pond weed control Archives

Avoiding Noxious Algae: What to do when blue-green algae shows up in your lake or pond

August 23, 2021

A study of Water Quality – By Matt Ward

Cyanobacteria or blue-green algae is a large group of photosynthesizing organisms that are more closely related to bacteria than to green algae or pond weeds. These organisms disrupt water quality by producing harmful toxins.

Technically this means that they are in a category of their own and have attributes that make them and their management unique.

This article will discuss cyanobacteria and their management, touching on major concerns and primary management techniques.

Blue-Green Algae Concerns

After the death of some dogs that drank water tainted with blue-green algae in Texas lakes in 2019, blue-green hysteria seemed to strike the country.

Concerned dog-owners quit allowing their dogs to enter our public waterways or drink from untreated surface water. The truth is that all surface waters contain some amount of blue-green algae and many of these algae are able to produce toxins that can be harmful or even fatal to living organisms that absorb those toxins.

Most intake is through drinking though theoretically enough toxin could be absorbed through the skin to cause harm. In short any water body could have blue-green algae toxin in them and cause harm to animals that use those waters.

That being said, problems are most common when blue-green algae growth is dense. This growth can produce turquoise or emerald green film or sludge, dark green matted algae, particulate plankton aggregates, or many other forms of singular or collective cellular growth.

This growth is typically accompanied by strong smells and is almost universally judged as unsightly. Dense cyanobacteria growth always has the potential to suddenly release cyanotoxins which in turn can produce acute and chronic health consequences for other living organisms including fish and mammals.

Ultimately if your water body has dense cyanobacteria growth, fish and mammals that utilize that water are potentially at risk. If you don’t have that dense obvious growth the risk is greater than zero, but certainly reduced.

Particularities of Blue-Green Algae

Blue-green algae has a handful of attributes that lake managers need to understand to better manage its growth.

First, blue-green algae loves phosphorus. In scientific terms, low N/P (nitrogen to phosphorus) ratios favor blue-green algae over vegetative and green algae growth. Practically speaking this means that when fertilizers containing phosphorus are applied to a watershed, or manure builds up in the same, phosphorus levels will peak along with blue-green algae growth.

Second, even in the absence of excess phosphorus, blue-green algae have adapted to their environment by developing a phosphorus-mining technique. To do this, filamentous blue-green algae will smother the substrate, causing the pH to drop along this interface which in turn releases phosphorus from the sediment where it is commonly found.

Regardless of how the phosphorus ends up in the water column, blue-green algae soaks it up and grows extremely rapidly in the absence of competition. This means that ponds that have a lack of beneficial growth will tend to grow more cyanobacteria than those that do.

Finally, blue-green algae grows perfectly well in extremely hot water and while other plants slow their growth in the middle of the summer. This leads blue-green algaes to experience peak growth in mid-summer.

Management Objectives

The first step in managing blue-green algae is to kill excessive growth when it shows up.

Treatments can be done with various copper formulations but may also be done with various peroxide based chemistries. Growth forms will dictate which product and what formulation is best but know that granular and liquid products are needed in different situations.

It is also important to note that sometimes when algae is treated it can actually release toxins into the water column as it dies. This is where peroxide-based chemistry is particularly useful as peroxides are able to actually neutralize some of the algal toxins.

Proactively speaking there are two main approaches to managing blue-green algae growth.

First, N/P ratios can be manipulated and, second, total phosphorus can be reduced.

Many articles have been written about manipulating the N/P ratios in a given fishery. But in our experience it is seldom that adding some nitrogen to a waterbody suddenly shifts blue-green algae growth to green algae or vascular vegetation. More commonly, reducing phosphorus is key to pushing the N/P ratio in a positive direction and reducing the amount of blue-green algae growth a lake experiences.

There are three methods for accomplishing this:

Take steps to limit phosphorus inputs by reducing livestock densities and reducing fertilizer applications in watersheds.
Remove phosphorous that does end up in a lake through mineral sequestration via applications of aluminum sulfate or lanthanum bentonite or through uptake by beneficial aquatic vegetation.
Limit phosphorus levels by aerating a lake to prevent anaerobic conditions on the sediment interface.

Vigilant Algae Control

Keep an eye out for blue-green algae and if you have it take steps to reduce the growth. Treat excessive growth, limit phosphorus inputs, and when growth is dense keep your livestock off the pond or lake. Management of blue-green algae growth is a key to pond management success and maintaining a healthy water body.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

Serving Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management proudly puts more than two decades of experience to work for you. Our team includes biologists, technicians and other professionals with deep expertise in pond and lake management services.

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, to buy fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Matt Ward is a Fishery Biologist for Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management. He has a Master of Science in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University and has worked in fisheries management in Texas for 15 years. He brings a passion for good science and an interdisciplinary approach to the natural sciences to help property managers steward their aquatic resources and achieve management objectives.

