Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants I'm getting too old for this!

Spent a couple of hours today cutting, raking, and moving
Sago and Small Pond weed from my biggest pond. (.62 acres)Two full trailer loads that pulls behind the mower. I've probably only removed 10 percent of what's there if I'm lucky. I'd say 60 percent of the pond is covered with the pondweed.

I didn't want to spend the money but once I get it cut down I'm going to bypass flow from the trout pond so the treated water doesn't flow out and treat with Whitecap or the equivalent Water is gin clear with a clarity of 9 feet the maximum depth of the pond. No wonder the weeds are going to town! Will also add Aquashade when I treat with the Whitecap. Just can't do this anymore. Too much work!

Anybody else deal with a similar situation?

Manual removal of plants is very good for getting nutrients out but is a lot of work. Very heavy. I would guess that a quarter acre of plants would be tons of weight.

Akin to cutting rights of way with a briar hook?

I hear ya man. Sometimes I feel that being a DIY type of guy is a curse. Some guys don't know how to do didley squat, and others do, but don't. They either do without, hire someone, or get friends like me to do it for them. It seems they have life figured out, and I'm just a useful idiot.

Seriously though, I don't think I've ever hired anyone to do anything, other than the occasional helper I've hired for larger projects, where there's a lot of monotonous repetition involved. In these instances, I feel that some of the money I save by doing it myself is well spent hiring a helper.

Would the pond weed be good in or around your plants in your garden this late in the year? I have friends who use grass clippings around and under their squash,zuccinni(sp)and tomato plants to help keep weeds down and moisture in.

Cecil about a dozen years ago I was in my bathing suit trying to clear out Eurasian Milfoil so bad it was hopeless. I ended up putting 18 grass carp in my one-acre pond and they cleaned out nearly every weed in 3 or 4 years.

Gully Washer I'm a diy guy even when I can afford to have things done. It's a sickness. Right now I have high tree limbs hanging low over my drive that need to be cut. A tree trimmer lives next door with a bucket truck. But I am using a slingshot to fire a string over the high limbs, then attaching a rope to it with a chain saw chain attached to pull the rope/saw over the limb and sawing the limbs down. I don't think I am quite as old as Cecil but I will be 79 tomorrow and as Cecil says I'm getting to old for this but it keeps me healthy.

HL, I avoid fresh grass clippings in an active garden. I'll til them in after everything growing dies back, and then they're ready by Spring. I've had great luck with leaves as mulch though.

I've also used lake weeds in my compost piles. It adds moisture and heat, but I only use actively growing weeds. If a weed's been killed, I don't want those herbicides in my compost pile.

Very true and I plan on getting the biomass out and then applying the Whitecap.

I have plenty of fertilizer from my outside tilapia RAS. In fact, I am babying a couple of new Maple trees and give them the pooh rich water water from the tank every day and they are going gangbusters.

I have found that aquatic weeds are mostly water, and once dry there just isn't really much left.

I have weedy section of a bank that faces my highway that I dump them on.

No predators other than female yellow perch so if I added mixed sex carp I'm pretty sure I'd have a problem in no time. I tried grass carp once. They preferred the pellets. Since I feed so many fish per day I'd probably be feeding grass carp.

Have you tried the trick that George(I think) does to his grass carp. Catching one on a pellet and they never touch 'em again?

That rope saw does sound like a workout. I like the slingshot idea. I recently bonked the top of my head while throwing a nut tied to a string, over a tree branch.

I once looked into buying a pole saw, for tree trimming. Instead, I built one myself. I used a couple of steel hose clamps to attach a small electric chainsaw to the end of a 10' long piece of 1" electrical conduit, zip tied the trigger, cut the plug off the electrical cord, spliced on a section of an old extension cord, routing it through a toggle switch mounted on the other end of the pole. (Yes, it is a sickness.)

The $40 homemade pole saw worked really well. So well, that a buddy borrowed it about a year ago and hasn't returned it since. He's one of those who likes to borrow stuff and never return it. When I inquire about it, he himhaws around the subject. I suspect he re-loaned it to someone of the same ilk.

Congrats on your birthday, and thanks for the slingshot idea.

For throwing rope in a tree, this is the way to go.

http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=21430&catID=

The best rope to throw? This is what I've found:
http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=D200+ORG+150&catID=

As for a throw weight, these work very well:
http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=984&catID=

Then finally, for the actual rope that will be doing the work, you can't beat Amsteel. A wee bit pricey, but where you need strong rope that won't break, this is the stuff to get. Strong as wire rope, will float on water. I was doing some tree work last year and got tired of breaking ropes. Bought a 150' long piece of 1/2" dia. and never regretted it.
http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=12ASB+150&catID=

I ended up shopping around, but Bailey's is great for a one stop shop. Sherrill Tree is another good one.

I've been keeping my eye out for an inexpensive and abused 4-5 foot 3-point hitch landscape rake. I keep thinking I could cut the hitch off and weld brackets and fittings so I could use it in place of the bucket on my backhoe to pull weeds and thick muck/leaves from the ponds.

Man, them are some serious sling shots. I can just imagine the havoc I could have wrecked with one of those in my younger days. Heck, I can imagine the havoc I could wreck if I had one now. Visualize: "Wiley E Coyote"

That rope looks pretty sweet too. Cool site. Thanks for the link.

Baileys is a cool site. Thanks for the link.

Anybody used Bahco pole saws? I've almost retired my Echo gas pole saw. Bahco's are the lightest and sharpest pole saws I've ever used.

I've never used a Bahco, but it would have to be pretty darn good to cause me to give up my gas powered pole pruner! I love that thing!

Sprkplug believe me, I thought the same thing. Only one lawn mower shop in Dallas sells them, and they can't keep them in stock. 16' reach and dangerously sharp.

FireIsHot, Sorry I didn't make my post clearer. I was just asking about weeds that have manually pulled (cut) and killed. Not with a herbicide.... My wife would probably make me replant the whole garden if I put herbicide killed plants in there.

Hang_Loose you were clear, no worries. My wife would certainly do the same.

I have a hard time keeping my compost pile cooking, and lake weeds do help. I load the tractor bucket, and just dump them on top of the pile. Not a lot of volume once they dry out, but the moisture does help a lot.

I have over 350 large yellow perch I feed along with over 100 large bluegills. I would probably have problems catching a few grass carp.

bailey's used to sell the whole rope saw with beanbag, ropes and a self-adjusting chain but I cannot find it on their website. I bought one and it is very handy even though I could use one of those sling shots!

Well spent a couple of hours cutting aquatic weeds again this evening before fish feeding time. Looks like I will be at it every morning and evening for at least a week and a half to get a bite on them. Starting to wonder if I'm better of just tearing them off with the rake as the cutter is so dull. Can't get it to sharpen up to save my life. It's about 15 years old and has taken some abuse.

Can you post a photo of the cutter? I've learned to sharpen a lot of very odd things. Maybe I can suggest something.