Homeowner Information
SCROLL DOWN THESE PAGES TO FIND THE INFORMATION AND LINKS THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS:
Lake weeds, algae, foam and other lake mysteries explained
Your well
Your septic system
Your Lawn and Garden
Your shoreline or streambank
Invasive plants and algae in the water of the lake or your pond
Invasive plants and their control on land
Native plants for your garden
Common weeds, what they tell you, and how to get rid of them
Your pond
If you have additional questions, please contact us at bkarthein@yahoo.ca or (905) 985-0958.
LAKE WEEDS, ALGAE, FOAM AND OTHER LAKE MYSTERIES EXPLAINED
Posted: March 30, 2011
This part of our website is in the process of construction, please be patient.
General Information about Lake Scugog's Problems
Lake Scugog is a very old lake that over the years has filled in significantly in the normal way that lakes age through sediment deposits from runoff from the land and from the decomposition of plants and animals over the years. By the time the first European settlers arrived it was already mainly a wetland with rivers running north from the headland to the South and a deep section on the east side of the centre island. The outlet of those rivers was dammed in the mid 1800's and once again the lake became a viable lake. However, the slow forces of nature are reclaiming it to become a wetland.
Whether Lake Scugog becomes a wetland quickly or slowly depends on our actions right now. Current practices and conditions are accelerating that natural process. We have too much sediment and too many plant and algae nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) flowing into the lake from man-made sources such as urban stormwater runoff, rural road runoff, septic systems and the Port Perry Lagoons and agricultural run-off. The Lake Scugog Management Plan (LSEMP) created by Kawartha Conservation outlines the science. (see the Lake Scugog Environmental Management Plan)
Regarding sediment there is huge runoff from the land every year ... in fact it is estimated that urban stormwater systems in Port Perry alone contribute 28 Metric Tonnes of sediment every year to Port Perry Bay. Sediment although bad in itself, also is the transport for a heavy load of nutrients and other pollutants such as bacteria, heavy metals, gas and oil from cars, and many other contaminants.
It is the excess nutrients that cause so much growth of aquatic plants (and the weed milfoil) and algae in the lake along with other factors. We must cut down on nutrient input into the lake and the implementation plan outlined in the LSEMP and every one of us can do our part to keep the lake as a lake for years to come.
Lake Weeds
Scientifically speaking, we as Lake Stewards should not be speaking about weeds in the lake. Many, many of the plants in the lake are not weeds in that they should be there just like meadows should have wild flowers because there is soil, sunlight and lots of water. Aquatic plants, or even more technically, they are called aquatic macrophytes ... to you maybe weeds.
However, Lake Scugog is plagued with an invasive species of aquatic plant so much so that they can only be called "weeds". Eurasian water milfoil (See photo 3 & 4 at right) and its various hybrids arrived in North America from the western areas of Russia and the Ukraine where it has never been a problem plant because of a range of predators that keep it in check. However, water bodies all across North America were "sitting ducks" for this nasty plant as the predators were very scarce. (See our Home page for more about the Lake Stewards efforts to bio-remediate that imbalance through the addition of more of the native biological control, Milfoil Weevils. (See photo 5)
YOUR WELL
This material is under development. In the meantime, call Durham Sustain Ability at (905) 427-0061. In the meantime you might check out the wellMaintenanceChecklist.pdf attached.
Barbara Karthein, Scugog Lake Stewards, March 2011. (905) 985-0958 or bkarthein@yahoo.ca
YOUR LAWN AND GARDEN
There is no question that Lake Scugog is central to our community and our economy. If we want to keep it healthy, and not allow it to age too quickly it is important to reduce the amount of plant nutrients that run off our properties into the streams and culverts that feed the lake.
Through the research that formed the base of the Lake Scugog Environmental Management Plan, we know that excess nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers, dishwasher detergents, private and municipal septic systems, pet waste and other human activities is causing the lake to age too quickly, grow excess aquatic plants and develop algae blooms. (see www.kawarthaconservation.com/lsemp)
We hope you will read our alternative lawn and garden care guide that is attached. We welcome your comments. For more information, visit Scugog Connections, at 126 Water Street, Port Perry. Carlie McDonald, Program Coordinator, (905) 985-3279.