Leave it to Beaver? Not when it comes to your lake

May 26, 2021

By Matt Ward

As lake managers we get any number of calls from clients about somewhat offbeat subjects. One of those call subjects is beavers and what to do about them.

The largest rodent in North America, the American beaver is a common resident of ponds and lakes across the state. Most of the time they tend to go undetected until a favorite tree gets felled or someone steps through a collapsed den access tunnel.

In less common circumstances, the client’s call might come after a beaver dam has failed and caused major damage to a lake. We have seen enough of those to say that paying attention to beavers is a worthwhile lake management activity. Here is a brief discussion of the things you should consider when it comes to beavers.

Basic Beaver Biology

Since the fur trade knocked beaver numbers back in the 80s, beavers have come roaring back and are found on all kinds of lakes and ponds across the state.

Beavers sometimes build showy lodges that you can see from a half mile away. But other times they will simply build dens into available dirt embankments with little sign other than submersed tunnel access.

Beaver dens are hollowed out areas (whether in a lodge or dirt embankment) that are above the water line with an access tunnel that is below the waterline. This design protects beavers from predation allowing them to rest and raise pups in peace.

Beavers are vegetarian, focusing their forage efforts on the living tissues of trees. Most of their food comes from the living tissue from felled trees though they will occasionally consume roots and other plant material.

A sure sign of an active beaver are freshly chewed branches from which all the living tissue has been removed. The leftover wood is often incorporated into lodges or dams to improve those structures.

Beavers use dams to impound water for safety. Ponds and lakes are easy places for beavers to avoid predators and beavers have a natural propensity to plug flowing waters with earthen dams that are reinforced with felled wood.

Beavers can be active at any time of day, but often seem to be most active at night. They will fell a wide variety of sizes and species of trees. These trees are generally felled near water though we have seen cases of beavers attacking large trees hundreds of yards from the nearest water.

You might notice this post doesn’t include pictures of actual beavers. The one at the top is actually a public pic from a free photo web site, not one of our work sites. That is the norm. Beavers are generally secretive and not easy to spot. So look for their sign and don’t wait to see the critter in person. Detecting problems early is always the best policy.

Now that we have the basics on beaver biology, let’s look at the main management concerns for lake owners.

Fish Worries?

This one is easy. Beavers don’t eat fish so you don’t have worry about losing fish directly to beaver consumption. If you have lost fish recently you are probably dealing with otters. Otters might live in an old beaver lodge but no need to blame the beavers if the squatters are the problem.

Dam Damage

A stopped-up drainpipe or a sudden failure of a beaver dam on a spillway can cause incredible structural damage to a well-designed lake. This kind of damage is very expensive to address and should be avoided through careful and regular inspection of lake overflow structures.

A beaver’s need to dam flowing water is instinctual. Beavers hear flowing water and naturally want to stop it up. So they shove sticks and mud into overflow pipes and build dams across spillways. Lake managers need to inspect their overflow structures and make sure that beavers don’t plug them up.

Targeting Trees

Beavers generally chew down small trees but we have certainly seen them go after trees of up to 30” in diameter.

Often times they select our favorite trees and really damage the aesthetics of a well landscaped pond.

Many times the first sign of a beaver will be a freshly chewed tree. Check the trees that grow along the shoreline and note any fresh chew marks. Beavers typically will spend multiple nights chewing down large trees though we have seen them take down dozens in a single night.

Be sure to protect any prized trees near your pond with a wrapping of hardware cloth. Encircle the entire tree and adjust the covering from time to time to ensure that you don’t constrict the tree and that the wire doesn’t come loose. Use regular tree inspections as a simple tool to look for any new infestations of beavers.

Lodging and Tunnels

Lodging and tunnels are an excellent way to find a beaver infestation.

These tunnels create a collapse hazard for people that walk over them but also contribute to erosion in steep banks. If you don’t see a defined lodge look for piles of sticks or tunnels into earthen embankments. Note that tunnels are often concealed under overhanging branches or a dock so you might need to pay attention to access channels that appear as cleared channels through weed beds to locate an obscured den.

In short, keep an eye out for beavers to avoid the expensive headaches they can produce. If you detect them get a professional opinion about the threat they pose to your lake or pond. Beavers can be fun to watch but can also be a drain on the pocketbook. Trapping services are not inexpensive but are certainly more cost effective than repairing structural damage to a dam.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

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Maximize your fishery’s health by working with water

May 13, 2021

By Matt Ward

Water health needs to be managed just like fish and plant life health. In the first of these posts about water quality, I discussed the issues of water turbidity and nutrient control, both critical issues for a healthy fishery.

This week we’ll take a look at water alkalinity and hardness, two more pond water testing factors to be aware of as you look to maximize the health of your lake or pond.

