Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Do Turtles Control Pond Weed?

Every year my pond starts the spring with pond weed creeping into the pond. I think great, my forage fish need that cover. Unfortunately by mid-summer my aquatic pond weed is all but gone.

I have a bumper crop of turtles(~3 different species). Could they eat all the vegitation in a 5 acre pond?

FWIW, I stock TP every year and I have a large grass carp.

Most turtles are omnivorous and will eat aquatic vegetation. I’m new to the pond world but not reptiles. I’m sure they will eat whatever weed you’re talking about. I don’t know how much though 🤷

You are 100% correct on the "how much" part.

Tbar: regarding the TGC. stock 7-14 per acre of vegetation. Make sure that they are bigger than a LMB can eat. I typically stock 12"-14" fish, nothing smaller. After about 8 years they really slow down in how many weeds they eat, so I tell customers to bow fish or snag (or somehow) catch them out of the pond and re-stock. Or take them out when E-shocking the pond. I removed two from a customers pond last year. One was about 50 pounds the other was 37-39 pounds.

Tbar says: "pond starts the spring with pond weed - by mid-summer my aquatic pond weed is all but gone."

Something is probably eating those weeds and it is not turtles OR

FYI -- some pond weeds (aquatic macrophytes) are cool season plants while others are warm season plants, and some can be full season varieties - very similar to terrestrial plants such as grasses. Thus, often the early spring blooming pond plants can and do naturally die back as the summer progresses as the warm season aquatic plants then do their thing in mid to late summer. This is why it is important to know the species growing in your pond and their life history. This not only applies to the plants in your pond but also the animals. Know the life history of the inhabitants growing on your property.

Also planktonic algae tend to be dormant during the cooler months, and once they bloom they will starve out most subsurface plants.

Do you also have crayfish?

I don't have them in my ponds, but I suspect their activity ramps up significantly as the water temperature warms.

I believe a large population of crayfish can cut and consume a fairly large crop of the plants they find tasty.

If there is an established population of crayfish in a pond, it is hard to get underwater weeds established. You can get what are considered to be "invasive" established, but natives? Not so much.

Back to this topic, here is an example of a pond weed that starts strong but disappears. Is this a cool-season plant or is it being eaten?

Water pennyworts do die back in winter, and come back in Spring. I kill all mine with extreme prejudice because they will spread.

Mine is disappearing in the summer.

To be honest, it's good that Water Pennywort isn't doing well. Many years ago, Bob Lusk and I talked over the Pennywort at my hatchery. He stated that if you have another type around it, leave it there or the Pennywort will grow tremendously and hard to manage. I left Water Primrose around it and it worked.

My guess is that something is eating it, and I have no clue what it would be.

If you want to treat it, then Texas A&M AgriLife Extension is the way to go.