cleaning weeds from a pond

[czechsonofagun]

I built pond rake to deal with my weed in pond. It works fairly well, just takes time and you have to keep doing it.

 

[The Dougster]

Bob HA... I have the same problem (I think)... in January of this year, I had a dozer coem in and re-work a large tank that has leaked for years... the dozer dug down several feet and he and I decided that we had enough clay that would seal the tank... Folks, when I say "tank" I'm talking about a large pond... Here in Texas, they are called stock tanks 'cuz they provide water for livestock. I am in Lampasas County...
Unfortunately, we haven't had enough rain this year to fill the tank. Certainly we'd get enough run off to put water in the tank but it would soak in/evaporate quickly, ergo, I don't know if the tank will hold water or not.
At this point we have a small fortune invested and am not in the mood to spend more money, but just in case, I have located a place in/near Comanche, Tx that sells sodium bentonite in bulk. I am fully prepared to order a truckload ... as someone stated, the bentonite will have to be tilled into the existing soil to be effective... Hopefully we will get significant rainfall this winter, which will enable me to determine if I need bentonite or not... Good luck with yours..

 

[J_J]

Has anyone considered a float type set up that would carry a 10 ft rake out to the center by someone pulling the float from the other side. When you have it in position, pull a latch on the assembly and the rake drops to the bottom and you pull it in. The other person feeds out line as you pull your side in. Reset the latch for the drop rope, and the other person pulls the float back to a starting point and repeat.

The other person is just pulling a float, maybe hand winch, or motorized. Just an idea.

 

[20 20]

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

I have geese{every year} and all they do is make a bigger mess, didn't even touch the cattails.

 

[tugboat-2]

Hello JJ,... Not quite sure how to answer you on this. I know here in Ontario, Canada, we have very strict rules and laws concerning Round-Up and farmers must be licensed to use it.

Now that you mention "Rodeo", I had to run out and check to make sure just exactly what I was using. I get my "Round-Up" in a concentrated form from a local licensed pond-supply-dealer.

Because the name "Rodeo" rang a bell with me, I had to go check. Can't recall why it rang a bell,...other than it's spelled the same as our local anual Rodeo of the agricultural variety ha, ha!

Because this product is closely watched by the Agricultural POH-leece,....I'm wondering if perhaps "even" the concentrated form might be "watered" down some, or even a tad different formula??????? I really don't know,........(yet)? But I was cautioned to water it down heavily before filling my sprayor as it will kill "anything" it touches!! That proved quite true except for the weeds and vines sitting "JUST" below the surface!!

I'm going to check into the two products with the dealer next time I'm over and I'm wondering if he made a mistake and put the wrong sticker on my particular container? He hand printed it on a sticker and slapped it on my container while we were talking. (The sort of mistake I personally could make while talking!)

Thanks for now JJ.
CHEERS!
. . tug

PS: Re: the "geese",... "this" is their country,...and as many as stop by here, we still have weeds like you wouldn't believe,.....and oh yes! What a mess they make, golf courses, parks, lawns etc. . . . sheeeeeeesh !!

 

[J_J]

Product & Application Options

Fish and invertebrates are more sensitive to formulations of glyphosate. As with humans, the surfactants are responsible for much of the harm . Toxicity is increased with higher water temperatures, and pH. In Australia, guidelines state that most formulations of glyphosate should not be used in or near water because of their toxic effects on tadpoles and adult frogs. The newer, non-irritant formulations such as Roundup Biactive are not included in this advice

 

[Michelle K linnane]

hi guys
I do not think chemicals are an option for me as I have trout browns, rainbows, tiger trout in my pond and I do not want to kill them. The banks are steep but I think we had some rain this year had something to do with it. We are going to try and clean the weeds with a box spring and I think I am going to try some grass carp next and not hope for to much. I have been posting for a while and final got my sat hooked up yesterday. God to have a decent speed again is heaven. I was hoping to get BPL broadband over power lines but it looks like it will take another 5 years.
michelle

 

[brin]

I agree with Jinman in judiciously using chemical control methods. I've seen some disasters in the past with people just throwing out 50 pounds of copper sulfate in their pond. The weeds were gone, but so were most of their fish. All of their catfish perished.

I called a guy I know who spent a lot of time working with the Purdue Extension department specializing in wetlands. He told me that I had the dreaded hydrilla verticillata growing in my pond. Without proper chemical use he advised me that I'd never get ahead of it using mechanical means. I can't recall what he had me use, but it took 3 doses spaced a week or two apart to control my weed problem. I had to be careful to not kill it all at once and have rotting vegetation rob the pond of it's oxygen supply (his warning, not something I knew).

I'm not familiar with the chemical Jinman suggested, but I'm not familiar with many chemicals in controlling vegetation in water. I think the stuff I use when I first see growth is Cutrine Plus. CUTRINEｮ-PLUS FACT SHEET It too was suggested to me by the same guy. It controls the green looking pea-soup water issues I get sometimes. It's far more "stupid proof" than just using copper sulfate. You can miss on your water volume calculation by quite a bit and still not harm your fish.

I'm not suggesting Cutrine Plus over the stuff Jinman suggested. I'm just mentioning it as something that has worked for maintaining control once I had my heavy growth under control. Good luck!

I used copper sulfate in our 2 Acre pond which is stocked with bass, catfish and brim and it worked great on water mill ( little pea sized granules on top of lake - what we call it in GA. ) and I lost no fish. We put the copper sulfate in the legs of a pair of panty hose and pulled it in the water slowly behind a row boat being careful to evenly distribute it. Like anything else gotta follow those directions..but it worked for us.