Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Help with Coontail?

John, I have to throw this up there to protect my applicators license. Indiana law reads that if I know of an incorrect application of a herbicide (i.e. using a terrestrial chemical on water) and I don't say something about it, I could lose my license.

So, with being said, it is against federal regulations to use any herbicide for any application that is not specifically stated on the label. i.e., if the chemical isn't rated to be used in ponds, then don't use it. For instance, Round-Up is glyphosate based. It is not labeled to use in, or around a pond. ShoreKlear is also glyphosate based and it IS labeled to use in and around ponds. It's not the ghyphosate, it's the other ingredients in it that is the difference.

I looked up Defender in the on-line WalMart store and can not find it. The only Defender herbicide that I could find on the internet is spelled Defendor, and is produced by DOW. The active ingredient is florasulam, and it is a little bit more expensive than what you said you used, at $233 for 32 ounces. It too is not rated for use in ponds.

John, we just don't want to suggest violating Federal Law by using a product other than it is labeled for...that is exactly why the label says, "It is a violation of federal law to use this product other than described...". That $10 Defender gets expensive after a lawyer and $25,000 fine in Federal court.

I'm pretty sure its another knock off Glyphosate (Roundup).

Concern with O2 is based on ignorance and a prior post regarding the potential harmful effects of simply having too heavy of a concentration of the pond weed. I would like to try spot treating with Aquathol Super K. Checked Amazon for Aquastrike and could not find the product. Any recommendation regarding granular vs. liquid? Would prefer using granular for ease of application.

You won't find Aquastrike on Amazon and they only sell it in 2.5 gallon containers which is considered a hazmat shipping product. You can find it at larger aquatic company websites but most only UPS 1 gallon containers or less to use the ORM-D hazmat packaging size exception. Weedtrine D and Reward one gallon containers are available for shipping UPS. Just remember Coontail is a floater so my choice is to spray it on the surface or use Fluridone to kill it all.

Active ingredients may be the same, yet the surfactants can be deadly in even small amounts to aquatic life.

I promise I won't bring this up anymore. In past post I have photographed the bottle it comes in and the ingredients so I won't do this again. I did run experiments in my pond to find the right proportions per gallon for the best cattail control. I feed my fish for fun and when I sprayed in a tight area the fish came up and tried to eat the foam from the spray. No fish died. I have cattails that will grow from 20 to 30 feet all around my pond but for really interesting looks I cut out area's with no cattails to the shore. For a $10 bottle I use about 1/4 of it for the pond and the rest of it for the drive way. So the cost is $2.50 for what I do in my one acre pond. And no fish kill. I will put this to rest now.

Like I said before, what the label says is the law. It's not the active ingredient, it's the other things in there that haven't been tested. Just like running a stop sign or running a red light. If there's nobody around, you can do it and not get into trouble, or have anything bad happen. Do it when there is a cop there, or another car trying to occupy the same space in the intersection, and you will not like the outcome.

It's a public forum, you don't know who is reading it. It's MY license on the line if I don't say anything. There is no way that I will risk MY livelihood because someone thinks that it is OK to blatantly disregard Federal Law. Just because nothing happened in your pond, doesn't mean that something won't happen in someone else's pond if they were to use the same product. In todays litigious society, I sure don't want to throw $$ at my attorney to protect myself from someone that said "You recommended this, I followed what you did and it killed all my "X". I want you to pay to bring the pond back to the way it was before."

Sorry I misspoke, My poor brain isn't what it used to be. Defender is not the name of the chemical but Eliminator is.

John, if you take the time to read the label it says two things on it.

1) It is a violation of Federal Law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with it's labeling. READ ENTIRE LABEL. USE ONLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH LABEL INSTRUCTIONS.

2) Then under ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS it says Do not apply directly to water.