Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Success Story--American Pondweed

3 years or so ago I asked this forum for help in eliminating/controlling American Pondweed in small ponds on a family property. I received good input at that time (thanks again!)from various members. We have four ponds with a total of 6 surface acres and 30 AF of water.

The APW had taken over all areas of the ponds that were less than 11-12 feet in depth, which was about 85% of the total surface area of the ponds. I started the effort to kill this weed in 2005 with a product called Sonar. No results. I tried a stronger dose of Sonar in 2006. No results. I gave up in frustration in 2007. Back at it in 2008, using different chemicals and some advice from PondBoss members and the knowledgeable staff @ Cygnet Enterprises, a seller of various chemicals.

Finally, in June 2009 I found a mix of Reward, Nautique and a surfactant (Cygnet Plus) that turned the tide in my favor. By July 2010, the bio-mass had been reduced by 90% from the year before and only spot spraying was needed.

I spent a few nights last week up at this property, cleaning up downed oaks from the winter storms and fixing fences. I took a few minutes to take some photos of the ponds. I had taken photos of the ponds back in June 2005 before I began the effort to eliminate the APW and tried to take the June 2011 photos from the same spots for comparison sake.

As kids back in the 1960's and '70's, we could boat, fish and swim in all of these ponds. The past 25 years the ponds have been choked with APW, making rowing tough and swimming nearly impossible. The ponds have lots of nice fish (I catch LMB in the 15-20 inch range every time I go out), but only a few areas had enough open water to allow fishing. With the ponds free of weeds once again, we can now enjoy our ponds as we did in past years.

I've never posted images previously, so here's hoping they attach properly. You can see a few patches of the APW near to shore in a few images. I plan to leave a few patches here and there for cover.

Looking good..

Nice work. Glad you had success. Beautiful ponds.

Boy, those are great results and the water looks absolutely pristine. Beautiful ponds and setting, too! Congrats on the success.

Wow great before and after photos!

my dribble bib is firmly attached.

signed,
extremely envious in el dorado.

do you have low water issues in the summer? yer pond system appears creek fed......and elevation high enough to have trout??

i will save yer herbicide cocktail as i have a similar issue.

again, very very nice and thanks for sharing

Thank you, Gentlemen. I appreciate the kind words. A lot of time and effort, trial and error went into this project. It is very gratifying to see the results this Spring.

All photos I attached are of one of the four ponds, from various angles and vantage points.

Dave, yes, the water will drop several vertical feet from maximum pool by the end of summer. The pond pictured stays full and will spill all Summer in a wet year such as this year. It has a great natural spring in addition to the seasonal creek flowing through. In a dry year, it will drop down 1-2 feet. Two of the ponds will drop 5-8 vertical feet, depending upon how wet the Winter was.

No trout, though. Bluegill, crappie and largemouth bass. The spring-fed pond could support German Brown, I beleive, but Rainbow's would likely not survive. My Dad considered trout way back when, but decided against them.

We have never fed the fish, never aerated, never stocked any fish. They do well on their own. We have a few GBH nests in the big pines in the pictures and I have seen a few osprey this Spring. They get the dumb and lame fish, I guess. Of course, that's the only ones I can catch, so I suppose that makes these fishing birds my competitors!

Nice looking place. Great before-n-after shots.
Not too many folks think ahead to take photos for future comparisons.
Good job!


BTW: Aquathol K applied topically to American pondweed does a stellar job too.