Hmmm good points Scott, perhaps I need to reconsider what to do with the photos.
Okay, other observations around the property during our visit:
The Pond:Vegetation:From a vegetation stand point the pond is in miserable shape. For those that recall I battled an won the war on Elodea in our pond. Unfortunately the decimation of Elodea freed up space and nutrients for other pond weeds to take hold. We have an explosion of American Pond Weed and what I think is Coontail. I didn't get samples of the Coontail lookalike so I am not certain at this point. Between these two plants the pond is back to a high percentage of vegetation coverage - I would estimate at 30 to 40%.
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In this shot you can see the submerged culprit. Next trip I'll pull some out and take the required photos for identification.
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This shot, taken from the east shoreline looking west, is an indication of how much the American Pond Weed has taken hold. Much like the Elodea did it is reaching almost all the way across the shallow end of the pond. And the "other weed" is also rampant in this area.
The size perspective is somewhat skewed by the camera lens as the far shore in this photo is over 500 feet away and most of the trees along that far shore are well over 50 feet tall.
Given that it is late in the year I am afraid of treating the weeds and causing on oxygen crash. My strategy at this point is to let winter kill it off (which may cause an oxygen crash on it's own) and then treat the weeds next spring.
Any treatment suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Water level:The water level on the pond is surprisingly high for this time of year. Although we are down about 4 to 5 feet that is much less that we have been down during the same month in other years (like last year). As most of you know, out here in the wild west it is not unusual to have a season fluctuation of 5 - 7 vertical feet in pond depth. Last year my pond was lower that I had ever seen it, at it's lowest I would estimate that it was down almost 8 feet.
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This shot is taken from the south shore looking north...
Fish and other pond life:Although we didn't fish we did spent a few hours of one day observing pond life. We saw schools of Gams cruising the shallows so their population looked good. We observed large numbers and a variety of sizes of BG, they all looked to be healthy and of a good Wr. We saw quite a few good sized juvenile LMB ranging in size from about 6" to 12" and they certainly looked well fed. Unfortunately we did not observe any of my beloved GSF. Hopefully the are in there somewhere.
Frogs were a plenty, all along the shore line of the shallows.
Being an absentee owner that lives so far away makes hands on pond management a difficult venture, especially when you pile on top of that the limited time we spent there last year. Sadly, our pond management negligence is showing.
My plan:Let the weeds die back on their own for the winter. Hopefully the weeds are not at the point it which they will cause a oxygen crash when they naturally die back in the winter.
I plan on identifying the secondary weed, the one that I think is Coontail, and attack them during the beginning of their growing season in the spring.
Thoughts?
Suggestions?
Random diatribes?
Juvenalian Satire?
Or the elusive triple entendre?