Alkalinity

All lakes and ponds experience daily fluctuations in pH and this fluctuation can put stress on fisheries which in certain cases can lead to lower productivity or even minor kills.

Alkalinity is a measure of your waterbody’s ability to buffer (read “stabilize) natural daily pH swings and will certainly contribute to primary productivity (which ultimately results in gamefish biomass). Alkalinity is generally raised by adding agricultural lime to a pond or lake.

In general, alkalinity should be maintained above 25 mg/mL but would best be maintained in the ideal range of 50-200 mg/mL.

That being said, some lake’s watersheds are so large or lake subsoils so acidic that it is impractical to adjust alkalinity. In these cases costs and benefits will need to be weighed and other sources of productivity (like pelleted fish food) will need to be considered to promote good productivity in a fishery.

Also, lower water quality in the form of lower alkalinity can be better tolerated by certain fish species. Know your water’s alkalinity, adjust it if you can, and then work as best as you can with what you have.

Interestingly, I have noticed that alkalinity seems to be less and less of an issue as more and more ag lime has been applied to pastures especially across the eastern half of the state. This agriculture effort has certainly improved water quality in a large number of private fisheries.

Hardness

Hardness can be simplified to approximate the calcium content of a given water body. Fishery management is best served by adjusting hardness to promote good fish growth. Calcium is important for the development of bone and shell in living organisms and minimum levels are needed to promote their formation. Ideal hardness would be in the 50-200 mg/mL but again, the practicality of adjusting hardness should be weighed against the cost to do so.

To raise hardness you can add gypsum or agricultural lime to a given lake. In lakes with adequate or even high alkalinity, but low net hardness, hardness can be raised without affecting alkalinity by adding gypsum. If hardness and alkalinity are both low, just add ag lime. In lakes where water quality amendments are impractical, consider that fish can obtain calcium from their food.

A Note on Vegetation and Algae

Interestingly, hardness and alkalinity also affect vegetation and algae growth in significant ways.

Though most fishery managers think of water quality management as a tool to boost fish production, water quality parameters sometimes need to be manipulated to promote shifts in aquatic plant and algae communities to better support existing fisheries.

Minding water quality

Water quality involves a variety of factors that must be considered in fishery management and lake and pond management. We haven’t covered all the different things that you might need to consider but hopefully this discussion has given you some food for thought. When fisheries don’t perform the way we expect them to, consider pond water testing and get some professional advice. Your fish will thank you.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

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Liquid assets: managing water quality for healthier fish

May 6, 2021

By Matt Ward

In the interest of full disclosure it should be noted that my academic background is in biochemistry so I get pretty excited about water quality issues. That being said, this stuff really is important even if the details can’t quite inspire excitement like trophy largemouth.

Water quality issues across the nation go largely ignored as lake managers continue to reactively treat the symptoms of poor water quality.

Time after time, pond weeds and algae growth run rampant while water quality issues that drive this growth are not addressed. Fish kills occur and aeration systems are installed all while water quality issues that should be addressed go ignored.

Sometimes a little water quality work is all it takes to transform a water body and generate a healthy fishery with lower net annual input requirements. In other cases, fundamental water quality issues need to be addressed for fishery management techniques to even stand a chance. Let’s take a look at the four most important pond water testing parameters and how they can be adjusted to create a healthy fishery.

Turbidity

Turbidity represents the ability of a water body to absorb light that penetrates the surface. Turbidity is measured by peering into a pond or lake and determining the depth at which a highly contrasting object (professionally we use a secchi disk) disappears from view.

This depth is reported as the lake or pond’s visibility or turbidity. Turbidity is generally caused by one of two factors (though turbidity can certainly be altered with commercially available dyes): plankton or suspended solids (especially clays).

Turbidity from plankton represents primary productivity in an aquatic system and is generally desirable in most cases.

A highly productive pond or lake should have 18-24 inches of visibility. This level of turbidity will support high levels of fish production while avoiding increased risk of a plankton bloom crash which could easily lead to a fish kill. If a given lake has substantially less than 18 inches of visibility steps should be taken to reduce plankton production to protect the fishery.

Turbidity caused by suspended solids like clay particles are another story. Muddy water shades out the bottom sediments and supports low levels of primary productivity. A pond with turbidity from suspended solids will not support as great of a fish population as a similar pond with lower turbidity. This pond should generally be cleared.

To settle out turbid water, a clearing test should be run to determine how your water can be cleared. Most muddy water can be cleared with a flocculent like aluminum sulfate, but some waters are simply muddy from getting stirred up by cattle or even an overabundance of bottom fish like catfish or carp. In some cases a pond will need to be killed out in order to reset the fish populations and enable better water clarity to prevail, other times agricultural practices may need to be modified a bit to decrease turbidity.

