Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants mechanical harvesters

I am new here and have a question about mechanical harvesters like the ecoharvester ecoharvester.net I am thinking about buying one for my 2 acre pond that is nearly overtake with white lilly and dollar bonnet. I used Rodeo and it killed most of it but caused several large clumps of dead bio mass that I cannot get to easily plus all the plants are actually still there and slowly coming back.

If I buy one of these machines I would like to do this service for others needing it. Would any of you consider hiring someone to remove the weeds and unwanted vegetation by pulling the plants out? I have an almost 2 acre pond I would pay someone 1K to come in and take them out.

I have read here that many of you have had success with chemicals and biological introduction of carp ect. But I am leaning towards mechanical harvesting.

any thoughts?

For a small weedy pond a good cheaper alternative to the ecoharvester consider the Jensen Lake Mower.

It might depend on what type of weeds they are. I don't advocate only using mechanical harvesting if they are the type of weed that will re-root or spread from pieces of the cut plant like Eurasian Water Milfoil does.

"fragmentation."

Welcome to Pond Boss posting pmcw. What part of the state are you in ?

I agree with Bill. My approach is different from esshup's. I prefer to use manual/mechanical methods first on small waters then follow with chemicals. Depending on the plant you may be able to spot treat the left overs rather than do a whole lake treatment. That way I remove the nutrients bound in the plants first then kill the left overs. Reducing the nutrient load helps reduce future problems. Jensen makes a very good product.

Thanks everyone. I am located in Perkinston Mississippi. My problem even with something like the jensen lake mower is all of the debris that is left floating around. I want to "remove" it from my pond. I was looking into buying an ecoharvester because it pulls the weeds. I actually have been on this machine and was very impressed. So the idea here is to remove the unwanted plants.

If I mow the lake how do I gather all the biomass?

What I am really trying to determine is if anyone would pay me to use an ecoharvester on their lake or pond to do something similar.

ewest, I see your point and agree. That's why I threw the "only" in there.

Would this be just used on larger ponds, or could it be used on smaller ponds? (1 ac or so)

If the land surrounding the pond is all grass, and there was no boat launch into the pond, could the equipment be brought in without boogering up the lawn?

Yes you clip/mow the weeds and drag them out.

I know esshup we have the same goal I just like taking the weeds out first if possible. On big lakes mech. harvest requires big tools and lots of manpower (expensive) and so does spraying. Its a chicken/egg type thing.

All points so far are valid. Choice of product-method will depend on numerous things. Do you have time to operate and run this machine as a part time business? Work would be seasonal and initial expense would be probably significant. It would talk quite a bit of profit to pay for the ecoharvester. And do you really want to be in that type of business? I doubt that it would be busy enough to pay someone to operate it and make much of a profit. Lake associations and large lake owners would have a need for this 'business'. But as esshup says you need boat ramp access for a large ecoharvester to be used on small waters of 1 to 3 ac.

For 1-3 ac I think the Jensen Lake mower is the best choice for annual trimming of lilies. To permanently kill them without chemicals one would have to mow them every week or two to keep foliage from photosynthesizing and manufacturing food. Dealing with biomass on 2-5 ac would involve pulling cut leaves-stems with a wide floating rake or boat mounted 'rake-blade' to push to shore and dragging them out. A seine has been used to remove lots of floating algae which could be modified to drag out cut leaves-stems. Wind will push most of the cut leaves toward one shoreline where they can be drug out. Quite a bit of work either way.

My suggestion for cheapest and easiest control is to use proper systemic herbicide to kill lilies and dollar bonnet at roots. Experienced applicators such as our resident weed expert Kelly Duffie will know when is the best time to apply to get most effective kill.