Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment Aquatic plants for waterfowl

I have an 8 acre pond in sw KS. Any suggestions on aquatic plants to attract waterfowl? The pond is currently dry but it used to have sago pondweed (I think) which they seemed to enjoy. Any chance the pondweed will regrow after it being dry for several months? About 1/3 of the pond is only 3-5' deep.

Maybe, giant burreed and/or barnyard grass (the latter if the pond often dries down leaving mud flats).

Waterfowl is tricky for planting and then flooding. Double check the regulations on what you can and cannot do. I'ts different than food plots for deer. It's the Feds that you have to worry about.

While it's a little late this year to plant for this Fall's hunting, shorter strains of Milo, Wheat, and Oats would work. Oats would work if you were to plant it in the next week or so, it'll be 6" or more tall by duck season, and while it won't do much for the ducks, geese will like it.

My pond was down 6' last year and I had different species of pondweed come back this year, so I think you'll see Sago when the water levels come back up.

A lot depends on how much work you want to put into it and if you have the ability to manipulate water level. Many species of emergent plants provide food via there seeds and/or tubers. Arrow arum, pickerel weed, lotus, yellow lily, etc. Some submerged vegetation provides food via seeds, tubers and the plant itself being fed on. Eel grass and many of the native pond weeds. If you can plant food plots next to your pond, many agricultural crops are attractive many have already been mentioned. If you can plant an area and then flood it, with a foot or two of water, all the better! Native plant like smartweed are also very attractive to waterfowl. Depending on the species, encouraging invertebrates, like fingernail clams, scuds and grass shrimp will be very attractive to certain species particularly divers.

Thanks for the replies. I don't have the ability to manipulate the water levels. Wish I did. It's very difficult to hit a water well in this area so we're at the mercy of Mother Nature. It was even too dry for anything I planted in the empty pond basin to survive this summer. I was going to concentrate on some of the submerged plants if the pond ever refills. Will eelgrass survive in sw Kansas?

As long as the pond doesn't dry up, or get low enough so that it all freezes, it will. It may come back if it freezes, but I don't have any direct experience with that. Eelgrass survives up here just fine, and even in water that just about freezes to the bottom (shallower areas of the BOW).

Rice? I'll bet rice would be wonderful.There are varieties that would work there, actually I think Bill Cody has written about rice elsewhere.