Tree buffs: need some help

[Longhorn_Fan68]

I'm terrible at identifying trees and generally don't know much about plants. Recently, Smurfette and I installed a pond in our yard, which is heavily treed. We left for the weekend and when we returned, the water in the pond was a reddish-black, much to our disappointment. We discovered the cultprit was thousands of tiny black specs that seem to be randomly falling from the trees above. Also, there are also thousands of those stringy, thin seed pods that you see all over the place in heavily wooded areas (I wish I could give a better description).

Anyway, does anyone know what this stuff is? Also, how long do the trees drop this stuff. If it's going to be a persistent thing, i may want to reconsider some of the things in our pond. Anyway, let me know what you can come up with and thanks in advance.

 

[NickDanger]

Sounds like oak pollen. The Oaks are spewing pollen like crazy right now, but it looks like it is almost over. You should see my pool. Oak pollen usually is a golden mist all over the place as well as tassels that look like a squirrel's tail.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68]

Nick, that's probably it. Are there any fish-safe things i can add to the water to turn it back clear? Right now the water is cycling and everything, so it should be constantly fresh.

So this is usually a once-a-year event? Gawd I hope it is. this pond was too much of a pain in the *** to deal with this year-round.

 

[NickDanger]

The pollen happens once a year, but you said your yard was heavily wooded. In the fall, I get shitloads of elm pollen and elm leaves in my pool. In the spring, the oaks shed leaves for a few weeks which is also fun. Short of covering the pond, you just have to get the stuff out once it falls in. I cover my pool with a net for a few months when the elm leaves start to fall. The kids haven't been in the pool for over a year, so you can imagine how much I enjoy working on that pit. Their is a product we use in the cement pond out at the ranch called Crystal Blue that is fish safe and supposedly keeps the gunk down. It makes the water blue. I don't think it will replace the need to filter that crap out. I dumped so much in the pond that it turned a deep dark blue last time. The toilets at the ranch get their water from this pond and they looked like I have one of those blue dying jigs in there they were so blue.

The oak pollen has been falling for some time and I would think you would have noticed it before now. Maybe you just got a huge dump and the filter got clogged up or just couldn't keep up.

 

[CleverNickname]

Oak reaches its peak usually in the first week of April. I know, because I am allergic. My eyes feel like they have grit in them. At least it doesn't really affect my nose/throat. Come this time every year I have to wear my glasses, because my contacts won't feel good enough to wear for more than a couple hours in a row.

 

[tropheus]

Oak is nearly done from what I gather from my yard with 3 very large, mature live oaks.

 

[NickDanger]

The oak looks like snow drifts in my neighborhood. Here in SA (and I'm sure Austin as well) it has been an unusually bad year. Last few weeks in the evenings you could go outside and it would literally sound like it was raining in my yard.

I have to laugh at all these people that pay a pool service to do their chemicals. There couldn't be anything easier than the chemicals in a pool. The real key to keeping the pool looking nice is the get the plant matter out of it and that means emptying the skimmer and the polaris bag for me. The most often any pool service comes is weekly and that just doesn't work. If you have leaves that get in the pool, you have to do it daily. When the elms shed, you have to do it hourly or get a net. I have no experience with ponds, but I suspect that plant matter is much more of a threat to water quality than fish are. Oak pollen will pass, but leaves are another matter. If you have trees that drop **** in your pond, you will probably need to get it back out timely. If you have elms that tend to literally rain leaves, you may want to consider employing a net in the fall. They aren't expensive. You get a big air pillow(s) and put it in the middle so the net won't sag and then put rocks or water bags on it to keep it from sagging into the middle. You can probably get by with only using it for a few weeks. I leave

it on there for months so I don't have to mess with it at all and no one is going to swim in the winter anyway.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68]

Hmm, it may not be oak pollen, then, since it's leaving tiny black pods everywhere.... or is that an effect of oak pollen?

 

[NickDanger]

When the tassels hit the water they often melt into granules that look like dark pods. At least they do in my pool.

 

[Mrmyke709]

It's caterpillar poop.The infestation can be heavy enough to induce a gentle rain of caterpillar poop that can actually be heard.
Use some BT spray on the little ********.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68]

Um, myke, are you being serious? Because if you are, that's gross. I don't easily get grossed out, but if that's true, that's a LOT of caterpillar ****.

BTW, do you have any recommendations of brands of BT spray? And where one might procure such an item?

 

[NickDanger]

MrMyke,

I hope you have your drag set for one that big.

 

[Smurfette]

Seriouslly, these little black dots are EVERYWHERE. You can literally see it piling on the patio. They don't completely melt away in water... they seem to expand a bit...

F-ing gross. If that is catapiller ****, I was wading in it last night while we worked on the pond

 

[Smurfette]

OK, we're offically droping a pesticide equivilant of an A-Bomb on our yard. I watered my herb garden and scooped out the pond when I came hom from work, and while I was sitting here rerading HF I felt a weird tickle on my back. I kept thinking I had a rouge hair or something, when I finally figured out I had a bug crawling on me, so I whipped off my suit jacket only to discover that I had a ******* beatle the size of a horse crawling up my back

I don't like bugs.

 

[Mrmyke709]

I am totally serious.

The caterpillar infestation has been intense. When all they do is eat, well, heck. Caterpillars poop. A lot.
When there are thousands of them all eating and pooping, you can literally hear the fine rain of poop falling throught the leaves.
Our oaks have been hit pretty hard, but I did set out some Trychogramma wasps to control them.
I haven't been hit as hard as others this year.
If you look at the leaves, you will see the damage. Last year, they stripped 2 consecutive flushes of growth. The only time an oak's foliage is in danger of pests is when it is flush with young tender growth.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68]

Hmm, so do you recommend the BT method or the wasp method of eradication?

 

[Mrmyke709]

BT...might be a little late for the wasps to be effective.
Just look for bacillus thuringiensis as the active ingredient.
Usually Green Light has a product, or that yellow label you see in nurseries. I'm sure Red Barn has it, but if you're out South, stop by It's About Thyme. Diane and Chris will hook you up.

Sometimes it's known as Dipel Dust.

 

[UTEE]

First couple of weeks of April is usually both the peak, and the end, of the oak pollen season. News8Austin reported that Sunday was the worst oak pollen day of the season, and yesterday was the second-worst. But, judging my my own live oak tree in the front yard, it looks like it's just about done.

And this year the caterpillars haven't been nearly as bad in my yard as in years past. But, I never knew there was anything that could be done about it.

Where do you find this BT and how is it delivered to the leaves of the tree?

 

[Longhorn_Fan68]

I just bought some at The Great Outdoors on South Congress:The Link