Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants spraying cultrine

I am getting ready to spray cultrine plus on my pond and I am unsure how to and how much to spray. I am trying to get rid of unwanted algae around the lake. Can I or do I spray directly on the algae and how much. I have heard about one gal.per acre but that seems pretty hard to estimate as you are going around the lake and spraying. I was just thinking about soaking down the visible algae and keeping up with it as I see more forming. Any advice would be great. Thanks to everyone who has helped me out in the past I don't know what I would have done without all the input. This pond boss forum is great and I am looking forward to the day that I learn enough to help out a fellow member. Vince

Someone else will come up with the amount per acre, but remember to only do about one-third of the pond at a time so that the dying vegetation does not cause an oxygen problem. I just used a back pack sprayer about a week apart and watched to see the results. I'm not too sure that now is the time to do it because of the spawning time-frame. Hope others will drop in. Good luck.

i've used cultrine several times,no expert here.what i did is put 2 gallons in sprayer with 3 gallons of water from pond and drove golf cart around and sprayed everything i saw on the edge and hit the shallow water spots.seem to work just fine for me.the only problem i have is it does come back in 6-7 weeks.next time i use it i will make a stonger batch are just apply more to the same spots.

lee, consider treating the problem instead of the symptoms (excessive algae) and see if your pond will remedy itself.Reduce the nutrients and add proper aeration if you havent already.Ted

Vince, There should be recommended mixing rates on the cutrine bottle. Yes it is 1 gal per acre for depths up to either .6 or 1.2 ft. Everything you need to know about rates is supposed to be on the label. My understanding is that the 1 gal per acre is to ensure that the chemical is not diluted out before it can be effective. I think cutrine is best with a 24 hour contact time. Spray the floating mats and around the shallow areas in the depths recommended for the application rates. Direct contact with the algae is best but with the liquid it will disperse in the water column and kill a majority of the submergent algae in the shallows. I think cutrine actively lasts in the pond for about 2 weeks.
Lee- a stronger batch is not the answer. Keeping algae down with a single treatment of cutrine for 6-7 weeks is pretty good. The recommended rates ensure safety for the environment and fish and they are effective. The regrowth of algae doesn't neccesarily mean that you didn't most of it the first time. What it does mean is that you have a nutrient rich pond with the proper ingredients for healthy algae growth. If your algae is growing back within a month after treatment you may want to look at how excess nutrients are entering your pond(i.e. animal waste, lawn fertilizer, farm runoff etc.) and slow down the nutrient flow as opposed to adding more chemicals.

Vincent, this time of year around St.louis with moderate air temps killing all of your algae at one time shouldn't be a problem. This is asuming your pond isn't more than 40-50% covered. If it's primarily shoreline growth out to 3-4ft you'll be fine. What area of St.Louis are you from? I'm from the Illinois side about 40 miles out. If you're somewhat close and we could work out a schedule I'd be happy to give you some assistance.

TEA LEA,

Yes,Aeration is the next step for me,hope to start learning how and what to do in the next couple weeks.I had planned on doing this last fall but used $ to add another section to pond.Only thing left is aeration and planting tree's around property.I see you sale aeration systems,if you get a minute write back on how i can reach you.

lee, click on my home page and that will take you to our web page, Ted

ted lea,filled out form and e-mailed on your web site.call when you get a minute to go over options.

Be careful with applications of copper based products in your pond. Talk to your local fisheries biologist and he will give you the cons of copper build up in your pond. I much prefer the other options given about managing for plankton bloom to control your light penetration, and the aeration system to help aleviate the problem.

Does anyone know how much chemicals one would have to put in a pond to create a problem? Or how long at normal rates before a copper build up problem could occur?

g.head - Your copper build-up question has no one answer for every pond. It will vary from pond to pond and region to region. Generally speaking the lower the water hardness the quicker Cu build-up will be a problem. It will also depend on how aerobic your sediments are. As I understand it, the more aerobic the sediments are the more likely the copper will dissolve from bound or stable state out of the sediments. There has not been a lot of published research on this topic that I am aware of.