Scugog Lake Stewards, April 2010
Special Problem Write-ups
Identifying and controlling white grubs in your lawn.pdf
Identifying and controlling chinchbug.pdf
Other important information
www.turfrevolution.com Turf Revolution, for naturally friendly, tough turf, Don Powers at 1-800-823-6937. Natural lawn care specialists.
Soil testing: www.agtest.com
Suite 1, 503 Imperial Road North, Guelph, Ontario N1H 6T9 1-800-265-7175. Check out the "Lawn and Garden Plants" soil testing section. ($19.95 range for basic testing)
or purchase a soil kit locally from Port Perry Feeds Ltd. at the same price (See the photo of the kit at right). 40 VanEdward Drive, Port Perry. Port Perry Feeds Ltd.also carry: Kelp meal (good natural fertilizer for drought resistance), Alfalfa meal (a great natural, full spectrum fertilizer that works with the soil to feed the plants) and other organic fertilizers, eco-friendly pest deterrents, etc. Jim and Emma Roefs are not only business people they are experienced gardeners who give good information.
www.environmentalfactor.com Environmental Factor, "protecting the earth one lawn at a time" 85 Chambers Drive, Unit 8, Ajax., Phyll Manganelli at 1-888-820-9992.
www.usemyke.com Premier Tech Biotechnologies, sales agents for Myke Products, the friendly mycorrhize for your lawns and gardens, the natural way to stimulate growth and health of your gardens. John Renaud, Technicial Sales Representative, 1-905 979-9922.
www.pickseed.com Pickseed of Lindsay, for the best in local grass seeds available through Port Perry Feeds on VanEdward Drive, Port Perry. Look up their charts for what should grow best in your lawn situation.
www.landscapeontario.com Landscape Ontario is the largest horticultural association in North America. At this site you will be able to get additional horticultural information and find a suitable lawn or garden design, installation or maintenance company for your garden needs. There is a local Durham Chapter.
For information on kelp meal and how it is useful as a biological stress reducer see: www.landscape-america.com/lawncare/maintenance/fertilization/kelp
For information on alfalfa products and soil health visit:
www.bio-ag.com/products/soilamendments
The photo at right is of a first year lawn renovation using a sun grass seed mix with 30% white clover with allows for early green-up, little or no fertilization and steady green through drought situations.
YOUR SEPTIC SYSTEM
The Scugog Lake Stewards have prepared a binder of information on the new technologies for private septic system, applications and permits required and maintenance information. This binder is available at Scugog Connections, 126 Water Street, Port Perry.
However, we are in the process of up-dating this binder of information and will have the most pertinent detail posted here on our website later on in the year.
In the meantime if you have questions regarding septic system solutions in Scugog, please call Barbara Karthein at (905) 985-0958 or bkarthein@yahoo.ca.
YOUR SHORELINE OR STREAMBANK
The Scugog Lake Stewards ask you to naturalize your lake and stream bank shorelines in order to help Lake Scugog to help itself. Deep rooted vegetation not only provides excellent and yearly increasing erosion control, but it provides habitat, helps keeps nutrients and other pollutants out of the water and much more.
Although these vegetated buffer areas along shorelines can be planted with all sorts of attractive native plants and given good garden design, they are definitely not gardens to be fussed with or raked bare each spring and fall. 90% of lake life takes place within 20 ft. of the water edge -- in the water and on the land. It is that lake life -- from the waterfowl and fish right down to the microscopic life that they feed on together with all the shoreline plant life -- that helps to clean the lake of pollutants and gives us the amazing diversity we enjoy so much. This life needs a constant natural home throughout the seasons. Grass, retaining walls and even gardened shoreline planted areas are not helpful to our beautiful lake or its many inhabitants.
For more on this topic and why see the articles below, call Kawartha Conservation or drop in to Scugog Connections, the environmental action centre right in Port Perry at 126 Water Street. (905) 985-3279.
