Shorty - IMO it is more important to get a good dense crop of vegetation growing on the watershed before implementing the alum treatment. If the water shed in not well grassed you may well have to do several alum treatments in the next couple years.
I am working on it Bill, I had wheat started in the pond basin before the pond started to fill, it just filled too quickly this spring for the wheat to get established well and help clear the water after it filled. It also didn't help that ag field in the water shed was plowed and then planted with corn just days before the first of several gully washers, a 1" rain in 30 minutes produces a lot of run off on top of already saturated ground. The corn is knee high now and the last 1" rain we had Saturday morning the water was clear coming out of the drain tile feeding into the pond. I do have oats, brome and rye coming up in my portion the water shed and around the pond. I also have three rows of straw bales staked out in the watershed to filter silt out of the run off. I will plant some prairie grass here shortly, I have to do some work on the seed drill I picked up before I can do that. I have delayed my fish stocking plans until I can get the water cleared and a bloom started. The only thing I have stocked are a couple dozen fatheads and golden shiners for mosquito larvae control. I did put 50 lbs of alum down yesterday and the water has gone from a 1/2" of visibilty to 6" aready but the Ph has dropped from 7.0 to 6.2, I won't do anymore until I can pick up some hydrated lime and bring the PH level back up. Right now getting the forage base started and vegetation growing is more important than getting fish stocked. Looks like I am going to have to be patient.
