This time of year it is a good time to take stock of your pond weeds and the scum.  We have had so much rain that there has been a lot of runoff into your pond.  If you fertilized the property that drains into the pond, you probably have a problem with all of the above.  

There are several solutions.  First the weeds.  There are several herbicides that are  labeled for the pond.  Before purchasing a herbicide read the label to determine:  weather the wed species can be controlled with the product * what herbicide best suits your needs and application equipment * how much herbicide is needed * when to apply the herbicide (time of year, stage of plant growth, etc)  and several other  variables.  Pond weeds are pretty hard to identify.  Aquatic plants are commonly classified into several categories depending on the location in the water they inhabit.  Aquatic plants may be free floating, emersed,submersed, or shoreline plants.  Suggestions for killing pond weeds are Diquat, glyphosate, and flumigard.  Most importantly is to identify and read the label.  You do not want to treat the whole pond at one time.  Treat about a fourth of the pond and do it in several applications.  This keeps the pond from losing all of its oxygen and kill the fish.  

Another good thing to do is to use a colorant for the pond.  The colorant helps to shade out a lot of the problems with weeds and algae.  Just take a gallon container of the dye and pour form the bank or out of a boat.  One gallon per acre of water with an average 4-6 ft deep.  Besides being helpful it just makes the water beautiful.  For best results, apply early in the spring and throughout the season to maintain a consistent color.  

(Mitzi Thomas owns Minden Farm & Garden LLC. Watch for her column on Fridays in Webster Parish Journal.)