Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment New pond with a lot of grass?

Trying to understand the benefits and downside of a lot of grass/submerged vegetation. The pond was lined when it was built but covered in dirt and that was probably over a decade ago.

I'm so new to this so I'm just trying to see what to do. Water is well water and Im in the process of getting it tested. Water is fairly clear in the shallow edges but I honestly don't know what I should expect visibility wise. It gets deep fairly fast and the bottom seems covered thick in some sort of different vegetation. I'll try to take some pics of it to identify it, I was looking though the tamu list of plants and still haven't figured out what it is. Sorry for some newbie questions, just got a lot going through this shallow head. Going to add some cedar trees soon, but wanted to see if I should clear out this grass, for all I know it could be the best thing going for the pond, lol

Thanks again for the help and your patience

big, I love grass in my pond. There, I said it.

Problem is we get Chara, Naiad, and Coontail, etc. here in TX, and they are very invasive, and can be hard to control. The long growing seasons don't help either. I know for a fact that Naiad can grow deeper than you can clearly see, so it doesn't take a lot of light to keep it growing.

Take some pics, both in and out of the water. Put the out of the water pics up against a sheet of printer paper, and let's see what you have first.

Perhaps after you post some pics, Kelly Duffie will chime in. He's as good as there is, and he's based in South TX.

Awesome, I will take and post pics this evening when I get home from work, thanks

Ok, finally got the pics loaded up, let me know what you think

Sometimes pictures are hard to use to make a specific identification unless they are taken properly for identification purposes focusisng on specific features of plant parts. I think your pictures, esp the middle one are adequate to say your plant is Chara. IMO the first picture lacks adequate 'leaf' features and close enough detail with too many stems bunched together to make a real 100% positive ID. The third picture looks like a typical Chara growth habit.

Some info about Chara aka musk grass or stonewort. Stonewort probably refers to the sometimes crunchy or crusty feel of the plant due to lime encrustations that form on the plant surfaces. Technically Chara is an alga, but superficially looks like a 'higher' vascular plant similar to Naiad, Coontail, & a few others. Chara tends to prefer harder or more alkaline water compared to its cousin Nitella. Your pond receives well water which is usually high hardness, so your pond is probably infested with Chara, not Nitella. Being an alga, Chara for chemical control needs an algacide instead of a herbicide for Naiad and pondweeds. Chara can be difficult to control chemically.

If the pond is small most of the Chara can be raked out using various 'tools' such as the Lake Rake or homemade rakes or drags. Chara usually regrows fairly quickly depending on when it is removed during its annual life or growing cycle.

Some types of fish such as grass carp (white amur) or tilapia will eat it. Amount of Chara and size of pond will determine how many fish it will take to control the Chara. For ponds less than an acre, I often suggest to use enough fish to just help manage Chara, you remove some, treat some with a granular algacide, and let some grow for habitat.

There is a good amount of discussion here about Chara, some pictures of it, and how to deal with it. A search of this site for Chara or Chara control should yield more information about it. For starters see these:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=265724#Post265724
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=288470
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=285601
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=304637
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=33849
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=247062
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=317850
Thread where the first link was located
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=33329

Awesome, time for some chara research, thanks for nailing down what it is, and yes it is really heavy in the small pond

I tried some raking last night but just made a huge smelly mess, lol

I have a question on the same subject as your nitella problem. I resently treated my pond that had a mild Nitella problem, small amounts were floating to the top. After treating with Cutrine Plus it seems that the Nitella has exploded and there is now 10 times the amount there previously was floating on the surface. Does this mean that the algae is dying and floating to the top or do I need to reapply?