Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Alfalfa

What does alfalfa do to/for a pond? A fishing guide told my dad to sink 5 bales into our 20-acre pond north of Canton, TX.

Is your water infertile ?
Do you have a FA (algae) problem ?
Do you have a turbidity (muddy water) problem ?

If the answer to each of these questions is no then I can't think of any reason to add straw (barley , alfalfa , rye etc) to the pond. I am not saying adding straw will cure those items but those are the general reason given by some to add straw.

Thanks for responding.

I don't know what infertile water is.
No algae problem.
No muddy water problem.

I believe the guy pitched it as a source of food for baitfish. He said to put them in shallow water and weight them down.

Infertile water has low plankton amounts. It does not have a green tint in summer. As such it does not produce many fish because plankton is the base of the food chain. It can usually be fixed by adding lime and fertilizer. Sometimes people recommend adding cotton seed meal or various hays to fertilize the water.

If you dont think you need it and you add it anyway,is that a good or bad thing?

It depends !! Decaying plant material uses up the DO in the pond. Living plants can add DO to the pond. Decaying plant material can add needed nutrients to an infertile pond or can over fertilize it if the nutrients are not needed.

Tell us about your pond - age - fish - water color - depth you can see into the water (now and summer), plants , feeding , fertilizing - anything else you think matters.

Right now its probably1/2 an acre but the first good runoff will fill it back to an acre whicch is full pool.Its about 5 yrs old,dug it in a creekbed,and has lots of oak and pecan trees around it.Probably 4 to 12 feet deep,down6-7 ft from pool.Have 2 bottom areaters each with 2 9" defussers,one at each end of pond.It has LMB,CC,BG,RES,Crappie,(my mistake they were an accident Im triing to eradicate,YP,HBG,FHM and gambusia.And yes,Im well overstocked as everything has been spawning.I feed in summer and see lots of activty.CC and sunfish hitting the floating food,bigger fish attacking smaller fish feeding on the fishfood.Water claity maybe 6-8in.water med to dark brown which I think is because of the leaves.Last year I had Duckweed for the first time but got it under control with a roperake(that was a really cool idea by the way).I try not to use any chemicals at all on my property with the exception of killing meskite trees.If your from Texas that needs no explanation.Enough info?What do you think?Ive never seen a plankton bloom that has turned my water green either.

Tom I think you should get your water and dirt tested.

Here is the link - not expensive. http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/

With that description I would hold off adding any plant material - lots of fish and added nutrients (fish and food) - low water - DW confirms high nutrients as does low visibility ( ? lack of plankton).

OK Wasnt going out to put in today.I think your right and Ive been thinking about doing that anyway.Maybe Ill have to miss work and make some calls today and get the ball rolling.Thanks for the advice