Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Pond Scum?

Hi all! I'm new to the forum but have been reading your threads since last spring when I started to build/renevate/expand my current pond. To give you a little background I purchased this property last spring it used to belng to my grandfather who purchased it in 1942 and raised my father and aunt as well as residing their until he passed in 1996.

Unfortunelty when I purchased the property non of the buildings including the house was worth saving. The original pond was a 1/3 acre approx 8 ft deep at the damn. My Grandad used the pond for livestock and his geese and ducks he raised. I made the pond about 1 3/4 surface acres and the deepest part is 33 feet at the damn and about 4 feet deep at the intake.

A little about the water. I worked on this pond all the way up to December 14th which was our first snowfall that amounted too much. I was in a frantic rush to complete the damn before all of our spring rains filled her up! That was a laugh, anyhow the pond is run off feed with no spring feeding it. Of course this year has not been a good year for a new pond to fill. We are currently 12 inches behind in rainfall in these parts and haven't seen much rain.

At the end of June I had 10 feet of water in the pond at the damn and with the 95 degree plus heat several days in a row you could just tell it wouldn't be long before I lost all of my 15 lbs of fatheads that I stocked in April.

Fortunelty (I hope anyways) I have a small river that borders my property and is approx 400 feet from the pond so I built an irragation system and two weeks later wa la pond filled!

I have been pumping water nearly everyday for at least two hours since July 4th weekend. Here lately its only been an hour or so because I'm assuming the pond is sealing up and the weather has cooled a bit.

Now for my problems, Due to the low water and no way to water new seed I let the weeds grow on the inside of the damn and around the sides of the pond to help it hold the soil IF we did happen to get any of the wet stuff. I figured that once the pond was full I would cut everything down and keep above the water line cleaned up. So I did, except for two things, after I cut everything down I began to get the infamus green scum. In the morning and late evening when the sun is not hitting it the water looks great! But mid day when the sun is beating on it it is like neon green and if the wind isn't blowing will cover the entire pond!

Problem #2, I figured that once I filled the pond that the weeds blow the water line would die and most did EXCEPT for one that has now began to spread and in some areas it's growing up from 10 to 15 feet deep!

I posted some pics of the scum and the weeds, I think the weeds are either Illinois Pond Weed or American but none of the pics on tuma looked exactly like what I have.

I was told by someone who I thought was experienced to put aqua shade in the pond for the green scum, I did that on Friday last week and it seemed to break up the bigger stuff and I thought it was helping until today when I stopped by around lunch time and it was covered again. I had hoped that the 2 inches of rain we got Sunday would have helped but I think it actually got worse?

The water clarity is great with at least 3 to 4 feet down and it's not merky at all. Any help would be appreciated! We're in the process of building a cabing out there and the well should be done next week so we can start the landscaping process.....I am a newby at this so help! Thanks in advance! [img:center]http://s1056.photobucket.com/albums/t365/onsiteservice/[/img]

With the lack of vegetation in the water the scum has ample nutrients to grow.. Basically leaching all nutrients out of the water (that's why it's so clear) I used cutrine plus to kill my algae took a while but it works great.. Don't do the whole pond at one time do it in sections to prevent a crash from dying algae.. It'll be hard to get ahead of the alge this year since you have no vegetation growing..

As BGkiller suggests, try spraying the surface film with diluted Cutrine-Plus liquid. Read label for proper mix rate with water. I did not see a close enough picture to recognize the pondweeds. The emgerged weeds along the shore might not be aquatic are are terrestrial plants that were inundated with water ??? Again the picture of them was not adequate to identify the weed species.

OnSite,

(I was posting as my good friend Bill Cody was also posting. He is far more an expert is this area than I will ever be -- read his remarks. Consider Bill's thoughts before you consider mine.)

I guess I'm not seeing anything out of normal. Especially looking at picture 3, it resembles the newest pond we built earlier this spring. That green stuff is pretty normal -- and probably pretty healthy for your pond, if you wish to grow fish.

I don't want this to get into a political discussion, but I believe you are in, what I hope is, a rather abnormal weather situation. Assuming you get some moisture in the upcoming months and years, you should have a pretty decent pond.

If you wish to grow fish, the 3-4 feet of water clarity that you report is not good for your fish. It means that the food chain, from plankton to pan-sized fish don't have food. They need nutrients. Proper water nutrients will cut visibility to well less than 2-feet of visibility.

Please come back with your observations and questions. It will benefit many in your situation.

Regards,
Ken

In the last picture, it looks to me that the weeds that flooded are mostly smartweed. The ducks will love it. I've had smartweed continue to grow in a couple feet of water, but next year, if the water stays high, it won't re-grow in that area.

Thanks for the response gentlemen! I do plan to grow fish, currently I have stocked 15lbs of fat heads in April and of course with the irragation from the river I believe I sucked up every minnow that section of river had. My concern with this is the carp and unwanted species but on the same note without the 8 million or so gallons we pumped into the pond over this summer it would be nothing more than a big dried up hole at this point. Sorry Bill on the plant pictures, I was down at the pond this afternoon when I took them and walked the banks and found some of those plants growing on the banks out of the water. I have to see what I have but our local chemical salesman sold me a gallon of stuff I used on Duck Weed earlier this year at our lake front house. Should I use just a common roundup on the weeds going in the pond? That duck weed stuff was $187 for a gallon. Will roundup have any adverse affects on the pond or anything in it? Thanks again guys I have tons of questions, I want this to be one of those ponds I can fish, the kids can swim, the views are short of amazing and the neighbors are envious! LOL.....thanks again!