Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Pond dye + herbicides

First, I'm happy to be back in the fold. This spring has been a royal a** whipping with all the rain and big puddle flow through, but as of this morning, we're finally caught up.

So... Has anybody tried, or are there any potential issues, if a small amount of pond dye is added to herbicides for subsurface application. My intent is to be able to visually tell if the spray mixture is fully spreading through the acres of spotty coontail that have just exploded here this spring. My best guesstimate is 4-5 acres of coontail.

I've buoyed off sections for treatment, but I'm never quite sure if I've hit the whole treatment area.

Any tips or advice on subsurface plant control, or even the merit of the dye, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, guys.

Maybe Kelly Duffie will chime in...I can't think of a downside to the dye being used in small quantities.

Just call him Poppa Smurf! I can see it now.

Make sure it's Blue Dye.

Al, you want some concentrate?

Scott, I will be blue, but I'm down with Poppa Smurf so that's ok.

Since you brought it up, I'd advise everyone to alternate spraying sides when using any marker products. Walking into a Walmart with one blue leg definitely gets more looks than 2 blue legs. Don't ask me how I know.

no detriment to adding pond-dye to subsurface injections; but I'm not very confident that doing so will aid your ability to see dispersion after several hours. Sorta depends if any subsurface currents are present, which are otherwise invisible.

I was mainly wanting to learn the coverage of my guns and wands before full scale applications. If the dye inhibited the herbicide, then it would skew results.

Kelly, thanks as always for your advice.

Afterthought: Kelly, have you seen any major changes with the aquatic growth with all the rain we've had this spring? I'm seeing ponds that never seemed to have any issues covered in duckweed and coontail. In my particular case, we had almost constant flow through for several months, and subsurface herbicide applications were spotty at best.

Al, Thanks for asking some of the same questions I have as a new pond owner here in E Texas. I wondered, what plants might show up in or on the water this first spring and summer. And how I might mechanically and or how I might disperse the chemicals. I planted some American pondweed and eel grass but the majority did not live as far as I can tell. I held off on adding any GC because of the planting. I think I may have some spike rush, I think that is the name of it. With me having steep banks and green water ccaused by fertilization with 22 inches of visibility, I hoped the sunlight might be reduced getting to the bottom of the pond where unwanted plants might take up roots.

Tracy

Tracy, if you're fertilizing, give me a holler next time you hit I30 westbound. I'll give you 4 gallons of Dunn's pond specific fertilizer. I learned too late (prior to application though) that you don't fertilize swamps. Or at least not my swamp.

I'd imagine there will be a major influx of FA with all the nutrients from decayed grasses that died in the drought now being flushed into the ponds/lakes rather than being absorbed into the local soils from softer rain events.

After the 2-3 years drought broke in the Midwest, FA reports were common with customers saying they'd never had close to the coverage seen.

Thanks for the offer Al, but I think the fertilization is over this yr. I try to take baby steps here. It was suggested by our friends in Buffalo to fertilize and so I did. And Rainman the FA has seemed to have been controlled by the Tilapia. little to no FA that I can see.

Tracy

Rex, the FA scenario was exactly what I was expecting. But, FA has been almost nonexistent this spring. What I did see happen was high tannins, and an early start to aquatic growth. The coontail not only started early, it exploded with the additional nutrients. I'll never figure all this out.

Tracy, no problem at all. Just thought I'd throw it out there. I sure can't use it, so I'll keep sticking gallon jugs of fertilizer under the junk in the back of highflyer's truck. He'll never read this thread, so I'm safe.

I'm seeing EWM in my pond start to show up. If the water level stabilizes and doesn't flush out, it'll be Fluridone to the rescue again.

I will keep an eye on it so none of it flowers. If it does, I will pick 'em before they can set seeds.

With all the rain you guys got, the decay nutrients may have just flowed right on through your ponds into the gulf....