Nutrients

The next water quality factor we’ll consider are nutrients. Ponds and lakes are nutrient sinks. All the basic nutrients in the landscape run down hill with the rainwater and end up in the pond.

In some cases, nutrient levels are low and a fishery’s productivity will need to be improved through fertilization. But in many other cases too much inflow means that pond managers must deal with endless cycles of growth of vegetation, algae, or phytoplankton.

In extreme cases, excess nutrients can lead to regular fish kills as excessive growth can easily absorb too much oxygen during the night or during cloudy weather. Excess growth can be temporarily reduced by targeted treatments, but ultimately growth should be curtailed by nutrient management.

The first step in managing nutrients is to understand where the bulk of a pond or lake’s excess nutrients are coming from. The most likely sources are applied fertilizers (both inorganic and organic), high nutrient well water, and direct animal waste.

Mitigation is both direct and indirect. Direct management might include applying fertilizers farther back from the pond, leaving a band of unfertilized shoreline around the pond or lake. It might call for reducing the fertilizer application rate or reducing the amount of well water inputs you use or even drilling another well to tap into a different aquifer. Other direct management techniques could involve herd control such as reducing herds or fencing them off of the pond or lake.

Indirect management, on the other hand, seeks to absorb the nutrients that are coming into the water body. This type of management might include establishing a buffer of marginal vegetation or other beneficial aquatic plants to soak up available nutrients. Another technique is to stocking forage that takes better advantage of phytoplankton helping to convert plankton bloom into fish biomass.

Another indirect technique is to apply inorganic minerals that deactivate nutrients like phosphorous, or using activated charcoal to directly absorb dissolved nutrients.

Some pond managers prefer to use aeration and micronutrients to create a better environment for beneficial bacteria that can also be used to process excess nutrients.

Nutrient management isn’t rocket science but best management practices will normally require a little professional direction. It’s important to prioritize the right management tools in your specific situation to best impact nutrient loading.

We’ll continue exploring water quality and pond water testing as part of comprehensive lake and pond management in next week’s posting, focusing on alkalinity and water hardness.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

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Time to treat: consider your treatment options for control of pond weeds

April 6, 2021

By Matt Ward

At some point in the life of any body of water, pond weeds or algae growth is going to have to be controlled. In last week’s blog posting, we mentioned that most of the time this is going to involve herbicides and algaecides.

Think of these chemistries like scientifically tried and true pharmaceuticals for addressing pond weeds or algae growth. Treatments can be short term or provide extended control. Treatments can target all of one species of plant or target a broad spectrum of growth. Treatments can be in a particular area of a pond or occur across an entire water body.

All herbicides and algaecides serve particular purposes in particular situations. Just like any designed chemistry, these products are designed to be safe to use in the manner directed on the label.

Determine your target growth, select the appropriate chemistry, and learn the appropriate application method for that chemistry. In short use these products only as appropriate and only as stated on the product label.

Always remember that proactive control of pond weeds is essential to a healthy fishery. You should plan your vegetation treatment as part of the big picture as you consider your pond stocking plan and other pond management.

We obviously can’t go into detail on how to treat every kind of pond weed or algae you might encounter, but let’s go over a few basic uses of aquatic herbicides or algaecides ….

Marginal Growth

Sometimes pond weeds grow around the edge of a pond and create a significant barrier to access.

These pond weeds may need to be treated in their entirety or lanes cut into the growth to allow point access to a water body. This kind of growth can be treated with some full lake in water treatments but will generally best be addressed with foliar treatments with either systemic or contact herbicides.

Contact foliar herbicides usually only take a few days to work and rapidly turn growth brown beginning decomposition of plant material immediately.

Contact herbicides work quickly but often leave basal or root material viable. This live tissue often regenerates, rapidly regrowing a treated plant.

This means that contact herbicides are best used when plants are dormant or when rapid results are required.

In most cases, foliar systemic treatments will be used in lieu of contact herbicides. These chemistries tend to be slow acting taking many days to several weeks to kill the target pond weeds. These chemicals enter the plants through the leaves and then move through the plant to the roots killing the plant all the way down.

Systemic herbicides usually provide the best control but must be applied to actively growing plants.

In some situations a combination of contact and systemic herbicide is used to provide quick knockdown and extended control. Do note that seeds will generally escape various treatments eventually resprouting in the cleared area. Depending on the plant this can occur in a few weeks or up to several years after treatment.

Submersed Growth

Most of the growth that lake managers struggle with is submersed pond weeds.

Whether algal or vegetative, submersed growth fills a lake’s water column, clogging up a waterway and causing the oxygen and habitat issues we have previously discussed.

Depending on your goals, treatments should be conducted whenever vegetation growth hits about 20% coverage. Treating proactively when growth is at lower levels reduces risk to the fishery and preserves good habitat.

