Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Covered in Lilly Pads

Bought a house with a pond and it's pretty much unfishable!!! Every summer it's completely covered in pads. These pix were 2 weeks ago and it's worse now. Its only 1/3 of an acre and deepest point is 6ft

Pictures aren't showing.

The pictures would help identify what your dealing with for certain. Lots of folks in my area will say lily pads, when in fact it's spatterdock. "Sounds" like you have spatterdock.

Here's some control options:

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/management-options/spatterdock/

Glyphosate is the way to go. REMEMBER!!!!! do not use over the recommended rates when using glyphosate... You will put the plant in shock and it will not take the herbicide down to the root and you will treat again this or next season. So many people try to overdue it and end up making more work for yourself. More is less in this case.!!! The leaf has a waxy coating that needs to be burned through with a surfactant. Do not use dish soap use an aquatic surfactant like Cide-kick. If you need help with a rate let me know.

IMO, you really need to have your "lily" identified. Some lily-type plants are much more difficult to control than others (such as Brasinia spp/water shield) .
Several different herbicides are generally effective on lilies, but my favorite is imazapyr. It tends to provide better root-control for emergent plants that grow in deeper water. However, the drawback with topically applied herbicides for lilies is this; for every lily-pad that can be contacted by a surface-application, there are probably 2X+ that still have their pads beneath the surface - which won't be contacted or controlled with a topical/surface application. So, be prepared for repetitive treatments in that scenario.
As mentioned above, when conducting topical applications, a good surfactant is critical for leaf-cuticle penetration. "Burning" through the waxy leaf-surface isn't exactly the metaphor that I'd use, since anything that quickly damages leaf-tissue will actually impede the plant's uptake and translocation of the herbicide. Although Cide-Kick is possibly a decent choice for contact/non-systemic herbicides, a good methylated seed-oil surfactant performs best with imazapyr and glyphosate-based herbicides.

I have a similar problem only it's am.lotus and I was going to use navigate pellets in hope of getting the tubers too.they haven't flowered yet can I still use pellets?

I think so, I'm still using it here. IIRC, Navigate recommends up to 200 lbs per surface acre for A Lotus control.

have you had luck with it

Yes, but I'm not ready to call it a glyphosate replacement yet. Where I do like it is in shallow areas with other weeds it controls. I'll have to see how it works long term before I make a final decision.

any one else use navigate or aquacide on american lotus

I used navigate to try to kill water shield. Didn't work. Don't know if my application rate was wrong or what happened. I thought it was fine. Did very little. Multiple applications of glyphosate seem to be the only thing working for me. And even then, it is a battle.

AL - imazapyr (POLARIS), applied topically with a methylated seed-oil surfactant, is a far better treatment for watershield than glyphosate. It's slow, but thorough.
Unfortunately, watershield shoots that are beneath the surface at the time of an application will not be impacted by the surface-treatment - and subsurface injection isn't an option with imazapyr.

Never saw pics of this guy's lilies, but I have the same problem with lilies. Any help identifying these? Both my ponds are are totally covered in it.

So would I use Polaris and MSL premium on American Lotus?
Maybe a lighter solution so I don't burn it down too fast