Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Grass Carp vs. Milfoil

I was wondering.

If I overstocked (say 20/ac) of 10"-12" GC, and don't care about other plants in the pond, would they take care of a milfoil problem? I know it's not on their preferred food list, but if it's the only game in town......... Yeah, I feed, but I figure if I catch them a few times on pellets, they'd get the hint.

It's either them or a qt. of fluridone. 16 oz. last year didn't do the trick. Maybe too much water flow thru the pond due to the sandy soil.

18 GC in my 1 acre pond pretty much cleaned out the pond of submerged plants including a very heavy crop of Eurasian milfoil.

Thanks John. That might be a more cost effective option for me.

If I am not mistaken and I am a novice at all of this pond stuff, I do believe milfoil is similar to parrots feather...my 2 acre pond was half infested and I have found there is only ONE way to tackle this stuff and that is ripping it out by hand. I am just over forty and my body is aching from pulling this stuff out and heaving it to the shore...for the past three days!!!!!!!! I am not a snake guy and I have ran across 7!!!!! I crapped my pants all 7 times!!!!! Do not believe people when they say snakes are more scared of you. These snakes are curious. Snakes love parrots feather!!!

Rip it out by the roots by hand, its the only way. AND, invest in the Big Tooth Lake Rake its perfect for the mats. And get plenty of Ibuprofen. But the results are beautiful!

do grass carp and tilapia eat different aqautic plants?

I have no idea but I do know grass carp do not care for p-feather b/c of its high tanin quality. Don't quote me on that, but I think so...

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A few years ago Permits in Florida for Grass Carp was a Internet form you fill out and printed. Today it is a act of Congress to get the Permit.


ARE ALL STATES AS HARD TO GET GC PERMITS??????



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I was turned down on my previous property here in Texas. They said I had to build a big expensive "protective barrier" at the overflow spillway. The creek below the dam was very small, almost dry, and was miles from any lake, but they said under the right circumstances it was possible a carp could escape.

GC are one of those things that either you have too many of, or not enough. So yes, if you truly overstock enough GC they should take care of the milfoil problem. It might be a good idea to thin the LMB numbers down once the milfoil starts to disappear. The lack of vegetation will disrupt the current predator prey balance and the LMB will thin down the forage base to point where there is not enough forge left in following year to maintain healthy looking LMB.

Good point Shorty. Currently I have 38 feed trained LMB in the pond that went in last year at around 2# each, and when they went in, they were tagged with numbered floy tags. Any LMB that is caught now gets removed from the pond if it isn't tagged. There are a few other LMB that I see eating pellets that aren't tagged. If I can catch them, and know for sure that they are pellet eaters, they'll get tagged too.

The RBT that are cruising around in the pond now are larger than every LMB that I've seen so far.... Those suckers grow FAST on AM600!