With experience, a good fishery manager will know what the most problematic vegetation is and which treatments to prioritize.

Often certain pond weeds can be left alone because they have less aggressive growth habits or because they are easier for fishermen to fish.

Other pond weeds are prone to top out in deep water or grow very quickly.

These latter are always prioritized for treatment.

A plethora of chemistries is available for treating submersed plants and care should be taken when selecting the preferred product or application method.

Matted growth in deep water often responds well to the use of droppers to place the product directly on the growth. In other cases, granular products can be used to great effect. When you are dealing with topped out vegetation, sprays are usually employed for best effect. That being said, care should be taken to get the applied product down into the mat and not just misted out over the surface.

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind about submersed vegetation is the extreme amount of vegetation you will have per surface acre of water.

Many types of pond weeds can produce many tons of vegetative material per acre. This means that when you treat vegetation there is a lot of material that needs to break down.

The breakdown happens by decomposition, which is an oxygen-intensive process. It is easy to kill too much vegetation at a time and this can cause an oxygen depletion event which can easily lead to a partial or catastrophic fish kill. This risk is multiplied in the heat of summer when water’s oxygen carrying capacity is already strained.

Floating Vegetation

The last category of pond weeds is floating vegetation. This can range from duckweed to water hyacinth or the infamous giant Salvinia.

Some of these plants are native and many are exotic invasives.

Know that floating vegetation makes a barrier between your water and the air and as such can prevent oxygen exchange. A solid covering of floating vegetation can cause an oxygen depletion event which leads to a fish kill. Treatments are certainly species specific, but include systemic whole waterbody in-water treatments, contact foliar herbicides, contact herbicides, and foliar systemic treatments.

It’s important to target all of the growth as most of these pond weeds reproduce quite quickly. Look for brushy banks where floating plants can hide out. Selecting the right product to use is integral but correct application methodology is equally important to ensure you get the growth as thoroughly as you can.

When treating floating vegetation always take a look up the watershed from your pond or lake. Is there another water body that flows into yours? If so, try to find out if the floating vegetation comes from there.

Oftentimes a well-designed treatment is undone after a heavy rain brings a fresh batch of floating plants down from another water body. This is the time to get to know your neighbors and try to design a watershed wide management plan when possible. If you can’t address water bodies upstream it is occasionally appropriate to erect a floating barrier to prevent plants from washing into the main body.

Manage Pond Weeds for a Thriving Fishery

Know your plants, learn the correct product to address the growth, and learn the correct application technique or hire someone who does.

Correctly controlling pond weeds is key to fishery management, the first part of our fishery threesome (Habitat, Fish, and People). Correctly managed vegetation helps your fishery thrive, improves fish fecundity, improves water quality, provides aesthetic benefit, and allows access for fishing and other water activities.

Take a look at your lake and take care of the growth now, so as to avoid considering heavy treatments in the heat of summer.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

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Pruning around the pond: vegetation control is important for lake maintenance

March 30, 2021

By Matt Ward

There are many aspects to aquatic vegetation and we’ll explore several of them over time with this blog, but here we want to focus on management and control of pond weeds.

With everyone receiving their spring pond stocking, it is important to not neglect the vegetation, which may prevent pond managers from getting the most out of their stockings in the year to come.

Certainly, not all vegetation is a detriment to a healthy fishery and moderate amounts of growth are to be encouraged in some situations. Desirable growth will not detract from your lake’s aesthetics, and will also absorb excess nutrients, reduce erosion, and allow you to effectively fish the lake.

Vegetation in the right amounts can also give small fish a place to grow up and avoid over-predation, and even provide bass with quality ambush points for efficient feeding.

The rest of the time, some form of vegetation management will be in order to maintain the fishery and the overall function of the lake. It’s a good idea to make vegetation management part of your overall pond management and maintenance activities.

Why Manage Vegetation Growth?

Of course there are always functional and aesthetic reasons to control vegetation growth on ponds and lakes. Many good resources are online to help you identify vegetation and learn how to control it, such as Texas A&M’s AgriLife Extension AquaPlant site.

But in a broader sense, control of pond weeds boils down to extending the life of a pond or lake by slowing the aging process (the technical term is eutrophication).

In short, lakes fill up over time with plants and sediment, so controlling vegetation means slowing the fill-in process. This is a long-term benefit of vegetation control but there are many more immediate benefits to good vegetation management.

Dense vegetation growth will actually allow your baitfish to escape predation and make your bass go hungry. A fresh pond stocking of bluegill could very well hide in dense vegetation, preventing your bass from benefiting from the effort.

