Lake Weed Physical Mechanical Control
Physical Mechanical Lake Weed Controls
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One of the methods for controlling lake weeds being used today, is physical control. The cutting, harvesting, pulling, or rolling down of the weeds by mechanical means. Mechanical, or physical control is useful in several situations. Physical removal is not always a good thing. Many times, mechanical means fragmentation which can lead to problems.
Aquatic vegetative reproduction.
Exotic weeds, and even some native plants often reproduce vegetatively. This is just another way of saying that pieces of the plant can, and do develop roots, or feeding tentacles when broken away from the mother plant. This is especially true of aquatic plants.
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Many lake and pond weeds reproduce from fragments at a rate of 50% or higher. Imagine this: If you have 1 hydrilla plant in your lake, and you chop it up into 100 pieces, the chances are very high, that you will have 50 of the fragments survive and take root. Multiply that by 1000, and you can begin to understand the problem!
Now, the use of mechanical controls can be good, and sometimes are the only means of bringing about a pond or lake that is clean enough for recreational use, but it should be avoided if possible.
Aquatic weed mechanical control guidelines.
We have developed a few guidelines based on our observations.
- If the lake weed problem is in the early stage, there is hope for eradicating it. Try using the chemical method early, and often until the problem is gone.
- Continue to use the chemical treatments for periodic maintenance, and make adjustments to the environment such as liming if needed, and fertilization. If aquatic weeds can't get sunlight, they can't grow. Proper fertility will help to keep the proper level of suspended algae growth.
- If mechanical lake weed control is needed, it should be done with the least disturbance to the plant possible, to limit fragmentation. The plants should be cut smoothly.
- The fragments should be harvested from the water. Every fragment is a potential plant, so remove them all.
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