Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Southern Naiad infestation

I just bought a piece of land with an 8-9 acre lake. The southern naid covers about half the lake some times growing up from 10+ feed deep. We applied cutrine plus twice per advice of previous owner wo had leftover chemical. the naiad disappeared along dam where it gets deep really quick but just gets thicker in the shallower areas. I decided to fertilize last week thinking that creating a bloom to the very clear lake would decrease sunlight penetration thus decreasing the naiad. We are planning to continue our fertilization regiment and add grass carp up to about 50. We do not want to entirely eliminate the naiad but want to create a healthy lake that can be fished without the headaches of the weeds on every cast.
How does this plan sound. Any other suggestions.

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I had problems with Southern Naiad last year in my 1 acre pond

Here's my .02 and predictions:
Cutrine is an algaecide, and has no impact on southern naiad.
Fertilization at this time, under the outlined conditions, will only spur the naiad into hyper-growth - and also increase the amount of filamentous algae growing on top of the naiad.
Adding 50 grass carp to an 8-9 acre lake that has an existing over-population of naiad will take forever - if not longer - to improve the situation. On the other hand, if you stock enough grass carp to make a significant impact on the weed population, they'll likely denude the lake of all edible vegetation. Grass carp are a good management tool, but not necessarily the best singlular option for bringing a existing problem under control.
IMO, you should take appropriate measures toward the weeds before fertilizing; or otherwise risk a much worse problem. The use of herbicides to bring the weeds under "control" (not eradication), followed by a modest stocking of grass carp to keep the weeds at tolerable levels is a valid approach.

Skylark,

If you really want to knock the southern naiad back you need to use a systemic herbicide like floridone it does take longer to kill but it kills roots and all. Cutrine plus is a contact herbicide so your just killing the tops of the plants. Floridone is expensive and you need a licened applicater to apply it im sure theres someone in AL that can handle that for you. If you want to go with grass carp i would stock 7 to 10 per ac also ducks love to eat southern naiad so get some grass carp and ducks and let them do the work for you.

So, AL requires an applicators license for fluridone treatments in private waters????? Interesting..
Fluridone may appear "expensive". But, for several weed-situations, it is one of the cheapest treatment-options available for the level and duration of control that it provides. Don't be mislead by its price per pt/qt/gal, etc. That factor has very little to do with how expensive it is to use and benefit from this chemistry's unique mode-of-action.
Nevertheless, skylark's stated goal was not to "entirely eliminate" the southern naiad. That would be very challenging to avoid with fluridone.
CUTRINE is primarily used for algae control. It is also labeled as a herbicide; and a "contact-type" at that - but only against hydrilla - and is rarely used even for that purpose since much much better options exist.
AL grass carp and ducks must eat a lot more than TX gc and ducks

Yeah AL does require an applicator license if your applying pesticides for hire in private waters.
As for the GC and ducks they eat more than you think. I had a customer that wanted biological control no pesticides in there pond the GC and ducks cleaned it up quicker than one would think.

Actually, I was refering to a private landowner who treats his own pond. Currently, a license isn't required in most states for the private application of "general-use" herbicides, such as fluridone. Of course, that may change if/when the new NPDES regs kick in this fall.

Also, if someone succeeds at stocking enough ducks and GC to clean up a heavy naiad infestion on their own, how are these biological control-measures convinced to eventually curb their appetite - so as not to denude the pond?