Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Identifying plants Is this what I think it is?

A friend has a pond which was cleaned out about 10 years ago and has been weed free until this year. Vegetation has exploded and now covers a large portion of the pond. Here are some pictures:

Close up of weed: http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/RobA_pond/Other%20stuff/DSC05593.jpg

View of pond: http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/RobA_pond/Other%20stuff/DSC05590.jpg

Is it curly leaf pond weed? How does one get this under control? Is it possible to control it without chemicals?

Thanks for your help.

Looks like curly leaf pond weed to me, around here it naturally dies off in mid June when the water temps start to get warm.

RobA, about two years ago, I had a similar explosion in my pond. I couldn't even use my trolling motor for my boat due to the weeds.

Another name for it is Potamageton (sp?).

Grass carp will eat it also.

As Shorty says, it will curtail itself somewhat as the summer progresses, but it won't go away.

One side benefit (maybe) is that you will end up with a lot of YOY fish as they can hide very well in all of that stuff.

That is indeed curly-leaf pond weed (Potamogeton crispus). When not using Aqushade, it dies back and stems sink in late June early July. With Aquashade it may stand tall all summer. It reproduces each year from hard sharp edged winter buds called turions. I have not had good luck with grass carp eating lots of it due to the hard winter buds are annoying to the fish. Best chemicals for it are Reward and Sonar. Best to treat it chemically before it reaches the surface.

In one of my 1 acre ponds, 7 grass carp totally eliminated a pretty bad infestation. They were 10 to 12 inches at stocking time. I now have 2 big ones left and they pretty well keep it down.