I am cleaning up a pond in Pennsylvania and one of the things I am doing is eliminating some of the shoreline vegatation. Most of it consists of small willow bushes, some of which extend out into the water anywhere from three to four feet. others have grown into small trees about 1 to 3 inches in diameter. Their roots snake around everywhere and the plants have a tough weedy mass when they get into the water. I have been using a lopper and hand-pulling to try to eliminate these things. I also have some cattails here and there.

I've read some posts on how to deal with the cattails and will follow the advices given. But, now that I am about half-way done TRYING to clear out these small willow things, I am asking myself, am I doing my pond some harm? I noticed on PondBoss that bullrushes are a good thing to have around a pond and I will allow them to grow in small places if they come up this spring. But, should I still be trying to get rid of these invasive willow shrubs or do they have a benefit I am missing? What should I keep or bleep? Thanks for all or any advice.

Get rid of the willows, particularly at the dam. Their roots will grow, then die and leave a path for water to escape. This is actually more of a problem if the trees are back of the dam.

For the bigger willows, if you can get to them, pull them out with a truck or tractor. The roots may remain and sprout, you will have to keep killing them. Someone may know of a chemical that will control them for you, but I dont. If they are growing on the bank, out of the water; get an old metal wheel off a vehicle and use it in pulling them out. Tie a chain around the tree trunk at the bottom, right next to the ground. Set the wheel next to the tree so that it will roll toward your truck when you begin pulling, and lay the chain across the top of it, in the groove, so that when you begin pulling, the wheel will make the chain pull up. The wheel will roll as the chain begins to move, and cause the force to be pulling up (instead of sideways) and pull the tree up and out of the ground.

I have used a product called Remedy to kill willows but don't know about toxicity to fish. I do know that cutting them with a limb lopper is a temporary measure.

Thanks for the replies, guys. I will keep up with my work to at least cut the willows down with a lopper or pull what I can out, so that I can keep them whacked down with a gas weed whacker every so often this summer and in the future. If anybody knows of a safe chemical to kill these things, please reply.

Besides bullrushes, are there some other plants I should keep along the shoreline, or just keep it all cleared out to prevent leaves from going in to add to the yearly decay?

I understand 2,4,D amine will work on the willows. I have the same problem along my levee and will use that shortly when the wind and weather stabilize some.