I am from the south as well and a novice pond owner. But I do put in a little pond dye in the fall, after the plankton start to die off, but just enough to hold about a 16 to 18 inch siski reading. I use black in the winter in hopes the pond will absorb a bit more solar energy, maybe/ maybe not. But I also make the assumption the FA and such have a little later start up in the spring and maybe I do not need to use any chemical control before addition of Tilapia for control.
I do not put any in from march on because I do want plankton rich water. I do get a good bloom from the fish feed and fish poop during the late spring and mostly through Sept/Oct.
I think at least for this year and last year there has been some balance. I say that because, my 1st pond years I raked many wheel barrels full of FA the next year about 5 or 6, this year almost none.
I am not saying I am doing it right by any means, but with a little chemical, a little dye, minimal(luckily this year) manual FA removal, there seems to be some balance. Most will tell you here that every pond is different, and it's true in my case. My pond seems to be different every year and I would expect that trend to continue. As a side note my pond has been chemically(water chemistry) stable this year and maybe that has helped some,but not sure as far as FA control is concerned.
All that said, again yes I do use Pond dye in fall and let my siski disk tell me how much to add. Good luck and let us know how it goes if you do decide to use it.
