Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Getting Rid of Eurasian Milfoil

Hello

I work for a small municipality. We have a small lake (approximately 15 acres), over the last few years the lake has become overrun with eurasian milfoil. We are looking for ways to kill it. What is the best way to accomplish this? Any ideas and estimated costs would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

Bishop123 try this site... http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/

I have had the same problem on my lake with eurasian milfoil. There are two ways to rid yourself of this weed. 1) cut or pull the weeds by some manual or mechanical means, or 2) use a chemical product called Navigate. It comes in a 50lb bag @ about $150 per bag. Do your homework as to where you buy this stuff. Some stores sell it well above $200. This stuff looks like kitty litter and I spread it on my lake with a seed spreader. The kind that hangs around your neck with a crank handle on the side. Spread this stuff out from the back of a boat while someone rows you around over the Eur. Milfoil. Use approximately 100 lbs per acre if it is really bad. Bad would be where it tangles up on your oars as you row through it. In about 2-3 weeks the E. Milfoil will begin to die off and sink to the bottom. The product navigate is very selective in what it affects and Milfoil is one of them. There is alot of info out there on this product that can help you. Good luck and keep us posted as to the progress.

Many towns have summer festivals like Tulip Festival or Glad/Peach Festival. Have yourself a Milfoil Festival with carnival rides, ethnic foods, a classic car display and a contest where all the town folk swim out and gather as much Milfoil as they can. The winner gets a trophy and their picture taken with the Milfoil Festival Queen.

I live in a neighborhood in CT where our 11 households own a 7-acre pond. Pond vegetation used to be waterlillies (2 types). Milfoil grew heavily ovr the last 10 years. We contacted a company called Pond and Lake Connection, one of their guys told us about ProcellaCOR, a new herbicide (modified plant growth hormone) supposedly very selective for Milfoil and other invasives at very low concentration, supposedly not affecting other vegetation or posing the problems more typical of herbicides.

We had it treated last summer at a one-time cost of about $6000. It worked, all milfoil died and within days not visible. But there was some damage to the waterlillies; many showed browning of the leaves and this spring lilly abundance had been diminished. Also we noticed some dead lily roots (rhizomes) floating in shallower regions where lillies grow, and some of these rhizomes bring with them mud to produce small floating islands of muck. So there were some unexpected side effects. We've been swimming and fishing in the pond this season; the water appears much cleaner and the fishing is good. We're still wondering about the muck islands, how long they will take to sink, at least one did.

GuitarGuy, welcome to Pond Boss!!

Bob VanOrman and bkundework. Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM) reproduces by seeds or by fragments of the plant. Pulling or cutting will just make the problem worse.

You can use Fluridone at the rate of 7-10 PPB (parts per billion) to kill it and any Curly Leaf Pondweed (CLPW). It's best to treat the EWM and CLPW early in the year - when the water temp is 60°F and there is no exchange of water in the lake/pond. It takes 30-45 days for the Fluridone to work, and in a larger body of water, a FAST Test is recommended at 10-15 days to ensure that the level of concentration is still in the lethal zone for those 2 species. It's best to treat it before it can set seeds, which is usually in June in Northern Indiana, so you have to begin treatment about 2 months prior. Using Fluridone in the correct concentration will give you at least 2 years EWM kill and possibly longer.

If you don't treat it before it sets the seeds, you will have to treat it again the following year to kill it before it releases the seeds.

I like using Fluridone because you can tailor the dosage according to what plants you want to kill, and it kills them over time so you greatly reduce the risk of an O2 crash that typically happens when a large amount of vegetation starts to decay.

Here's my experience with EWM.

Early summer 1/2 the pond covered in EWM, removed it manually weekly, dozens of tractor bucket loads, then as esshup said would be the case - by the end of summer the whole pond was covered.

The treatment plan,
A heavy dose of pond dye over winter, at ice-out following spring when growth was low, the Sonar application! EWM eradication lasted 3 years, some spot treatment just starting now.

One note,
Good aeration and adding beneficial bacteria since then has removed over a foot of muck (fertile ground for weeds), pond now has mostly a hard sand bottom now. The little bit of EWM seen recently doesn't look as hearty, has been easily knocked out with spot treatments.

how do you do spot treatments?

If shallow water - Cutrine plus w/booster from pump sprayer
Deeper water - granules