Smartweed added to pond - 05/22/18 03:06 PM
I decided to take about 8 of the smartweed plants I posted about earlier and transfer them to our pond. I planted them very widely spaced around the shallow end of the pond. We have a little cove that the majority of the water flows into from the watershed. They are at the very end of this. I think it will create a great habitat for fingerlings and YOY fish. I should be able to control it fairly well on our pond. Right now all I have is a little primrose that never really does anything...and LOTS of FA. I'm also thinking the smartweed will help reduce my nutrient load. I'm going to document how long it takes the smartweed to grow/spread. This is water smartweed. I would have liked some penn smartweed from what I read, ducks like the seeds better. I enjoy the ducks in the fall, but we have only had them once. We had hay all around the edges of the pond...they loved it. Did not have that this year, so no ducks. Anyways, I'll be posting pics of the plants every day or so. If they grow like the FA, should not take them long. Its hard to see them in the second pic. They are there though. If you have seen any of my posts about my FA, you'll notice a reduction. I have not done anything except stock the tilapia. I do not know for sure, but its as if they have cut off the feed line to the floating stuff. There are clearing of spots on the bottom, but the biggest difference I can see, are the mats are shrinking, and I have not seen any new mats. We are also getting VERY dry right now...so I really expected an explosion of FA...but its been the opposite...(GO TEAM TILAPIA!!)