Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Bottom of pond covered in coontail

I have a one acre pond (when it's full) and probably 90 percent of the botton is covered with coontail. It's a little annoying when fishing, but not a big issue. I'm sure its good cover for little fish. I guess my question is, is there a reason I should try and get it cut back? Could it have negative affects on my pond?












Pretty much the only other vegetation is what looks like marsh seedbox (according to a plant ID app). It is mostly limited to the (now dry) bank of about half the pond.

Look and see what Water Primrose looks like.........

Too much plant life in the pond can create low O2 events at night. As the sun sets, the plants start using and not producing O2. O2 in a pond is typically lowest 30-45 minutes before sunrise.

Coontail can be partially controlled by Triploid Grass Carp, but the only problem with them is twofold. 1) You cannot tell them WHERE you want the coontail to be eaten. 2) 7-8+ years down the road when they are huge and slow down eating the underwater weeds, the only way to get them out of the pond is usually be electroshocking the pond, or by bowfishing them out.

And electrofishing isn't a 100% foolproof way. We electroshocked a customers pond every other year for the last 6 years and only shocked these two last year.



We had tried for a number of years to get underwater weeds established in the pond, and couldn't understand why we couldn't........ Here is another picture of the bigger one. It weighed 49# with the tail still on the ground. I couldn't pick it up any higher.



A mixture of Diquat and Cutrine Plus can be used to spot treat areas of coontail.

Yeah I guess that stuff does look like water primrose.

I’m really reluctant to use pesticides. I know the aquatic ones are supposedly safe, I just hate the idea of chemical pesticides. I think I’d like to try a couple of the grass carp. I have friends that bow fish a lot and it looks like a lot of fun, so win-win I guess. Thanks ad always for the detailed information.

A lot of new land owners feel the exact same way. However, most of the generational farmers/ranchers/wildlife managers I know all believe in "better living through chemicals".

I have tried to eliminate invasive trees by grubbing and burning. The trees just kept on coming right back. I then switched to spot herbicide treatments, performed EXACTLY according to the label. Trees wiped out, good thick band of healthy diverse grasses now established to provide a riparian buffer to our creek.

The creek is now cleaner, the aquatic wildlife is happier, the soil erosion is diminished, and I don't have to constantly fight the spread of invasives.

The pond management professionals on the forum all seem to use herbicides for problem plants in their subject ponds. Along with all of the synergistic non-chemical means working in parallel to help. I don't recall anyone on the forum ever reporting a bad outcome for their overall pond health due to herbicide applications, except for the cases where a rookie reported making a huge mistake and was posting questions on how to fix it.

Exactly follow the chemical labels. They have been tested extensively for their approved applications.

Those are great pics, esshup!

Not many guys get to do their strength training while they are still on the clock at work.