Aquatic plants are beneficial for ecosystem as they are a source of food, shelter and oxygen to the wildlife living in the pond. But they spread quickly and can restrict the activities in the Pond. A lot of ponds gets practically ruined by aquatic plants, these ponds literally choke the pond. Some of the common West Coast Cure Weed that are usually found in ponds are Milfoil, Hydrilla verticillata or Hyrdilla, Vallisneria spiralis or Eel grass, Potamogeton crispus or Curly leaf pondweed, Typha anqustata or Cat-tails. These weeds ruin the aesthetics of the shoreline and make the pond or lake virtually unusable. Therefore, below find some prominent methods of removing pond weeds.
Manual removal of weeds: The first step in this direction is to manually remove the weeds. Though it’s very much possible that all the weeds are not removed and some of the weeds are left inside the pond attached to the debris.
Use chemicals: The second step is to use chemicals and aeration techniques as the plants that grow in nutrient rich soil at the bottom of the pond that helps in killing the weeds that stick at the bottom of the lake. It’s advised to use both aeration techniques and insertion of natural bacteria which will ensure that the growth of plants is limited.
Weed Rakes & Harvesters: In extreme scenarios and to rid of the weeds fort a longer duration of time is to use proper weed cutter and rake as a harvester will take the work out of the job. Specific tool like Weed Razer weed cutter and used to eradicate tough weeds like milfoil and hydrilla. This tool has a thicker serrated blade on both edges which allow for a push/pull sawing action to be used for weed invasions in ponds.
Other Weed Control Products and Strategies
Other methods like AquaScreen, is yet another effective way of controlling the growth of weeds. It is a screen that is placed on aquatic plants and stops them from growing, that is often thought of as a good way to get rid of aquatic plants.
Another way is to use a screen of landscaping fabric or canvas. It’s easy and can be done at home. UV strengthened AquaScreen is also available in case you want to use this as a barrier to control sunlight.
Conclusion: In the above scenario, manual removal is ideal and if a mechanical excavation by shovel or bulldozer isn’t feasible then using an aquatic tool like the cutter and rake is most cost effective and environmentally safe procedure.