The amount of copper a pond can absorb will also be dependant on its size (pounds Cu /acre). Sediments have the ability to absorb a definative amount of copper. Once that level has been reached the where can newly added doses of Cupper go if the sediments are saturated?

The Cutrine web site says "CUTRINE®-PLUS should be diluted with at least 9 parts of water to facilitate even distribution during application. Surface spray is most practical for treatment of planktonic and filamentous algae."
Applied Biochemists

In my 2 acre pond, I have algae around 75% of the shoreline, about 3-4 feet average width of mats. At 9:1 ratio, I'm planning on about 43 oz Cutrine Plus and 3 Gal. water in my backpack sprayer. That's a good bit weaker solution than the 2 Gal Cutrine to 3 Gal. Water mentioned by Lee above. Will my 9:1 solution be strong enough?

Thanks,
Dave

Here's what I learned from the Applied Biochemist tech support person - very helpful.
Cutrine Plus Application Rates

Rate for Filamentous Algae (Pond Scum), is 6/10 Gallon Cutrine per Acre-Foot of water treated.

Example:

Say you have 2-3 Ft.wide mats around entire 2-Acre pond, or approx. 10% of pond, or .2 Acres

Average depth of area to be treated = 2 ft.

2 Acres X 10% X 2 ft average depth = . 2 Acres X 2 = .4 Acre-feet to treat.

.4 Acre-Feet x .6 Gallons Cutrine recomm. Rate / Acre Foot = .24 Gallons

128 oz.(Gal) X .24 = 31 oz. Approx. 1 Quart For entire area around pond.

Put 1 Qt. In Sprayer, Add 3 Gallons Water. Spray entire area.

That's a lot less Cutrine than I've used in the past, so I'll report back and let everyone know what results I have.
Dave

Has anyone tried this product in the granular form? How did it work compared to the liquid form? Thanks for the info.

Meat
Romans 10:9-10

Yes, I have used both the granular form and the liquid. The granular is much easier to apply, much more effective on the submerged algae, and more suitable for larger areas. In my opinion, the liquid is best for follow-up periodic spot treatments.

Just ordered a 12lb box of the granular. Thought I would give it a try and see what happens. Thanks Meadow.

Meat
Revelation 3:20

This is a great product. It is used for spot treating algae problems. It is a little different than regular copper sulfate. It is chelated and will stay active much longer than CuSO4. I highly recommend it for algae treatments.

Meat - the granular formulation of CUTRINE PLUS is preferable for bottom-growth and suspended algae - particularly chara - due to the better contact it provides on these subsurface populations. The liquid formulation of CUTRINE is better for surface-growth and shallow shoreline areas. With the later, it is better to physically remove (or at least break up) matted areas of filamentious algae before a treatment in order to reduce biomass/nutrient recycling and to improve contact with the remaining algal mass.

After using cutrine plus, what happens to the algae? Does it just turn brown and die, and then has to be raked out of the pond? Or does it somehow disenegrate and disappears/sinks to the bottom?

Assumming the cutrine does its job, and it seems like it does for most folks, can I keep putting in a dye/colorant to keep it under control? My pond is in a small pasture that my cows have access to, but it wouldnt be a problem to not put the cows in that pasture if that is the root of my problem!

Yes, it dies and turns brown. If you have a relatively large amount of the dead stuff you should probably try to rake it out to prevent loss of oxygen in your water as it decays.

Would allowing the cows access to the pond be causing most of my problem? I have 10 cow/calves and they seem to be in the water when they are in that pasture. I am pretty sure that when it rains, I get manure runoff in the pond. Should I keep them out of the pasture with the pond? They have other pastures with water troughs they can stay in, they just like to stand in the pond and cool off as far as I can tell.