Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Identifying plants Plant Identification

AquaPlant aquatic plant id site.

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/

esshup and part andedammen

I don't know if you want to throw this one in the mix, or go down the next level. It might not help us Northerners, but it would help the people down South.

Here's another that has some that TAMU doesn't.

Something from Purdue

I'm just starting to see this stuff but it is everywhere in the shallow areas of the pond. I think it is Eurasian watermilfoil or maybe Chara. Any suggestions???

Cisco - I would like to meet the person who could accurately identify your weed from your two pictures above. Pics too blurry in too cloudy of water. Try pulling out a sprig of it about 6"-8" long and put it in clear well or tap water so one can clearly see it. Place the weed segment in a white or light colored bucket with the clear water then try to get a clear close picture. Then we may be able to provide some helpful informtion.

Some type of freshwater coral?

I'll get a better pic next week and post it.

It is hard to tell from pictures. But I have seen enough milfoil to tell you it is not milfoil. Could be Chara. Knowing your situation that is my bet.

I'm headed back to the ranch tomorrow so I'll pull some of it and get a clearer picture and post it Monday.

I pulled some of the stuff from the pond this morning.

I'm guessing these are cattails starting? This is the only place I see them right now.

Top photos you pulled look like Naiad to me. Lot of dead material makes it a bit tougher to id.

Bottom look like good ol cattails. Bulrush has rounded stems, tassles on top, no flat leaves. Emergent cattails, no catkins, yet. Photos very good. A few cattails normal, but without control they can take over an entire pond. 360 of shoreline. Do yourself a favor and practice preventive instead of corrective maintenance.

Thanks PF. Is the Naiad bad to have? It's around probably half the pond now. As far as the cattails, should I go ahead and cut them now or wait til winter or....

Thanks again

Naiad is not really a showstopper. But like anything else, it can get out of hand without competition and lots of untaken nutrients. The cattails are pond owners choice. As a manager, I like to have one stand of them, maybe 2-3% of a ponds shoreline, but way in the back. I limit them to one area for diversity of marginals. If you cut the catkins off when they are green and limit the rhizome spread they are not horribly invasive. But if you let them go, they are a nightmare. They are very difficult to eradicate.

Cisco - your submersed specie is mature & partially calcified Chara ("kara"); a higher form of aquatic algae - which also attests to very hard-water conditions in your pond.





You can confirm this ID by crushing a handful of the stuff in your hand and then taking a sniff. At that point, if you instinctively throw it on the ground and begin looking for a bar of hand-soap, you can be certain that it is Chara (aka "skunk weed").

Thanks guys. As long as it's not going to screw things up, I won't worry too much about it. What can be done about the hard water condition? I'll bet that has something to do with the clarity issue I have.

Yup, crush and sniff. If it is stinky, muskgrass or muskwort. It either smells nasty or not, fairly easy to tell. Looks more like Naiad to me, but that should determine which it is.

I'll give it the old sniff test in a couple of weeks when I'm back out there. Will the hard water be a problem?
Thanks again!!

If you are using your pond water in your household dishwasher it may leave spots on your fine crystal.

ewest, Thanks for the link to Aquaplant.... Very informative!!!

Most welcome. That is why we are all here.

Does anybody know what the plant is in the background of this photo? All summer I thought it was probably cattail as it grew from one stock to multiple. Now that it is fall it still has no seed heads. Any thoughts? Do cattail maybe not get seed heads the first year?

We have it to and it doesn't make the heads like traditional cat tails do .... No clue but it is invasive in my mind

Not sure about the plant, but the re is nice. IIRC, my cattail new growth didn't get heads right away. But, my rememberer isn't in the best shape, so wait for the plant people.

Pat, it does seem to spread pretty fast. What you see in the photo with my little pumpkinseed started as one plant earlier this year and has spread to that shown. I had some Aqua Neat in my sprayer one day and hit one plant to make sure I could control it if need be. You can see the dead plant in the picture.

CMM, thanks for the reply. I guess time will tell if it's cattails. I would suspect they would get seed heads next year if that's the case.

Bill
The neighbors 16 ac lake is loaded with it and it has never made seed heads (cattail) so not sure what it is..... They look very similar. The 16 ac lake it grows out to 3-4' all the way around.... PIA

Pat,

Does it get flowers? Kind of reminds me of an Iris of some kind.