Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fertilization Time

Our lake is historically very clear this time of year. We always fertilize once the water temperature gets up high enough to create a bloom. I have several questions. Why does our water clear up so much over the winter? It gets to the point of being able to see probably 6 feet deep at least.
We have turkey hunters coming out first couple of weekends in April and they will want to go fishing. Will it hurt anything on the survival of the spawn if we wait until middle of April to fertilize? The lake gets so pea green soup looking once we fertilize and the fishing is no good for 3 weeks or so until the bloom kind of runs its course. Is there anything else I'm not thinking of on the fertilizing? We have always done Scott's Pond Fertilizer and are probably going to change to the floating bucket variety this year. Any thoughts anyone? Thanks.

A phyto bloom should not efffect fishing just clarity. Try adding less fertilizer. "until it runs its course" Do you fertilize thoughout the warm season or just the once? If your getting good blooms way would you switch fertilizers? Try using less product and shoot for 18 to 24 inch visibilty not less than 18 inches and maybe you will have better fishing.

Greg, Friend of mine has a 2 acre pond and told me over the weekend that he has never applied ag lime and when he fertilizes he adds 50 pounds of hydrated(sp?) lime which DNR recommended a few years ago. Is that not risky and have you ever heard that from an DNR agent?

Says he get a good bloom and has done this for years.

hydrated lime can be added at about a tenth of the rate of ag lime. there is however a limited amount of hydrated lime you can use. check with someone in your area (perhaps someone on this board)that knows more about water chemistry in your area. ag lime can be added up to any rate as i understand without having negative effects.

I have applied lots of lime and you are correct ag lime can be applied by the ton. Ag lime needs to be applied at least one ton per acre but I recommend more because its difficult to get good coverage at that rate. Usually its more cost effective to just get a full truck delivered (10-20 tons depending on who you call) I usually end up spreading 3-4 tons per acre and get good results. The average pond around here is about 20 ppm hardness. Expect 3 tons per acre to bring up hardness to about 60 ppm for 4-5 years. If you regularly test the water you will see the hardness drop off and then you will know when to lime again. Remember it takes about 3 months for ag lime to change water hardness so dont wait till the last minute to lime. I have had several clients lime early in the spring only to find out the lime wont be working for them until summer. A 3 man crew (with a tractor) can spread 20 tons in about 5 hours. Expect to pay $20 -30 per ton of lime delivered, and about $30 per ton to spread. the most important factor when liming a pond is to make sure the entire pond bottom is covered. You are liming the soil on the bottom of the pond (not the water). Its the same principal as liming a field. Make sure it is evenly distributed.

Hydrated lime changes the hardness on the water, not the hardness of the soil therefore its eaily flushed from the pond. expect a hydrated lime treatment to last 6 weeks at most. Hydrated lime will rapidly change the pH of the water. If it is over applied (more than 50 pounds per acre) the pH change is so rapid it will cause a fish kill. Hydrated lime will work but I recommend ag lime. I have never seen any studies that show how much stress is inflicted on fish by using hydrated lime but I'm sure it is significant. maybe a smarter fish consultant than myself can answer that one.

Shan O'Gorman
Pro Ponds

Bob Lusk wrote an incredible article in the last issue of Pondboss concerning when to fertilize. The short version is just as the water hits 55 to 60 degrees. You want a good phytoplankton base to support the food chain for your baby bass, so they will have plenty of food to grow.

Bill, To answer your question I not only have heard about hydrated lime, but applied it several times.

I'm going to mention Ken again since your familiar with him. His "slack lime" is simply hydrated lime at three times the price. He sells that and then he tells you need his calcium buffer. All of this is true. It works great, jumps the hardness and more importantly the alkalintiy way up. Bad thing as Shan mentioned it is gone after a few good rains. I have seen many clients that have spend over $10,000 in only two year with this method to currently have a alkalinity of only 10 ppm.

Hydrated lime is Calcium hydroxide CaOH. AG lime is calcium carbonate. Hydrated lime is very basic (high pH) and if applied at more than 100 lbs/ac can lead to a fish kill. I use it when good old ag lime can not be applied to the pond. I used to apply with my old company three times a year at the lake between the Doubltree hotel (King and Queen) What a pain! I currently use it on three ponds we have great results with it when done properly, but if possible 4 tons/acre ag lime is the way to go. Hope this helped to clear this up.

Greg, I'm certainly no expert but when we fertilized and got pea green soup(still had 18" visibility)the fishing just stopped. Maybe it was my fishing ability. We were going to switch fertilizers because the floating tubs in our thinking would hopefully keep the clarity more level instead of us fertilizing once it got real clear in the spring and early fall. In other words we would stay fertilized better instead of up and down.

Give 'er a try. To properly fertilize the "old" way it takes several applications, but when done properly you should be able to keep the fertilizer between 18 and 24 inches fairly easily. It takes some time since every pond is diff. to figure out just how much fertilizer to use and how often to keep the desired levels without up and down swings in visibility. Let us know how the buckets work, but past time release fertilizers have had up and down results that you are trying to avoid. The cost is much higher as well, but look forward to the progress report. BTW I love fishing in water with a visiblity of 18-24 inches it makes for a better spinnerbait bite in my opinion.