Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment Muskgrass chara

Does anyone currently have this plant type algae in their pond? From what I am reading it is not over invasive! We have ducks in our pond and it states that turtles and ducks will eat this stuff. I have read that it makes for a good fish habitat!

I don't have it but I'm trading out some pond mgt. for welding. The guy has chara/skunkweed and it pretty well covers the pond. However, we are in a drought situation so covering ponds with weeds isn't all that hard. Essentially, it isn't the worst problem you can have because it won't do much in water over 2 ft. deep. I'll be treating it with grass carp in the spring. I expect ducks will eat it but ducks cause a bigger problem with nutrient load than chara.

Sadly the ducks are here to stay....many people take joy in going down to the pond to feed them. Right now we have no plants whatsoever in the pond. I was hoping to add something that would provide a habitat for some of the fish.

Cecil Baird has had a lot of chara, but few ducks.

I had a pretty significant problem with muskgrass in my 20 acre lake. The chara would grow in water up to about 8 feet deep. It was pretty thick in water 4 ft and shallower. A real pain when fishing.
My water is clear and needs to be fertilized. The concern was that with the substantial weed growth, any fertilization would be sucked up by the chara and be a waste of money. On the advice of Southeastern Pond Management, I stocked grass carp last spring to bring the chara under control, with the plan to fertilize this spring and also stock threadfin shad. I need the shad to boost my forage base as I have a typical bass-crowded situation.
I must say that I am amazed at the progress that the carp have made on the chara. The weed problem this year was nowhere close to what it was last year.
Hope this helps.
Bill

So Bill would you say that you like or dislike the chara? One thing about my situation is that I will never have to fertilize. Our watershed is 98 percent cropland....the runoff gives us to much fertilization! Is the chara a better choice than lets say cattails?

We have chara, coontail, and milfoil in our pond, I don't particularly care for the chara either. The good news is that there was very little chara last week in the pond. Last spring it covered the bottom of our pond all the way across growing in 12ft of water where the other weeds don't grow.

I guess that I would say that I do not like it. I don't think it is a horribly invasive weed, but you sure can't fish plastics very effectively in the stuff. It also will catch on spinnerbaits and crankbaits and anything else that it comes into contact with. It tears off real easily and hangs onto your lures and makes fishing a little more trouble. In clear water, it will grow in deeper depths than most people think.
Bill

Yep sure do! Up to three or four feet thick in some places. It's become so prolific I can't get an algae bloom going anymore as it sucks up all the nutrients. I don't have a reliable supplier of grass carp here (they take your order and never show up) but after draining my largest pond this spring, and dipping out the edges again I may put in a good number if I can find them. What really irks me is I can't just find a supplier and go pick them up. My state requires I have them delivered, and of course that costs more than the grass carp if you only get a few! *&^%$#@#