Can I have 1,000 pounds of 2 4-d please. Back in the day when we could actually use Navigate without a lawsuit or something worse you just could not get away with 100 lbs per acre, no matter how many times they said you could. Sometimes claims are not backed by results. This was one. But there are so many variables, including body of water integrity and infestation. Doubling the dosage usually overcame that.
We had excellent success using Navigate at 100 lbs per acre on Eurasian milfoil, maybe it was due to our water chemistry, pH, etc. We would treat one side of the pond and then wait two weeks to do the other side. The treatment was more effective when the water temps we 65 degrees or better. The milfoil used to grownall the way to the surface in 7-8ft of water or less and would cover 40-50% of the 10 acre pond.
One thing I will say is that treating the weeds does have a profound effect on the population balance of the fish. When the weeds disappear suddenly LMB become much more effective predators and they can out eat their food source. It waas not unusually to have a bunch of skinny LMB the following year after having a really effective weed treatment. My bass culling strategy was largely based on how effective the weed treatments were.
I had one pond with close to 95% infestation. Bottom to top, and then when water drewdown in Summer, mats so dense you could not throw a rock thru it. Totally unfishable. A bit deeper, 10 foot and smaller little over 5 acres. LMB were the skinniest I had ever seen and stunted. From long term exposure to this. After I eradicated it, fish immediately gained weight. The stunted LMB eventually gave way to a new crop of healthy fat fish. The population exploded to the point they are now stacked and require selective harvesting and supplemental food.
At first I had th entire pond to myself, people did not know fish were in there. Caught many in the 5 lb range, a 5 fish 30lb limit on morning. But never any day with over 25 total. Last year I set my record for that pond 60 lmb c and r, just goofing off. The removal of the milfoil had a profound effect in many ways. Mainly from opening up space and allowing better sight feeding. Reduced excess cover for forage. Made a weed choked pond open water for a much larger carrying capacity. Downside is now I rarely have the pond to myself. Residents flock to it to fish. Trespassers hear about it thru the grapevine, more and more of them every season. And the milfoil did keep the algae out. This season it is pretty bad.
There are or is a lot of groups wanting to ban 2, 4-D outright. Combine it with 2,4 5-T and you get Agent Orange. And then usually nasty contaminants like TCDD, dioxin. Put a dash of arsenic in and you have one of the most lethal herbicides ever made, Agent Purple. Sometimes 5X the dioxin as Orange. Look for the purple band on top of the drum. I personally think 2, 4-D based herbicides are on their way out.
But you are dead on about the effects of removing milfoil on the fish population. I really had no idea of the negative impact the stuff had on a LMB population until I got it out. Luckily that and coontail are pretty rare in my parts.
