Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Water milfoil

What's the best way to control/get rid of water Milfoil?

chemicals (at least that's my opinion).

I've tried different ones, and up until now, Fluridone has worked the best. Ask me again in a month or so and I might have a different answer.

One option for controlling milfoil is to use the boat-mounted Lake MowerTM, and cut them as deep as you can, to buy yourself time before you have to cut again. Then next season, start mowing before they come to the surface. By preventing flowers and seeds from forming, you will impact subsequent years' growth. Be sure to remove your cuttings so they don't remain and make the problem worse. See lakemower.com .

That's where I differ in opinion. Using a cutter to remove plants that propagate via cuttings is NOT something that I would do, nor would I recommend it. Any small piece of plant not removed from the BOW will turn into another plant. So, any foothold you gain by not letting the plant form seeds is offset by any tiny piece of the plant that you don't remove.

EWM is one plant that we battle up here, and the only way that I've found to control it is with chemicals. Different chemicals are used depending on the amount of other species of plants that you want to have in the pond.

Endothall based products (Aquatol K and Super K) work well on milfoils and don't have any fishing, swimming or irrigation restrictions. 1.3 to 1.9 gals/acre ft (2-3 ppm) works well. You can also mix with 2,4-d or triclopyr and reduce the rate of endothall too.

A third option would be to use pond dye at ice out to reduce your water clarity to less than a few feet. Milfoil likes to take off growing when water temps are still too cold to use chemicals, deprive it of the sun light it needs early in the year and it won't do well later in the year.