Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants AQUATIC MICROBES

FYI: There's an ongoing debate regarding the various types of aquatic microbial products, and the issues that surround their use.

If you have any experience with these types of critters and wish to toss in your .02, please review the thread linked below, BUT enter your input under this subject-heading.

Link> MICROBE DISCUSSION

tac5's source, did indicate 8 billion per gram, or 3 trillion per pound. 11 bacteria and 7 enzyme strains.

I use similar products in my freshwater tanks to aid the filters, but There is a BIG difference between 50 gallons and millions of gallons of water. IMHO the odds of increasing microbe activity enough to make any noticable improvement are slim to none. In my tanks it takes 1 tbs per 10 gallons of water, with that measurement it would take 50+ pounds of "powder" for the average 1 acre pond. Seems to me the products are a little misleading.

It's been a couple of weeks since I treated my 1 acre pond with the "witches brew" of enzymes and bacteria. The dead Floating Heart (eradicated with Glyphosate) is slowly decaying, but I'm still having to spot treat for new growth (small patches where the roots have remained stubborn). I suspect I will be finding isolated patches for a while. Any algae is easily controlled with Cutrine Plus. The amount of dead plant material is greatly decreased; areas that were choked are opening up and the water is remarkably clear. So what part does the added bacteria play in the process? I have no way of telling, at least not scientifically. What lake bottom I can see from shore is clean, no sludge buildup, even an absence of leaves and other runoff material. So everything looks good. I have to remember to remain patient; that this cleanup will take time. But the improvement is truly impressive. My expectation is to have a clean new pond by the end of the summer.

I added microbes last week. Kelly said that a 12 wk regimen, with adding microbes every 2 wks and tapering down will give the best results. Sounds like you're on the way to a clean pond.

could we revisit this and the link that Kelly provided? Still an awfully confusing topic to me?
tnx
Jim

I have had to stop my enzyme/bacteria application for the time being. Rising temperatures and lower water levels have caused an explosion in the regrowth of the Floating Heart (Nymphoides Peltata). The surface of my pond had been cleared by using Rodeo (Glyphosate), but many of the roots still persist and I am having to reapply Rodeo to many areas. I have a weed cutter and a pond rake and have been removing as much of the submerged plant matter as I can reach. I am surprised to see how many of the roots are still alive. One half of the pond is looking good now. Imagine very large al dente spaghetti and you will understand what I'm pulling out. I'm considering a contact herbicide to get to the roots, but I can't get 2,4-D in Texas, so I'm looking at other products. I can clean most of the pond out with my cutting and raking, but this plant is so persistent that it must be totally eradicated, or I will be spot killing it forever. This plant entered my pond by my own mistake, I cleaned out a small 2000 gallon lily pond by the house last year and some remnants of Floating Heart made it to the larger 1 acre pond. This stuff is evil! I am winning the battle and still expect to have the cleanup totally finished by the end of the summer. Thank goodness for modern chemistry. I still plan to add more "witches brew" after I have the raking done. More news later.

Tac5 - as previously mentioned in other threads, the recently registered HABITAT Herbicide will probably yield much better "root control" on rooted emergent species. I haven't personally tested HABITAT on floating heart. But, my bet is that it will work 10x better on it than would glyphosate - and probably much better than even 2,4-D.

Kelly, you have Email from tac5.

Just for reference here's another thread on microbes:
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=001757;p=1

And another: http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000455

I'm not sure if I want to experiment with these microbes or not.