Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Dead pond question

Since I have no fish and only a couple frogs in my pond is there a way that I can kill my DW and Watermeal with out the high cost? I have been trying to seine the dw but the watermeal is way to small and way to much. My pond isabout a 3/8 acre size and in the past left un attended or maintained, previouse owner said it use to have fish until about 5 yrs ago they all started dieing with all the surfaced covered in dw and watermeal. Someone has mentioned to me to try hydrated lime to change the ph and kill everything in the pond . will this have a effect to the pond? I should be fully areated in a couple weeks depending on how long shipping time is.

Bleach is cheap and effective.

Consider the hazards of putting chlorine in your pond before using bleach: Chlorine pond hazards

I have thought of the chlorine as I work for a water distribution co, and I have a good friend that is the manager of a water treatment plant so I could get all the chlorine I wanted. not the pool version of 65% granules. they use the liguid chlorine which is extremely dangerous to work with, but then you still have the THM to deal with so I dont think that would be good plan. Would the hydrated lime do anything to the weeds?

What is your alkalinity ? There are several sources to kill plants in the pond. if you get the ph high enough it will kill plants and fish and most all else. If you decide to go with a systemic herbicide be sure that it won't kill any trees near the pond. If their roots pick up the pond water they will go also. Look at this site.

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/

CRIKIE! My pond is surrounded by trees, particully on my dam, I am going to remove some of them but afraid there roots may cause problems in the future..I have walnut,locust, willow,elm, oak, from 2" to 8" man it just keeps getting worse. They all probably have a 100 foot tap root that shoots out the back of my pond!

I dont have a way of measuring my alkalinity, My cheap pool tester only does ph,chlorine,bromine, I can say my PH is right at 8.0 though

Ewest, Trialsguy mentioned in another thread that he does not have fish. Dont you think the hydrated lime to kill the WM and DW and sterilize the pond is the way to go, instead of some expensive herbicide? He wants to stock next year. Is that correct TG?

Yes sir that is correct! what I am shooting for is to get my pond in order this year with areation and hopefully some muck removed off the bottom with enzymes and stock it in the spring or when ever I get things stable. I already have a ton of man hours just clearing the brush and trees away from it to just get to see the thing from the ground

Tough question. If you empty the pond and take out muck including the plants then refill it should be ok. Any small amounts that pop up can be treated. Adding hydrated lime when emptied and scraped out should help sterlize the pond. Be sure to get all of it (WM etc) off the banks.

I have checked with the buget committie chairperson and she says no money bugeted for such a project So the only way for my pond to be reinstated would be to drain and scrape or try Sonar and hope that it will come out of it?

Will my aeration plan and enzymes introduced to the pond help in anyway to resolve my problem by next year?

Sonar, although systemic, will not kill the established trees. We would all be out of business if this were true.

Several threads on the forum on Sonar and WM and DW. Chech on them. If I recall the posters had limited success with it on those weeds. The plant pros here would know better. It is expensive so check first. Search under duck weed or sonar.

Thank you ewest, I have read quite abit about Sonar and its not so great effects at times, thats why I was looking for other methods to rid my weeds that maybe were less exspensive but more effective seeing I dont have fish to kill. Yes this forum is Great! The more I read the more I need to read it is awesome with all the free advice and the great willingness that people have here to help.