A Pond Management Program is scheduled on April 26 at the Lake Hutto Park Pavilion, 805 Estate Drive, Hutto.
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program costs $25, and preregistration is required at https://tx.ag/PondProWilliamson.
The program will run from 9 a.m.-noon and lunch is included. Attendees are requested to bring a lawn chair and waterproof footwear.
Two Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units are available, one general and one integrated pest management.
“April is an ideal time to plan out your aquatic weed management program if you haven’t done this already,” said Gary Pastushok, AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resource agent for Williamson County.
“Waiting until too late into spring can make it very difficult to adequately maintain proper stock tank health,” he said. “Frequently, algae proliferate as water warms, and then die off rapidly.”
Initiating late-timed and desperate control measures to manage algal blooms can result in a depleted dissolved oxygen situation and potentially trigger a substantial fish kill, Pastushok said.
Pond management topics, speaker
AgriLife Extension aquatic vegetation program specialist Brittany Chesser will be the program speaker.
Topics she will cover include:
• The importance of a pond’s water chemistry.
• Aquatic vegetation identification.
• Pond management strategies for landowners.
“Pond owners need to monitor and maintaining proper water chemistry,” Pastushok said. “Over time water pH can slowly decline.”
He said this can result in critically low levels of nutrients that are essential to support normal growth of fish and crustaceans. He said Chesser will explain how to determine pond water chemistry to maintain a biologically active and thriving pond.
Chesser will also cover what conditions are responsible for cloudy water/low water clarity and what can be done to resolve the problem. She will also do an on-site analysis of pond water.
“Your stock pond is a living biological system,” Pastushok said. “Did you know you can improve your pond health by broadcasting fertilizer? Ms. Chesser will explain why and how your ponds can benefit from an application of fertilizer.”
Chesser will also explain how to identify pond weeds and safely manage levels of healthy pond vegetation and algae to avoid unnecessary fish loss, Pastushok said.
For more information about this educational event and other training opportunities in Williamson County, contact Pastushok at gary.pastushok@ag.tamu.edu or at 512-943-3300.
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