Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants PB Article on Milfoil

I have the same problem that was a topic in a recent PB article. It was written that a pond that was overtaken with Milfoil was cleared, but it did not say what was used to get rid of the Milfoil. I have Milfoil in my 1 acre pond that just sprouted up and then took over the whole pond. Spread increadibly fast. I treated half the pond with Reward about three weeks ago and will probably treat the other half this weekend. Of course I now have a huge algea problem also. I had problems with algea before because the runoff to the pond comes from my horse fields. Just wondering what was used to clear up the pond in the article, how long it took and if you had to manually clear the dying milfoil from the pond. I have a 1 acre pond about 20 miles east of St. Louis in IL that is primarily used for fishing. Thanks, James

James, since none of the true experts have gotten to your question yet, I will stick in my two cents until they do. You are likely to have an overfertilized pond and your weeds are going to come back so long ss this is the case. Sooner or later, you will probably have a big fish kill as well. If you could change your grazing patterns so that less fecal nitrogen entered your pond (e.g., convert all or part of the pasture above the pond to hay production) or could change your flow dynamics so that more water washed through, you would have a fighting chance. But, herbicides are unlikely to give you more than temporary relief, otherwise.

I do hope someone who has a more optimistic answer to offer will address your question.
Lou

Lou, thanks for the reply. I was hoping that Bob would reply because I think he authored the article. I did finally find a new spot for the horses so in the future I won't have as much of a nitrogen influx into the pond. That should help with the algea. The Milfoil has suddenly sprung up out of nowhere and taken over my pond. There is an open hole in the center of the pond where it is 12' deep and the rest is covered with Milfoil. I did just have a fish kill that got almost all of my channel cats (up to almost 20 lbs.). I am putting in an aerator to hopefully prevent that from happening again.

James you have used Reward which is a contact herbicide. This provideds a burndown but does not kill the root. I would use a algae control like Cutrine to work on your algae mats after the plants die. If you want to get rid of the milfoil you will need to use systemic herbicide like Sonar or Avast in the spring. You can also use a few other herbicides that go after the root so you may not have any regrowth. Next spring get on the milfoil in late April to Early May so you don't have so much dead biomass when treated.

Eddie, thanks for the advise. I guess I will finish treating the rest of the pond with the Reward and get rid of what I can this year and then use Sonar next spring to kill the milfoil before it gets out of control again.