Healthy bass fisheries usually only have 10% to 15% vegetation coverage. Vegetation should be controlled when coverage hits or exceeds 20% coverage. The right amount of vegetation is especially helpful to fishermen as it will help them easily identify the “fishy” areas of the lake since vegetation provides a simple visual cue for fishermen to target.

Too much vegetation can put too much demand on your dissolved oxygen levels, especially during warm weather or in the presence of a healthy fish population.

Certainly, plants produce oxygen during sunny weather and during the day, but at night and in cloudy weather, plants use oxygen just like all other living organisms. If dissolved oxygen levels fall too far, a fish kill could result.

This kind of kill is especially likely when dealing with floating plants like hyacinth or duckweed, which can literally smother a pond. Interestingly, studies done on dense stands of vegetation have found oxygen levels to be near zero in the heart of the vegetative stand – meaning there can actually be too dense of growth to allow fish to live inside that stand even when the lake in general is perfectly habitable to fish.

Apart from biological reasons to control pond weeds, excess growth can block recreational access, preventing fishermen from having clear casting lanes from the shore or from accessing various portions of a waterbody by boat.

Vegetation can also prevent effective fishing when fishermen spend more time cleaning pond weeds from their lures than actually fishing. This is, of course, particularly frustrating to young anglers.

Begin with the Outcome in Mind

Most discussions on vegetation devolve into management methodology, but never forget that determining the desired outcome is certainly the first step in determining the best strategy to manage your vegetation.

In fishery management we are always encouraged to pursue integrated pest management strategies for best results. Once growth of pond weeds has reached the management threshold (growth exceeds desired level), we want to generally consider three options for management: mechanical, biological, chemical.

Mechanical

If the amount of vegetation that is growing is light or you need to quickly remove growth from a particular area, mechanical control may be the best management option.

Most of the time this would involve raking up vegetation around a dock, removing a few plants that grow up in the wrong location around a lake, or perhaps clearing pond weeds from around a water intake.

In some situations, mechanical harvesters could be employed to remove larger stands of vegetation to open up water and remove some biomass. In general, mechanical removal is labor intensive and results are short lived.

Biological

Next, biological control should be considered.

Triploid grass carp have particular vegetation preferences that should be considered, but in general, these sterile vegetation-eating fish can provide general and non-specific control of vegetation growth.

When stocked at the right level, some vegetation can persist while the bulk of the vegetation stand is reduced. In general, grass carp will take a couple of years to reach their management potential and then may persist in a given water body for up to around 15 years.

It should be known that in certain situations, grass carp will exceed their management objective and need to be removed after introduction in some waters. Excess grass carp prevent all forms of vegetation growth and may muddy the water.

Note that triploid grass carp stocking requires permitting in the state of Texas and must be planned for in advance.

Tilapia offer a second form of biological control. Tilapia are omnivores and do eat plants, but tilapia really shine in their ability to control algae growth.

Each water body is different, but at high densities, algae control has been consistently achieved in a variety of water bodies. Be sure to follow state rules on stocking tilapia, but at the moment no stocking permit is required in Texas.

Do note that tilapia will compete with sunfish to a degree and ultimately reduce your lake’s sunfish carrying capacity.

Tilapia provide a decent alternative forage for bass, but check with your biologist to consider the impact tilapia will have to your water body before stocking. Do note that tilapia are tropical fish that can survive some mild Texas winters (especially in southern Texas), though they generally require annual stockings for their populations to be maintained.

Chemical

In most cases, chemical control will be required to achieve the desired level of vegetation control.

There are a lot of factors to consider in how to approach managing vegetation and algae with chemistry and we will go into this in more detail next week.

Until then, go check on your lakes and ponds and see if you can begin to identify vegetation issues before they start to get out of hand. This is the time of year we can actually get a jump on pond weeds before they get out of control.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch for Pond & Lake Management

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The lake management calendar: maintaining your dream pond throughout the year

February 16, 2021

By Matt Ward

Managing your pond or lake to maximize its potential is a year-round endeavor. Careful pond cultivators follow a calendar outlining the best activities to pursue each month.

In our region, that calendar starts and ends the year with the least amount of upkeep, and surges with mid-year responsibilities. Regardless of the list length, however, each of these fishery management obligations is important to keep your dream fishing hole at its highest quality.

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension recommends a calendar based on management, stocking, reproduction, feeding, harvesting, and drawdown, if possible.

Following is a calendar outline illustrating how smart lake and pond owners take care of their investments:

Year-round

There are a few things you can easily do year-round, such as building or renovating a pond or lake, pond water testing, harvesting excess or undersized bass or undesirable species, and clearing muddy water.

January

This month is the time to focus on agricultural limestone applications, which regulate the pH levels that are critical to fish growth and reproduction. Ponds should be tested before stocking, and Texas A&M recommends that you use the same lime used on your pastures and meadows. Lime additions are recommended from October-February.

