Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Identifying plants What is this plant?

What is this plant and how can I control it. It takes over and makes it really hard to fish.

Thanks

Looks like American Pondweed. I had good results using endothall when I used to spray ponds in Ohio. If it's covering most of the pond, take it out in sections to prevent a low oxygen situation. Good info here:

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/database/submerged_plants/american_pondweed.htm

Totally uninformed guess here, in fact so uninformed I can't even say it's an amateur guess. Heck, it probably doesn't even qualify as a SWAG type of guess, but my money's on American Pondweed, too.

Potamogeton – one of them but may not be American

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/ -- data base

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/database/submerged_plants/american_pondweed.htm -- id

http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/database/submerged_plants/american_pondweed_mgmt.htm -- mgt

That is one thick stand of pond weed!

That looks like American Pond Weed to me as well. It also looks so thick that you could almost walk on it. Brettski? Cecil?? (I'm having way, way, too much fun with that).

I had some in my pond that I wanted to control (pond weed not Brettkski and Cecil) and I used a Reward/Cutrine mix. It seemed to do a great job.

Yeah it is thick and about 6 ft from the bank all around the pond. Cant count the number of hooks I lost last year.

Will spraying the weed hurt my fish?

Thanks

Not if done correctly. See the link above about mgt and read the label of the proper product selected.

treat next spring as it begins to appear. It is easy to kill. If you can let some grow it is great plant for fish if held at leass than 30% coverage. many herbicides will work but reward is my choice.

Grass carp also love it... Another option to help keep it in check.

I won't dispute Greg's suggestion (REWARD) - especially for fast results; but my preference for APW (Potamogeton nodosus) is AQUATHOL K (endothall, liquid) applied topically at a relatively high concentration (ie. using a low ratio of water-carrier).
Although REWARD yields a very quick brown-out, rooted plants often return (at least in our part of the country).
AQUATHOL K has a different mode-of-action that somewhat suffocates susceptible plants - usually killing them root-n-all.
One advantage for REWARD is the ability to greatly limit the area of impact to that which is physically treated, while AQUATHOL's impact could migrate into untreated adjacent areas.

KD great advice. I have found that potomo has such poor root struture one treatmetn in say mid May when still growing will rid of all year. I need to take that advice on aquathol however for some of the sbumersed plants that have better root structure and does come back on us.

CJ I would say yes to grass carp if you want it eliminated totally. You seem with grass carp to get little or all solution not really a keep in "check' deal get my drift.

With as thick as his pondweed is... It could take a lot of carp to get that under control! But a agree, it's hard to find a happy balance with carp.

Yup, that's pondweed alright, I have some in a few ponds I manage, but not even close to that thick. Stuff comes up fairly easy, I'd just manually harvest it as I really avoid use chemical control unless a last resort.

I guess you could consider triploids, but pondweed is on the iffy end of thier preferred spectrum. A big IF. Plus with triploids they can eat all the beneficial plants and leave you with a ruined pond.

Can you drop the water level at this place?

I like the plant, wouldn't get rid of all of it, just keep it in check, it is better than what we have, which is no plants except Curly Leaf Pondweed, which is now being controlled nicely because the new lake guys treat it early, very early.

Yes, if you can drawdown and get to the roots it is fairly easy to thin it out. I have a lot of it and I never touch it. Fish love it and it does not expand or get dense like yours. I hand pull a bit of it if I get snagged in it. I guess I have the right conditions that it does not go out of control like yours. I just keep my electric troller motor away from it.

If I may ask,

What is your intent, complete eradication or just thinning?

Does it ever die back naturally?

Is your entire pond like this or just some areas?

Can you draw your pond down?

American pondweed is fairly dense across the face of my dam. Great spot to fish bass using topwater in the mornings.

How big is the pond?

Who are you asking Bill? Mine is 12 acres if you were asking me. The dam is about 600 feet long. Not sure you were asking me though, but any chance to talk about my pond.... hehe...

American pondweed, at it's current density, is a very welcome plant in my pond. Now the chara on the other hand... It wouldn't hurt my feelings if a bunch of THAT went away. I like the pondweed because it protects my golden shiner population, and because of that, is a hot spot for bass who hang out on the margins waiting for a shiner to pop out of the foliage.

I'm with you weiss. I like the stuff. Decent cover for forage, bass sit next to it waiting to ambush on deeper clear sides. But is your density even close to his, mine sure isn't. Nice pond by the way.

Pond Frog,
No, mine is nowhere near as thick as the original poster's. I wonder if a yearly raking would control it enough to make his reasonable to deal with. If it wasn't so thick, I would consider it a good thing to have in his pond too.

Heck, I even like the look of it in my pond.

Condello told me that a decent stand of Amer PW was a good sign and was an indicator of a healthy pond. We get some around the perimeter every year; some patches get kinda dense. Nothing beyond about 4 feet deep.

Pond weed is difficult to rake out. The branches (not sure it that is the correct technical term) just slip through the rake. I've used one of those "Y" shaped pond weed cutters and then rake out the free floating stuff. That system works well, but then again I'm not working with a 12 acre pond either! Also I don't have one of those fancy weed cutting machines either.

A good plant grown to nuisance levels seems to me. Can't they just knock down a bit. Wouldn't harvesting with a machine just spread it more?

Stuff cuts like soft butter. Then you can rake out cuttings. I have an aquatic rake also. The live stuff slides right through but you gather the cut material. If I had too much or that density I would surely thin it out. You can selectively cut and harvest that fairly easily. Maybe even make a few patches for fish to hang out. The only place I had it bad I put in creeping primrose and that outcompeted it fast. If you tossed the weed shear out and yanked it back you could make fish paths in it. I camped on E Bay and picked up the shear for $56. Not bad since they retail for $129. Probably one of the better low cost solutions for removal here.