Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Desirable plants to outcompete aquatic weeds

hello all-
Been awhile since I updated about my pond, so here goes-

I have 3/4 acre pond, sloping 3:1 down to about 15 feet max depth, stocked with rainbow trout pond in colorado. Thanks to all the great info here all is going well. Fish are jumping, water is oxygenated, and the pond is holding water.

The pond is coming into its second season and I wanted to be proactive about establishing a healthy aquatic plant community. From my native stream source, I have had a bit of cattail and eurasian watermilfoil try to establish. I have hand weeded this stuff out, but I realize over time this stuff is gonna get more aggressive than my weeding.

I am thinking that planting specific desirables now, will help to keep these weeds in check. Here are the plants I am planning on planting this spring when the water warms up-

hardy hybrid water lilies (lots of these)
lizards tail
pickerel rush
aquatic mint
sweet flag and blue flag iris

These were selected based on reccomendations on the forum here, and availability from a local aquatic plant nursery.

Are these good ideas? Are there better plants, particularly that you could reccomend a source for? I want to maintain a good habitat for the RBT, create beautiful scenery, and minimize my battle with noxious weeds.

Thanks to all for sharing your hard earned wisdom on all things pond.

Adam

All the listed plants will compete against cattails and other shoreline plants, but will provide little competition to milfoil.

If you don't have water flowing thru your pond, you can use a low concentration of Fluridone to kill the EWM. The toxity dosage is lower than what is lethal to the other plants, so no worries there. The only problem is that a certain ppb needs to be kept for at least 30 days, 45 days is even better.

That's impossible to do with a pond where water flows in and out unless you can cut off the flow for that length of time. EWM grows very fast, and out competes any native plant. That's why it's considered an invasive species.

Use the glove of death on the cattails if they get over 24" tall. If less than that, and you stay on top of them, you can hand pull the ones that show up.

Grass carp eat milfoil dont they?

It's not likely that desirable plants can outcompete undesirable plants. They tend to grow more slowly and sparsely, that's why they are desirable.

Established desirable plants can help keep invasives from getting started. Bureed may be another plant to consider.

And if grass carp don't eat the milfoil, what will... tilapia,koi,carp...etc?

thanks for the suggestions guys

I thought that grass carp would cause turbidity issues for the RBT, which is the primary purpose of the pond? Would just one or two carp keep the milfoil in check without affecting the water clarity too much?

Fluridone would definately be a possibility in mid-summer when I do not necessarily flow-through water. Seems that would be a good time of year to knock back the milfoil as well. Yes?

It sounds like the shoreline plants I was thinking of will at least help to minimize the problems with cattails, which are rampant in my area.

keep the good ideas coming! thanks.

That'd be a good time to treat. As soon as the water stops flowing in hit it.

Weed razor works good on young cattails too. I would like to ask on this too. My pond looks like a moon surface. Is there any good vegitation to plant out in like 10' of water?

adam, does your water level fluctuate much, or does it stay pretty constant?

My grass carp cleaned out millfoil big time. 18 per acre. Too many. As far as I know they didn't make the water turbid like the KOI and Isreali.

The pond level only fluctuates briefly when I pull water out for irrigation. The full pool level then gets restored within a few days.

So pretty constant level, though with my agri-drain, I do have the ability to lower the water level if needed.

Thanks again fellas