Pesky Pond Weeds

[MorelCabin]

Not sure if this will work for your situation or not, but I discovered (quite by accident) a few years ago that a gas powered pressure washer will dig a hole in the shoreline of our lake deep enough to destry all weeds, lilies and so forth...AND turn over the loon sh*t so that you are left with wonderful beach sand. If your pond is man made with a liner, don't do this, but if it is spring fed, and not too deep, try it! Worked wonders on our shoreline...we are due to try it again

 

[sylvie]

Not sure if this will work for your situation or not, but I discovered (quite by accident) a few years ago that a gas powered pressure washer will dig a hole in the shoreline of our lake deep enough to destry all weeds, lilies and so forth...AND turn over the loon sh*t so that you are left with wonderful beach sand. If your pond is man made with a liner, don't do this, but if it is spring fed, and not too deep, try it! Worked wonders on our shoreline...we are due to try it again

Mine is a very large spring fed pond and this sounds well worth trying! Thanks!
So this works in standing water or does it need to have the water level dropped somewhat?
How did you happen to try this?
ETA- How often do you need to repeat this?

 

[MorelCabin]

I figured it out when we were putting a water line in and had to bury it somewhat in the lake so it doesn't freeze in winter. The power washer can be used to destroy the weeds at thier root simply by aiming it at the root area.
We did it four years ago and this year I think it could use another go, only because the ground is getting mushy again and I hate that feeling. How deep is yout pond? If it is large it is probably deep, but you can do it around the shore for quite a few feet.

 

[sylvie]

Just an update on the Phragmites and water lily problem.

One whole area of water lilies is finally gone. Just a note to anyone considering hardy water lilies; they are invasive and prolific. If I had it to do over I would have chosen a guaranteed non hardy variety, even if it is exotic and I had to buy it each year.

The Phragmites are definitely being affected. Some that I wasn't able to reach in the spraying grew 10', but all the rest stunted at 3 & 4' and now they are beginning to yellow. From what I've read you don't want to see rapid green growth death because the roots remain unaffected and regrow.

I have a nice colony of Calamus, or sweetflag that I am trying to preserve so my spraying is not generalized which may have affected the rate of success.

I resprayed today and realize that this will most likely take more than this year to eradicate them. That's fine, I have 3/4 gallon of the concentrate left, assuming that it doesn't lose potency during storage.