The last two photos at right show the northern part of Joe Fowler Park in Port Perry as it is now and the below photo shows the shoreline in that area before naturalization.
Protecting your shoreline or stream bank from Erosion This is a large file. Give it time to come in. It is Scugog specific - created for Scugog Connections by the Scugog Lake Stewards..
Designing and planting your shoreline or stream bank naturalization Also a large, Scugog specific file of useful information and photographs. Created for Scugog Connections by the Scugog Lake Stewards
Kawartha Conservation offers FREE consultations regarding your shoreline. Visit them on line at www.kawarthaconservation.com or call 1-800-668-5722 and ask for the Stewardship Co-ordinator.
Why Scugog needs shoreline restoration.pdf
Shoreline Native Plant Listing.pdf Created by Barbara Karthein, for the Scugog Lake Stewards and Scugog Shores Historical Museum.
Landowner information data sheets - Protecting fish habitat from sediment
www.livingbywater.ca/erosion.html
Information up-dated, April 2010, Scugog Lake Stewards.
INVASIVE PLANTS AND ALGAE IN THE WATER OF THE LAKE
This section is under review and re-construction to make it more relevant. Please check back for further data later. March 28, 2011.
It is hard to tell which plants that grow in the lake are truly native species. Since the formation of the lake, we are sure the diversity of the plant population in the lake has changed dramatically as natural aging forces occurred and certainly with the actions of early settlers.
Before European settlement, Lake Scugog was aging into a shallow wetland with all the diverse shallow water, wetland species. The construction of the dam in Lindsay in the 1830's obliterated much of the shoreline/shallow water plants that had been in such abundance such as cattails, bulrushes, arrowhead, wild rice and even cranberries in ancient acidic bogs around the lake.
Phosphorus and nitrogen running off the land and released from the decomposing swamps must have turned the lake to a green soup, thick with algae. This would have robbed the lake of oxygen and most of the fish would have died. Therefore, much of the species of fish and plants that we have in the lake now may be relative newcomers.
The lake is still changing. Every year cycles of species erupt and dominate and then subside perhaps in one year, or perhaps for many years. But, every year is different for this large, shallow lake.
Lake Scugog will never be a pristine northern lake and it is aging to eventually become a wetland area, but it is and will be for hundreds of years to come a very precious, healthy environment for fish, shorebirds, water fowl, raptors, songbirds, reptiles and much more which we can all view with relative ease right from our home windows and gardens.
The Scugog Lake Stewards are sponsoring a total lake plant survey this year (2010) by Trent University, Dr. Eric Sager and graduate student, Kyle Borrowman. For more information contact Jamie Ross, (905) 985-0555, jlross@sympatico.ca
EURASIAN WATER MILFOIL
One invasive aquatic plant, Eurasian water milfoil, has the ability to dominate our lake and make it both unattractive and impossible for recreation. Scugog Lake Stewards Inc. is combatting this invasion with a bio-control, the Milfoil Weevil. Read our most recent information on this topic, and what our program is for 2010 on the Home page of this website.
ALGAE
Information to come.
Scugog Lake Stewards, April 2010
INVASIVE LAND PLANTS AND THEIR CONTROL
Lake Scugog and its watershed are relatively young having only been formed by the last glaciers 7 to 10 thousand years ago. By the time the area saw the beginning of major human intervention with the enlargement of the lake by the Lindsay dam in in the 1830's, the elimination of the forest cover and its replacement by farmed lands; this area had developed a large biodiversity -- but not the crowded biodiversity of much older lands not subject to glaciation.
Therefore, various species, brought from these older lands -- where competition for survival is much more difficult -- proliferate with little or no restrictions here.
Some of the species listed below are becoming such a threat to our forests, meadows and even farmlands that a special council was formed several years ago made up of representatives from Agriculture, Conservation Ontario, Woodlot Associations and even the Scugog Lake Stewards. It has developed a series of "Most Wanted" posters to be posted throughout Ontario on websites and in print versions. We have attached these posters in the appropriate places in the information below. These sites take some time to load, so please wait, the information is worth it.