January is also a time to focus on supplemental and new forage stocking. Pond stocking is an important part of any lake management program and requires skill and precision to ensure the results live up to your expectations and can be maintained over the long term. Determining what fish will work best for you involves many variables, including your goals and the size of your pond and lake. Fish stocking is recommended from September-June.

February

This month sees largemouth bass spawning begin and continue through April.

Also this month, experts recommend you begin scheduling electrofishing surveys, which are an excellent tool for correcting an out-of-balance pond and planning pond stocking. Electrofishing surveys accurately assess current forage and sport fish populations and help you to assess any wintertime damage quantify from cormorants or otter. Fish populations also are sampled to determine species, size, relative abundance and growth rates.

Experts use a top-of-the-line electrofishing boat to identify stunted fish or unwanted species, which can be easily and quickly removed as part of this service. An electrofishing survey is a standard scientific survey method that causes no long-term negative effect to the fish population in your pond or lake.

Performed correctly, the fish are stunned briefly; examined for species to determine abundance, population density, weights and measurements; and then quickly returned to their normal state.

An electrofishing survey is the reference point for a long-term fishery management plan, providing clues for corrective pond stocking and harvest recommendations. Experts recommend electrofishing surveys from February-June and September- November.

March

This month, experts recommend starting supplemental feeding of forage fish, catfish, hybrid striped bass and feed-trained bass.

Supplemental feeding greatly increases the weight of particularly catfish and bluegill. In managed lakes, there is more pond stocking and less available habitat and resources, therefore calling for this feeding. Supplemental feeding is recommended March-November.

Also this month, good managers begin pond weeds control and fertilization. Fertilization promotes the growth of phytoplankton, which are the foundation of aquatic ecosystems. Fertilization is recommended from March-September.

Texas A&M experts suggest that as you ponder the various ways to address pond weed control that you consider using triploid grass carp as a biological control treatment if plants they treat are present; and initiating herbicide weed control when growth begins around this time. Spot treatments of pond weeds are recommended in hot weather to avoid oxygen depletion. Control of pond weeds should be addressed from March-November, depending on your region.

April

This month will see the beginning of fingerling bass pond stocking, which goes through June.

May/June

Bluegill spawn during these two months and smart pond and lake owners may want to consider habitat enhancements to facilitate this.

These months are also part of the optimal time to conduct pond renovations, though they can be done throughout the year. Such renovations can include addressing dam leaks, drains, sediment, flats or shallow areas that are leading to undesirable growth of pond weeds, and other environmental problems.

July/August

These months are the best time to just chill out and enjoy your lake or pond if you’ve been on top of your fishery management needs.

If not, this is still the time to address supplemental feeding, aquatic weed control, and fertilization.

September-December

If not already addressed this year, now is the time to schedule supplemental and new forage stocking, lime addition and new electrofishing surveys.

While this schedule of monthly fishery management tasks is a good general guide, you need to evaluate your specific goals and conditions to maximizing the quality of your pond or lake year-round. At Lochow Ranch Pond & Lake Management, our team can offer expert pond management advice to make the most of your dream pond.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch

Check us out if you are considering building a lake, looking for pond stocking services, buying fish for a pond, or getting professional pond management and maintenance or fishery management. Our services include lake design, pond construction, pond renovation, pond water testing, electrofishing, pond stocking, control of pond weeds, and pond liming and fertilizing. Let us help you build your dream pond that will delight your family and friends for generations to come.

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

Prepping your pond for the season: what steps should you be taking now?

February 16, 2021

By Matt Ward

Spring will be here before you know it, along with better fishing weather. Now is the time to make sure your pond or lake delivers a top-notch fishing experience this year.

Smart pond and lake owners are choosing what fishery management approaches will make their oases meet their hearts’ desire, whether stocking with trout, creating a trophy bass pond, or adding the right forage fish for the best fish growth.

Fishery experts report that Texas farm ponds aren’t managed at their highest potential for fish production. Pond health and maintenance should be a top priority for landowners, according to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

So while you might be thinking about fish stocking for your pond or lake this year, there are other important maintenance steps to take to ensure the fish are plentiful and biting in months to come.

If you were underwhelmed with your lake’s performance in 2020 or are unsure of the current status, now is the time to be considering what approach will yield best outcomes in 2021.

Here are fishery management steps you should be looking at now:

Electrofishing Survey

If your pond or lake is geared toward fish quality, it’s highly recommended that you start with an electrofishing survey, which typically begin in February. It’s an excellent tool for correcting an out-of-balance pond.

These electrofishing surveys accurately assess current forage and sport fish populations and quantify wintertime Cormorant or otter damage. Fish populations also are sampled to determine species, size, relative abundance and growth rates.

