Texas Lake Solutions

It is mid August, and in our part of Texas that means hundred plus temperatures, and straw colored hay meadows and pastures.

• Unfortunately, it also means that a lot of the aquatic weeds are beginning to harden off and become tougher to kill. It would be a good idea to get started on it now, before it gets much later. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to get rid of them, and the more it will cost!

• If you have a dock, a boathouse, or a or a boat ramp in need of repair, you might want to look at the water level now, and the long range weather forecast, and start planning that before the rain returns.

• If you have not already done so, it is the time of year to start thinking ahead about fall maintenance. If you are planning any major renovation work, you should be planning it now. If you want to lower your pond or lakes water level to dredge the edges, or get rid of aquatic weeds by redoing the bottom, it will take some planning, and coordination to get it done.

• If you haven’t had your pH level checked in a while, it would be good to get some idea of what it is, and start planning toward liming in the fall. If your impound is at the right pH in the spring, and you start your fertilizer program on time and follow up consistently, you will have a much better chance of preventing weed problems.

• You might also think about removing brush in the area, allowing for better access to the water and better water quality.

• If you plan to lower the fertility of an over fertilized body of water, you should be thinking of planting a good vegetative barrier at the end of the lake or pond where water enters, and around any area that provides watershed. bare areas should be made into grassy waterways.

Classifying aquatic vegetation.

Classifying aquatic vegetation can be a little difficult, but we will try to understand it from a practical, treatment based perspective. Some of these definitions will be a little different from the textbooks, but they are practical for treatment.

Lake and pond vegetation can be classified by type of root system:

• Rooted Plants. Plants with roots extending into the soil.
  

• Floating Plants. Plants which float on the surface of the water without a direct connection to the soil.
  

Anomalies.

Not all types and species fall neatly into one or the other of these categories. Even the floating plants usually have something resembling a root system, and which functions in much the same manner as a root system of a plant which is rooted in the ground, by drawing nutrients from the water rather than the soil. Often, rooted plants can be dislodged, and survive for long periods by floating in nutrient rich waters.

Algae, of the filamentous type, seems rooted, in the most rudimentary way when it begins it’s life at the bottom of the lake or pond, and only rises to the top via the air it produces. Some algae, the planktonic single cells, that are suspended in the water seems to be true floating plant, while such algae types as nitella, and muskgrass ar normally rooted and resemble true complex vascular rooted plants. Obviously , there is nothing written in stone.

Next: Submersed, Emergent, and Floating Plants