A Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service webinar from 6-7 p.m. April 19 will cover stubborn aquatic plants common in Texas ponds.
The webinar program will provide a how-to educational program focused on identification of the most hard-to-manage floating and submerged aquatic plant species including duckweed, watermeal and watermilfoil.
Brittany Chesser, AgriLife Extension aquatic vegetation program specialist in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management, Bryan-College Station, will present the program.
Registration is $35 and free to AgriLife Extension employees. Instructions to access the webinar will be emailed when payment is received. The email will include a receipt, registration confirmation and instructions for accessing the webinar.
This program offers one Texas Department of Agriculture integrated pest management continuing education unit.
Identify, control stubborn aquatic plants
Chesser will discuss how to properly identify these pesky aquatic plants that present various nuisances and control challenges. The program will provide biological information regarding each plant and provide recommendations for pond owners. Specific management strategies, including mechanical, biological and chemical options, when applicable, will be covered for each grouping.
“These are plant species we receive questions about year after year from people who want to control them or who have tried and want to know why their attempt failed,” she said.
Todd Sink, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension aquaculture specialist and director of the AgriLife Extension Aquatic Diagnostics Lab, Bryan-College Station, will be available to answer questions in an accompanying chat forum.
The hour-long presentation will be followed with an approximately 30-minute question-and-answer session with Chesser and Sink.
“This program aligns well with the proper timing of treatments, which is critical for effective control,” Chesser said. “The treatment windows are important because it is extremely difficult to treat them into summer months without depleting dissolved oxygen that can lead to fish kills.”
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