Fertilization of ponds or lakes is a tool to use in the proper circumstances only. Like a hammer can be the right tool to drive nails it is also not a good tool to cut tile or glass. I don’t blame the hammer if I break the glass trying to cut it to size. It is nether good nor bad but a tool.

When Not To Fertilize

Some ponds & lakes should not be fertilized. Here are some cases where this is true:

• Muddy ponds or lakes.  Mud prevents sunlight from passing through the water. Plankton must have sunlight to grow. If a pond stays muddy most of the time, do not fertilize the pond or lake until the mud problem is corrected.

• Ponds or Lakes infested with trash fish. If undesirable fish dominate the pond, poison the pond, restock, and then begin fertilizing.

• Ponds or Lakes infested with weeds. During warm months, pond weeds use up the fertilizer that the microscopic plants should get. Therefore, the pond stays clear even after repeated fertilizer applications.

• Ponds or Lakes not fished heavily. Fertilizing a large pond is a waste of time and money if you fish it only occasionally. You just produce more fish that aren’t caught.

• Unbalanced fish population. If the bream population is overcrowded, it means there are not enough bass to keep the bream down. It would be foolish to fertilize if this condition exists.

• Catfish ponds. It is not necessary to fertilize catfish ponds if a feeding program is followed. Where a commercial feeding program is not followed, fertilize in the same manner as for bream-bass ponds.

• Excessive water flow. In some spring-fed ponds, the volume of water flowing through the pond is too high to maintain adequate plankton blooms. In this case, fertilizer is constantly being diluted and will have little positive effect.

Important Points

• Continue fertilization program from year to year. Discontinuing a fertilization program will leave you worse off than if you had never started one.

• Improper fertilization, once or twice a year, is worse than no fertilization.

• If a bloom does not develop after four applications of fertilizer, check for lime requirements, excess water outflow, excessive weeds, or muddy water.

• Do not attempt to kill weeds by applying fertilizer.

Consulting monthly with a Lake Management expert is a far better investment then liming a pond or lake.

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