It’s important to use a top-of-the-line electrofishing boat to identify stunted fish or unwanted species, which can be easily and quickly removed as part of this service. An electrofishing survey is a standard scientific survey method that causes no long-term negative effect to the fish population in your pond or lake.

Performed correctly, the fish are stunned briefly, examined for species to determine abundance, population density, weights and measurements, and then quickly returned to their normal state.

An electrofishing survey is the reference point for a long-term pond management plan, providing clues for corrective stocking and harvest recommendations. While electrofishing surveys are used on established lakes to determine and diagnose problems, they’re also used as a routine management tool to identify issues before they become large and expensive problems.

Our fish experts can conduct an electrofishing survey for you using state-of-the-art techniques and equipment. Click here to learn more.

Pond stocking

Supplemental and new forage pond stocking starts as early as January and helps reconcile losses from avian predation and establish proper predator to prey ratios going into summer.

What kinds of fish will work best in your body of water involves many variables, including your own goals for your pond or lake. For example, you need to carefully assess the impact of introducing non-native species into your pond. It’s important to be aware of the fish types that can live together in harmony so your pond can sustain a healthy eco-system.

Therefore, pond stocking must start with a plan and using professional guidance is key.

This important part of any pond management program must be handled with skill and precision to ensure that the results live up to your expectations and can be maintained over the long term.

Small ponds and large lakes must be stocked and managed in different ways. Factors such as location, health and condition also must be considered. Jumpstart pond stocking rates are also different from maintenance stocking rates, and the amount of maintenance stocking varies significantly based on the size of the lake and other factors.

It’s also important to understand spawning and other characteristics of specific fish you might want to stock. For example, rainbow trout will not spawn in Texas ponds. Meanwhile, spawning for our native strain of largemouth bass can begin as early as February depending on the temperature.

Our fish stocking professionals can help you navigate the considerations for pond stocking to arrive at the best plan for your lake or pond.

Control of pond weeds

Vegetation control should be done starting early in the pond weeds growing season and follow-up treatments should be done throughout the season.

Your lake or pond is basically a small ecosystem that is cut off from many of the elements that maintain balance in natural waters. An array of products, equipment, herbicides, lake dyes and algaecides can help rid your property of nuisance aquatic plants or issues with floating, submerged or emergent pond weeds.

Some pond weeds can take over lake shorelines, making it difficult to fish from the shoreline or swim. Having some vegetation is beneficial for fish and other aquatic organisms. But too much vegetation can negatively impact aquatic organisms through a process called cultural eutrophication.

For a chemical-free approach, you can consider vegetation control as part of your pond stocking plan, such as stocking triploid grass carp and tilapia, which are among the most popular biological alternatives for removal of pond weeds. In addition, there are nutrient precipitation, fertilization regimes, and aeration systems to promote plankton blooms that improve the health of your pond and can shade out many pond weeds.

Aquatic vegetation is the cause of 80 percent of low dissolved oxygen fish kills in Texas. And the issues are complex enough that expert advice is recommended.

Our experts can help you assess the right approach to controlling vegetation in your pond or lake.

Liming and fertilizing

Just as you would fertilize fields to increase crop yields, you should fertilize a pond or lake to provide phytoplankton with adequate nutrients for fish growth and that should start now.

Proper pond fertilizing increases food availability throughout the food chain and indirectly increases the total amount of fish a pond can support. Ponds should be limed before fertilizer is applied, which is important because it increases pH and alkalinity. Even without fertilization, this may improve available nutrients which can support a phytoplankton bloom.

Harmful algae blooms and other harmful algae are becoming increasingly prevalent. To avoid such problems, you should consider establishing a long-term nutrient sequestration program.

This is not as easy as it sounds. Many lake and pond owner attempt to take this on themselves, but it really helps to bring in professionals to assist with an overall plan.

Learn more about liming and fertilization by clicking here.

Aeration & fountain maintenance

July and August can be deadly if dissolved oxygen levels are not where they should be, according to the Texas Farm Bureau.

In order to avoid catastrophe, pond and lake owners currently should be inspecting aeration and fountain maintenance or considering their implementation now. Repairs could address obvious signs of wear or just the cleaning of filters and screens.

We offer a range of aeration systems and fountain systems for ensuring your pond’s oxygen levels are optimal.

Why Choose Lochow Ranch

Click here to get in touch to get started today.

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Management Objectives

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Alkalinity

Hardness

A Note on Vegetation and Algae

Minding water quality

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Turbidity

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Marginal Growth

Submersed Growth

Floating Vegetation

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Why Manage Vegetation Growth?

Begin with the Outcome in Mind

Mechanical

Biological

Chemical

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Why Choose Lochow Ranch

By Matt Ward

Electrofishing Survey

Pond stocking

Control of pond weeds

Liming and fertilizing

Aeration & fountain maintenance

Why Choose Lochow Ranch

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