cleaning weeds from a pond

[20 20]

Michelle,

I've got quite a few years experience in managing private fish ponds. Chemicals are my very last resort.

Knute

I also have too agree, chemicals should be WAAAAAY down on the list for ponds. This is the problem with today society, "we want it done and we want it now !!!" Problem is there is no such thing as the miracle cure, it may work now but at what cost later?????????

 

[J_J]

Maybe you could try one of those propane gas cannons. Makes a very loud noise, just might give those grey herons a heart attack. Once you set them up, they are automatic.
They work on a timer, and at the set time, a valve opens and squirts a little gas in the tube, and then light it off, producing a loud boom.


http://www.reedjoseph.com/lp_gas_cannons.htm

http://scarecannon.com/

A little extra.

http://gizmodo.com/5326372/giant-gas+powered-vortex-cannon-destroying-shed-filmed-at-1300fps

 

[Dargo]

LOL, those "Great Blue Heron" seem to know that they are protected. I used to be able to walk outside and clap my hands and he'd fly off. Then it got to where I had to stomp and shout. Then it got to where I'd literally fire a .22 into a hill the opposite direction. Finally it got to where I could fire a .22 five feet from him and he'd just look at me for a second and go on about eating my fish.

At 50 yards that .22 could easily hit a golf ball about every shot so he was in no danger of being shot accidentally. Still, I found it interesting that he literally became totally immune to being scared off by the sound of the shots and even water spraying up from a shot a short distance from him. I gave up and just kept restocking my pond until there were more than he could eat. Besides, he didn't seem content with just eating minnow sized fish. No. He had to eat good pound, pound and a half, bluegill.

 

[Ron D.]

In the early 1990's I lived next to a 2,800 city watershed lake that had a significant weed problem after the lake was about 10 years old. The primary weed we had in the water was hydrilla, which grows to about 12 feet. We had numerous meetings with the city about controlling the weeds. We had about 40%/50% coverage where the weeds would mat on the surface. There were numerous people who wanted to put in grass carp, but the fishermen didn't want to do anything because it made for a great fishing lake. Pictures were shown of some lakes that had the grass carp, where once they ate all the weeds from the lake, they ate waterfront grass 5 feet up from the lake edge, ate tree leaves where trees hung over the lake, etc. The lakes that had the carp were very muddy because of no bottom vegatation and the fishing went from good to poor because the small fish had nowhere to hide.

I was initially pro carp, as I sailed a lot, but after seeing the pictures I was totally against it. I later quit sailing and turned into a fisherman. Caught some very big bass from that lake because it was a great fishery. Later, the lake seemed to balance and the hydrilla was not a problem.

 

[Dutch445]

Feeling like a small fish in a big pond here!

but same problem. Had a small hole dug at
a spring 2 years ago which gives a lot of water
year round. The pone ended up about 25' across, and
maybe 6' deep in the middle. I have tried manually
removing the chara (skunkgrass) and that is very time
consuming. Now, there is a grass that grows tall, and
by now it's got a seed head on it, about 2' tall above
the water. I would like to go back to when the pond was
new, with visibility into the water, but there are about a
dozen frogs that seem to call it home. (the kids love
to watch them)
would these chemical treatments bother the frogs?
at some point I would like to put in a few trout, but if the
water is too filled with weeds, we'd never see them.
any thoughts?

 

[tugboat-2]

Well yes, most of my banks are fairly steep especially along the levy, (I have to use the word "levy" as the other darn word always gets censored), but the area where this Great Blue likes to stand is the shallow area leading in from my silt-pond. I have tried artificial herons and a plastic owl,..in vain.

However, the idea of a trip wire along the shore sounds worth trying. The darn bird resides most of the time in the river just a quarter mile south where he has a wonderful seafood menu from which to choose. Perhaps he just comes to check the local fair?

I appreciate the thoughts and suggestions, and yes I hate using chemicals if I have a choice!

I do use Round-Up once a year to control the cat-tails, bull-rushes and large weeds that have dominated in the past. Spraying on the green growth as it rises above the surface kills it right away(couple days) but it won't affect any weeds "just" below the surface or sitting "just" at or below the surface. It doesn't seem to affect the frogs or other organisms. I spray from my pontoon boat and have accidentally sprayed the odd frog.
Round-Up works very well and I am very stingy with it.

I have a lot of weed growth that stay just below the surface. I'm considering a grass carp or two for a brief time to clean things up a bit as its "almost" to the point where the grandkids, (and me) hesitate to swim.

Oh yes J.J : ...we used to use those cannon many years ago, called them "Cherry-Bangers" back then for use in keeping birds out of the orchards! I think you can get an electronic one now that fires through a speaker but although my neighbours aren't close, it might become a nuisance as they tend to be quite loud, but THANKs anyway JJ.

Thanks folks for all good thoughts and suggestions, and you too Michelle.
CHEERS!
. . tug

 

[Bob Ha]

This post is very interesting to me. I have a 2 year old 2 acre pound that I built and stocked Blue Gill, Channel Cat and Bass about a year ago. The bass are doing very well based on growth. They were about 1.5 inches long when stocked and now I'm seeing them around the edges that are about 7 to 8 inches long chasing all the minnows. The only issue I have is some sort of vines are beginning to grow at the waters edge vigorously and spreading on top of the pond. At this point I actually like the plants so the minnows have a place to hide but concerned about the future. My question is should I pull them up or leave them so the fish have some protection?

Second question: I built a second pond it's around an acre and 20 feet deep at the deepest point. We had a 10 inch rain a few months back and the pond filled to the top. Now it's about 30% full and going down as I type this question. A more seasoned farmer informed me that bottom was dug out of the pond. Basically we dug too deep and the water is seeping through. Anyone had this issue or heard of this before? I'm new at building ponds as you can tell by my questions.

Thanks, Bob

 

[Dargo]

Second question: I built a second pond it's around an acre and 20 feet deep at the deepest point. We had a 10 inch rain a few months back and the pond filled to the top. Now it's about 30% full and going down as I type this question. A more seasoned farmer informed me that bottom was dug out of the pond. Basically we dug too deep and the water is seeping through. Anyone had this issue or heard of this before? I'm new at building ponds as you can tell by my questions.

Thanks, Bob

That's completely based on your area and your particular soil conditions. Around me there are some places where you hit rock 18" down. Where I put my pond (about 1 1/2 acres) there was a natural spring that kept things mucky and I dug down just over 20' deep in a relatively large area and was still digging pure gray clay. For a general rule of thumb, if you dig and hit sandstone or any type of rock, your pond will leak. I have about a 5 acre lake on a couple hundred acres of land I bought a few miles up the road that is 25' deep and empty a couple days after a flooding rain. They kept digging until the bottom is pretty well all rock. I need to fill about 18" of heavy clay soil in the bottom and till in some bentonite to stop it from leaking. They spread a couple thousand pounds of bentonite on the bottom a year or two before I bought the property, but it was a complete waste. Bentonite has to be tilled in with some heavy clay soil to work well.

Good luck to ya!

 

[J_J]

tugboat-2,

Unless they have changed the properties of Round-Up, it is not allowed in ponds, lakes, rivers. etc. Nor on banks where th run off will enter the water. I believe the correct weed killer you should be using is called Rodeo, and there are several more. Here in Florida, as a landscaper, the [ Round-Up police ] caught me using it without a license and threaten to fine me. Supposedly you can get away with spraying Round-Up if you use the customers tank. It has to do with who has a license to apply chemicals.

 

[sal64]

u could get some geese ,if it is cattailes in your pond the geese eat the roots .