Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Grass / Moss in pond

My .20 acre pond has quite a bit of grass, and some mid level and some topwater moss. It is difficult to make a cast and retrieve without having to pick moss off. So, tonight I got in the water with a garden rake and worked a while getting out what I could. I made good progress, but still a ways to go. When raking the bottom, pretty much the whole bottom is covered with grass....This is what it looked like and what I'd remove from the rake with each swipe of the bottom.


and I assume the "moss" I'm referring to is the dead decaying grass rising to the top.


I think some if good, as it'd certainly provide some cover and shade for fish, but wondering if/what i need to do about the complete grass cover on the bottom?




Any thoughts or specifics regarding getting it under control would be appreciated. For what it's worth, I do have 3 grass carp in it, but I'd think it'd take an army to put a dent in it.

It's very hard to tell what plants you are dealing with from those photos. I'm not that good with pond plant identification, but better pictures will be needed for those in the know.

Be cautious as some plants when broken up by raking will reproduce from the floaty pieces and run you in circles.

Here are some decent pictures of some plants I found in my pond. If you can get some pictures in similar fashion...you'll get better identification/control responses...







This stuff was chara IIRC.

jpws, your top and middle photos look a bit like Sago pond weed to me. Wigeon grass looks very similar but like QA says maybe some more natural pics would be helpful.

Here are more images..the grass is about 2' tall growing across the entire bottom. i've gotten alot of it out, but what a pain.

Your pond is small enough that I would just rake it out by hand. It will probably take 15-20 hours of labor but it's the most surefire way to get rid of it.

Once you rake it out this year then it should be substantially easier to get rid of it when it comes back next spring/summer because it won't be so overgrown.

plant identification is important when it comes to removing and or chemical treatment or by adding grass carp. It took me some time to discover mine (which looks a lot like yours) was Southern Niad or it's other name Bushy Pondweed. Fragmentation can spread it. It is a preferred food for grass carp but it is also a good plant for improving your bg population by providing cover.

Thanks for the feedback. I've gotten about half of it out from being visible anyway, although the bottom is a solid mat of it where i've not raked. As long as i can cast and not have to remove it every cast i think it will be fine.

pretty sure what i have is Bushy Pondweed, now that i look at online images of it.

JPWS: Oddly enough, your photos lack enough detail to determine the plant's ID.
Although physical removal is possibly your best approach; considering the pond's size, I'm still interested in determining the plant's ID.
Is it possible to post a close-up/focused photo of only two 6" plant-strands laid across your palm? For positive ID-purposes, it is necessary to view the plant's leaves (if any) and their placement along the primary stems. Viewing a large "wad" of the plants makes it very difficult to see such details.

Kelly is right but I'm still going with Sago pondweed.. :-))