Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants lowering pond water level to control vegetation

Called Greg Grimes place today and talked to a guy that works for him. Told him about my idea to draw my pond down this summer several feet to try to kill water lilies. He suggested that a winter draw down would be more effective than a summer draw down.

Anyone done this on their pond or lake?

I figured since we were in a bad drought and that it looked like it was going to persist into the spring and summer that it would be a good time to lower the water level.

Got a quote from the guy at Greg's business for a whitecap treatment. Said I would need to buy the gallon of whitecap which runs $1600.

Wasn't really wanting to pay that much, but if it's the only option I might have to.

nothing?

Hey, EricDC, someone will have some ideas for you. Just sit tight. I think it sure makes sense what Greg's people told you about waiting till winter, but I also suspect you can achieve the same thing with a little more work by doing it now if that's the direction you want to go. Remember that with Whitecap you'll kill everything in the pond (plant-wise) and that may be more than you're looking to do. Try the drawdown and do manual removal of a select percentage of your plants. Then, next year, stay ahead of the regrowth with active management and you might be able to achieve some better balance. Plus that way you won't completely lose all the plants in the pond. Just a thought.

Well if you draw it down you are still gonna have water lillies show back up later. WhiteCap will eliminate them compleatly and keep them gone. I used it to control my watermeal problem and the result were amazing. I know its alot of money but it is still about half the price as Sonar.

Winter drawdown possibly would help depending on your location. If the soil temperature doesn't get low enough to freeze roots, etc. it just comes back. Summer drawdowns can cause other problems such as susceptibility to turnovers/oxygen issues or over predation of prey such as bluegill. All depends on where you are and how big your lake is. Cost/Whitecap depends on what plant you have, how much (acreage), and label restrictions depending on what you use the water for.

My pond is 4.5 acres. I live near the I-20 corridor in north central Louisiana.

I'm trying to rid my pond of white water lilies or significantly reduce the current coverage.

Is it possible to treat the roots of the lilies when I have the water drawn down with some type of herbicide?

You will need a systemic herbicide to wipe out the root system- the pads will need to absorb the chemical. The root system on these are quite extensive and normally embedded in the pond bottom fairly well.

As Greg's team recommended, for ease of application whitecap is a good alternative, and cheaper than sonar. It will wipe them all out. I have done spot treatments using Habitat (1% solution) with a good surfactant mixed in, and some dye so you can see where you've sprayed. Can do with a backpack sprayer as long as it has aggitation. Habitat runs about $250/gallon.

There's a local wetland that was dry for 2 years. It filled with water last year and it's covered with lilies in a year. I'm talking about an area that is probably 20+ acres. It gets cold enough for the ground to freeze up here. I'm amazed at how hardy they are.

I think chemicals would be the route to take.

Thanks guys. I was hoping the draw down would be more effective, but I can see that it is not from your replies.

I spent $500 a few summers ago to have an outfit come treat the water lilies. They used glyphosate and then came back a 2nd time when I told them the pond looked like it hadn't been treated at all; so they came back and said they were going to use something "slower acting", I believe 24D, and the 2nd treatment initially looked better, but the lilies came back within a month like nothing had happened.

I believe Navigate would work after using one bag of it, but from the small area that one bag treated, I would spend more money on Navigate than if I did the WhiteCap treatment.

So I'm a little gunshy about paying out another big sum to kill the lilies, but it looks like whitecap is going to be the way to go.

So you guys think a drawdown would be a complete waste of time and energy as far as dealing with the white water lilies?

Just throwing this out there. Check into cutting the lilies off below the water line by using a ween razor or something similar. I think you might be able to control them if you did that on a monthly basis. I believe you might use up the "fat" reserves in the roots, and starve them to death if they can't replenish the reserves. It would be labor intensive on a monthly basis, or even more frequently.

You not only have to deal with the rizhomes, but the myrad of seeds that are sitting on the pond bottom waiting for conditions to be good for them to sprout.

I think I'll just save up the money for the whitecap treatment if you guys think that's going to wipe out the lilies.

Wade: either that was your cost from several years ago, or somebody was really happy to meet you.
HABITAT's pricing has come down significantly over the past two years (50% or more). Would advise getting an updated quote before repurchasing.

Kelly: You are correct, that was an old retail figure, my bad. Sorry ericdc.