One of the nasty invaders that we must currently be on the watch for is the attractive plant,Garlic Mustard (Seen at top right) It was brought here as a potherb and it has suddenly become an aggressive alien outcompeting native flora. As a method to reduce competition, Garlic Mustard roots produce a toxic substance that kills the fungi in forest soils that enables germination of new plants including maples and it is very harmful to trilliums. So check your gardens and woodlots. This plant keeps a basal rosette of bright green leaves right through winter -- all the better to get a jump on spring and be the first to bloom in the spring. Since they bloom so early, gardeners may think them attractive additions to their gardens and even transplant them to other locations. Please do not do this! These are nasty plants.
Another land invader that is proving exceptionally aggressive and which has moved into our area has the picturesque name -- Dog Strangling Vine. (Seen in middle photos at right) A member of the milkweed family it puts out thousands of downy seeds that travel great distances on the wind. When it takes root it spreads underground quickly forming thick, literally dog-strangling, vines that overwhelm forests and swarm along roadsides obliterating all other species in its path. Please check out the "Most wanted" poster on this species which is attached below.
The last new invasive plant we highlight here is one that has just been spotted in Leamington, Ontario, but which is known by the slang name as "The plant that ate the South." Kudzu vine (See the scary photo to the right at bottom) It is a member of the legume family. It grows so quickly and so densely that it covers whole forests, robbing them of light and therefore killing the trees within. Please make sure you can recognize this plant should you spot it. Report it immediately to Rachel Gagnon, Co-ordinator of the Ontario Invasive Plant Council. rachel_gagnon@ofah.org
The last "Most Wanted" poster we have attached is an old problem -- the small tree or large shrub Buckthorn which invades neglected farm fields, hedgerows and open areas in forests. It produces a prolific number of seed which are transmitted by birds and mice to new locations. They grow thickly in monocultures, eliminating all the beautiful native varieties such as Highbush Cranberry, Elderberry, Nannyberry, Serviceberry and many more.
Scugog Lake Stewards, April 2010
NATIVE PLANTS FOR YOUR GARDEN
Growing a garden is one of the most satisfying experiences that we humans can enjoy. From watching the first shoots of spring, right through to watching summer's climax of colour, we get a lot of pleasure out of the yearly parade that we have planted.
Nursery flowers call us to choose the newest, the biggest, or the best. However, what actually works best with your soil, the microorganisms in your soil and the local pollinators, will be native plant varieties.
There are many very beautiful native varieties as well which deserve to be continued to be propagated because of their symbiotic relationship with the local environment. The question is often where to find these native varieties and just what do the look like or act in your garden.
Below are several excellent sources for native plant information and we have also attached a comprehensive list of native plants developed for naturalization areas at both Port Perry's shoreline park trails and the Ojibway Heritage Interpretive Lands exhibit at the Scugog Shores Museum.
Scugog Lake Stewards Inc., April 2010
Shoreline Native Plant Listing.pdf
How and why to use native plants for your shoreline restoration project
www.grow-wild.com A wonderful site for finding native plants that are grown and sold locally.
www.wildflowerfarm.com An amazing native plant website. Especially good for sourcing seed.
www.nativeplants.ca Ontario Native Plants of Claremont, Ontario. Another good site for finding native plants, grown and sold locally.
www.uxbridgenurseries.com A great site for finding Ontario native trees and shrubs and some native smaller plants.
www.ecologyart.com Acorus restoration. A great site for finding difficult to find native plants and information and help with installation.
COMMON WEEDS AND WHAT THEY TELL YOU AND HOW TO CONTROL
This section will be coming soon.
Scugog Lake Stewards, April 2010
YOUR POND - CREATING, MAINTAINING AND PLANTING AROUND
We have a lot of material coming on ponds. Please check back in the coming months. In the meantime, feel free to contact me at bkarthein@yahoo.ca
Barbara Karthein, March 2011.