, and work your way up to twelve or twenty-four hours a day gradually, 30 minutes a day. 

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