Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Pondweed Solutions - Dye?

I am looking to treat a 20 acre lake for Pondweed in Michigan. The weeds are pretty severe, covering about 70% of the lakes surface. This lake is a pretty consistent 10' throughout the entire lake. Looks like a Herbicide application would run about $8k or more, which I simply cannot afford.

I'm considering Dye now and wondering if anyone has had experience treating Pondweed with Dye. I think this lake would be a great candidate because these weeds are having to come to the surface from so far down (10'). I am considering this option to treat for the 2017 season by using the product in March / April.

This lake does have a small overflow / outflow. I read on the Michigan DEQ's website that any Dye classified as a 'Herbicide' (like Aquashade) cannot be applied to a body of water with an outflow. It seems as if I am able to use another brand like 'Cygnet Select' since it is not labeled as a Herbicide. Can anyone confirm?

I'd appreciate any input or to hear about any experiences.

Thank you,
Dan

I doubt you will be able to treat with dye. My lily pads are at 8 feet of water and we dye our pond and only have 18"s of visibility they still come up every year.

I have some natural pond weeds that are coming up as well this year even with the dye.

Pond dye if used early enough and consistently enough will in my experience help a great deal in preventing initial/new growth. It doesn't seem to do much of anything to existing vegetation and/or if added later in the year to a BOW that didn't have it before.

When it really worked in my little pond I put the first batch in when the pond was still half iced over, and added more every 3 months or so.

Interesting. I did not know AquaShade was classified as a herbicide. I've never seen it actually kill any weeds and I thought blocking sunlight was its only function. Last time I went to buy it at Rural King they had some other brand on sale for $18.something a gallon so I bought 2 gallons. It looked like Aquashade and colored the pond the same. They also had it in black dye and I wondered if that might work even better.

By EPA's definition, a "pesticide" is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest - regardless of the means by which it accomplishes the intended function. All "herbicides" fall under the umbrella term "pesticides", but the term "pesticide" also encompass all other "cides" (insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides, miticide, bactericide, etc).
As for lake-colorants, only two brands are EPA-registered as a herbicide/algaecide; AQUASHADE and ADMIRAL. All others lake colorants, of which there are many, are "legally" marketed/promoted strictly for aesthetic purposes.
Beware of comparing lake-colorants based strictly on their cost per gallon. You're basically buying a gallon of fluid that contains an undisclosed amount of pigment (dye-content). Although all lake-colorants are "concentrated", their degree of concentration varies widely - and you won't be able to tell the difference without conducting side-by-side dilution-comparisons under relatively tight controls.
I recently discovered another means for conducting a preliminary lake-colorant comparison, as shown in this short VIDEO.
Guess which of the two colorants is cheaper, yet takes almost 3X the dose of the other to yield similar levels of coloration after two weeks of sun-light exposure (sunlight causes photo-degradation of dyes).

Good example Kelly!! I like the video.

I use a super concentrated dye where 1 qt dyes the same water volume as a gallon of the "labled" dye. I used 18 quarts to dye 24.5 million gallons of water in a large shallow pond and had to "bump" the dye after 60 days with another 9 quarts. It definitely helped lengthen the interval between weed/algae treatments. That "bump" was enough to keep the pond colored for the rest of the year.

My only suggestion is to ignore the phrase "super concentrate" on the product's label until you've conducted side-by-side dilution tests to visually confirm the claim. They're all "concentrated" dyes. Any additional adjectives are simply used to manipulate the buyer's perception - unless validated by direct comparison with other dyes.

Wow maybe the perch have blue mouths from pond dye? I use two quarts a year in our pond that is 1 acre when completely full and 1 million gallons.

Cheers Don.

We did PDC (Pure Dye Concentration) testing back in 2009 on a bunch of dyes on the market. Some were at 9%, others 15% and the quart sized we used was around 30%. Watch out for the sellers that claim their dye is 100% dye. They have no clue what they are reselling and from what country. Lots of dyes coming from other countries including China.

Don, this pond is not dyed.

Just a thought.. I don't like using chemicals and use them very sparingly. But when I do I use the very cheap 2-4-D which kills broadleaf lilies in my fish feeding area. I believe pond weed leaves float on top of the water. So if it were me I would spot spray a small spot and see what happen in a couple of weeks.