Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants FA from top to bottom

And I do have a pair of geese that frequent my pond daily. I just bought a pellet gun and hope that will deter them after getting hit a few times. I scare them off now but they come back a little bit later. So what is the best way to control the nutrient levels? I just started reading threads on all of this. Before I was worried about getting it stocked and a beach and just thinking about how fun it will be. Now reality sets in and I’m realizing there is a lot more to it than just enjoying a beautiful pond! I couldn’t believe that algae was all there at ice off. I could see it all forming below the ice once it started to melt a little.

Contact algaecide (like Cutrine Plus) is not effective until water temps are 60 deg F. It will kill green mats of algae, and they will sink and disappear, making the pond look better, at least for a while. As mentioned, the nutrients may remain.

My pond ice off was just last week. It has no new algae right now. I raked a ton last fall. Right now, I am removing some leftover dead algae, along with dead perennial rice cutgrass and bur marigold from the shoreline.

I measured phosphorous (orthophosphates) in October and the reading was elevated at 0.06 mg/l. I purchased 3.5 gallons of MetaFloc (not cheap) and plan to apply it in the next week or so on a calm day. I'll get another phosphorous measurement a few weeks after that.

https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=570968#Post570968

Sorry to hear about your algae. It is disheartening to see that growing under the ice.

Try a strong green laser pointer on the geese to scare them away.

Best way to control nutrient levels? Yeah, everybody says it is important, but few specifics are ever given. My plan this year is to remove dead plant matter, shoo away geese, and apply a phosphorous binder. I am also using pond dye.

Totally agree on the reality. I have spent a tremendous amount of time raking, applying chemicals ($$$) and killing muskrats in just 2 years since building this pond.

Have you tried tilapia knobber? I’d like to find some but not sure how easy it would be to find in MI. I remember someone had said the brought to clients in MI(ewest maybe?). A lot of mine is in the middle of the pond not just on the edges

Have a 1 acre pond in NE Oklahoma that was built in 2001 and have not had any major issues with FA until this Spring. None of the other ponds around me are showing any FA, including a 1/3 acre pond about 100 yards above my 1 acre pond. Been reading through the previous postings regarding FA and apparently, physical removal is the best option, despite the hard work involved. Is this something that will be required all summer and in the coming years as well or will the physical removal eventually reduce it to the point of it not being such a nuisance. My pond is currently about half covered with the floating form(scum) of the FA. Maximum depth of the pond is 10' and water clarity is currently at least 3' or so....

I have not tried tilapia. I will see how my other remediation measures work this year. I read somewhere that the appropriate rate is 20 lb per acre. However, how many fish is this and how big are they? Regardless, my YP and SMB are not big enough yet to eat them as forage, if ever. I believe that tilapia are hard to catch with hook and line, correct? So, that's just dead fish adding to the pond nutrients/detritus when they die off in fall.

Your nutrient load changed.

Update to my thread.

The good news:

Phosphorous binder treatment may have worked, and there is very little new filamentous algae growing. There are clumps of old algae that wash up that I continue to rake out.

https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=574013#Post574013

The bad news:

Now there is curly leaf pondweed explosion! Not sure if it is too late to apply Fluridone? Maybe I will try spot treatments with Aquathol K and then revisit Fluridone in the fall if there is still a problem.

Congrats on beating back your FA. Thanks for posting your report on phosphorus binder treatments. That sounds to me like a very promising tool for pond management. I suspect that as we use it more, we will better define the most advantageous treatment protocols.


There was an old lady who swallowed a fly ...

If you don't have flowing water into/out of the pond it's not too late to use Fluridone. A 10 ppb dose will do it.

Does a 12" horizontal overflow pipe count as an outflow? A little water is trickling out from yesterday's rain, but otherwise, the pond is at stable level. I can plug up the pipe with something for 30 days while treating with Fluridone.

Perfect!!! Plug the outlet side, not the inlet side of the overflow pipe.

How long does it take for flouridone to work its magic on CPW?

Another quick kill option for curly leaf pondweed (CLP) is to use a brand of Diquat 37%. READ and understand the instructions. I regularly use it in my pond and it works good when applied timely and appropriately. If you do it correctly you should see die back results in several to 10 days.

Note - if there is a huge biomass of CLP that you are quickly killing, there could be a significant DO sag and maybe a fish kill? Be watchful.

If treating the whole pond use bottom aeration to help mix the diquat throughout the pond.

Herbicides work best for CLP before it has reached the surface, formed flower buds, and not yet formed turions in the axils of the leaf. You being in MI,,,, turions should not have formed as of May 03. Turions are dormant buds that develop in leaf axils (the "joint " or space where the leaf stem and the stalk of the plant come together), or are present at the tip of short branches. They are made up of several overlapping modified leaves resembling small greenish-brown pinecones, and are produced in great numbers by the start of summer.

Turions that have formed before killing the CLP will sprout this Fall and the next spring for producing CLP in future years requiring more annual treatments. IMO you will likely have to do some form or retreatments in the upcoming years. I do some spot treatments for CLP using diquat sprayed using a long wand into the clumps of CLP. CLP is a definite early season pest.

IMO do not use the 'weedtrine' that is a diluted form of diquat and requiring more jugs to deal with.