Pond Boss
Posted By: Zep Need help identifying this water plant - 06/25/19 10:22 PM
Can anyone identify what shoreline water plant this is?

https://i.vgy.me/pUYwSs.jpg

Thanks
Posted By: Shorty Re: Need help identifying this water plant - 06/25/19 10:36 PM
I'm thinking smartweed.

https://aquaplant.tamu.edu/plant-identification/alphabetical-index/smartweed/
Posted By: Zep Re: Need help identifying this water plant - 06/26/19 10:50 AM
Thanks Shorty!
I've got some version of that on my pond too. Doesn't seem to be too aggressive and stays pretty much along the shoreline and extends out over the shallow drops.
Posted By: Zep Re: Need help identifying this water plant - 06/26/19 12:43 PM
Mike....it's a relatively slow grower....nothing like FA....but I would guess I have 8-10 mounds of it around my pond....a few of the mounds are as large as a Volkswagen Beetle....so I could see it getting out of hand if it's not addressed.
Posted By: TGW1 Re: Need help identifying this water plant - 06/26/19 01:37 PM
Zep, yesterday I took the bass boat out on a local lake and was looking for a place to capture fresh water shrimp to stock in the pond. I tried a few places to run a fine screen dip net through different vegetation and found the smartweed was holding a lot of baby bg. I figure these bg were from the recent bg spawn in May because of their really small size. My point in all this was the smartweed was a great place for these really small bg to hide out and grow bigger. I would think this might be a plus if I had some in the pond but I think it would have to be controlled at some point.
I've found that if you target those sprouts that start to grow tall, you can just pull it out with no effort. I've also topped it off with my weedeater, making sure I'm slinging the majority of it out as I cut it off. Going clockwise around the pond seems to keep the offal to a minimum. So far it hasn't tried to grow more than a couple of feet off the bank.
Posted By: Zep Re: Need help identifying this water plant - 06/26/19 03:37 PM
Originally Posted By: TGW1
found the smartweed was holding a lot of baby bg. I would think this might be a plus if I had some in the pond but I think it would have to be controlled at some point.


So true Tracy. I bet the small fish love the stuff....I have seen snakes like it too. I wouldn't mind some of it for sure...just have to keep an eye on it.
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