Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Identifying plants What have I got here?

Just picked up some property with the pond as shown. Could use some help with ID so I can properly get rid of it. Located in northern Midwest.

Thanks ahead of time.

I have a bunch more pictures if necessary.

First glance, it appears to be FA (filamentous algae). If you can drag some out and lay it out on a white background, and take a few close ups, the pros can give you positive ID. Providing some scale is helpful (a coin or even a small ruler)

it appears some FA is present...

but it looks like there is both FA & aquatic vegetation floating and/or under the surface.

Look at the bottom of this page and see if you can match it up:

http://www.thepondguy.com/category/weed-control-guide

From personal experience I can confirm that this is chara.

Grab a handful of the underwater stuff, crush it, and smell it. Does it smell skunky? Chara.

There was definitely a unpleasant smell around the pond in general. I'm thinking it does indeed looks like Chara.

Might just be time to get out the rake I guess since it's already so grown up.

That looks to be Chara

I agree its FA and Chara. But what you have is a high nutrient level which is feeding it. Can you drain it down and dry it out? If so I would do that, then dig out the sediment in the pond. The pond will be deeper and sustain less plant growth. Aeration will help clean the water but not reduce the plant growth. If you can't dig out the pond you can chemically treat the pond weeds. study what to use on this site. Then use a pond dye to limit the light getting to the bottom. However If there is a constant flow of water through the pond the dye will just wash out so you can't do that.

Welcome Walleyeax,

At first glance it does look like there are 2 types of Algae there maybe?? The under water stuff looks a LOT like Chara I had this myself when I first bought my property. Almost looks like a big green carpet under the water it gets so thick. It will sometimes come to the surface if water in pond get low enough.

At this point it is grown so like your said killing it off may not be so easy at this point. Raking some of it out if you want can be done but it is a chore. What's amazing is how heavy it is when it's wet and then when its dry it's like tumble weed.

Here is the deal though. You can rake all you want it wont help for the next spring. It will still come back. So if you don't really need the pond for anything right now I would let the chara go for this year. Come up with a plan for spring on how to somewhat control it.

Aquashade works good for me to help slow it down.

Cutrine Plus granules work real good on it if you use it at the right time in late spring. If you can use a chemical that is.

Not sure how big that pond is but if you can use them Grass Carp will eat it as well. I have 5 in my pond and they slowly put in a dent in it along with my treating it once in a while they keep up.

Lots to read out here on the subject take time to read, read, read!

Depending on size of pond and if you can have them / get them I would put a few grass carp in there. I would say about 8 grass carp per acre on the low side. So if your pond is a half acre put in 4. You wont see a benefit to it this year but next year you should as they eat the new growth coming up.

Like I said lots of options so read first ask first do later!! lol

RC