Pond Weed Control
The cause of aquatic macrophyte (weed) growth and algae in lakes is an
abundance of plant nutrients (fertilizers). These include phosphorus and
nitrogen, carbon dioxide, minor nutrients such as sulfur and various
micronutrients such as iron, manganese, magnesium, zinc, molybdenum, cobalt,
etc. This is why killing weeds often results in an algal bloom, and killing
algae often results in heavy weed growth.
The nutrients must go somewhere. They will go either into weeds or algae.
Algae shade the water so weeds cannot grow. If the problem is excessive weed
growth, the weeds take up the plant nutrients in the water so the algae cannot
grow. Some aquatic weeds such as water milfoil and hydrilla, get up to ninety
percent or more of their nutrients directly out of the water instead of the
sediment. Lakes naturally shift every few years from weeds to algae or from
algae to weeds. It all depends on what becomes established first in each
season.
As you know, herbicides kill weeds. They also ruin water quality as the dead
weeds rot and release the plant nutrients they have taken up. As they rot, they
also consume oxygen, causing a massive release of phosphorus and nitrogen from
the bottom organic sediment. Fish kills often occur as a result of the associated
oxygen depletion. Herbicides do nothing to remove muck (nutrients), nothing to
improve water quality, reduce odors, or improve fish growth or health. The USGS
cites pesticides as a “. . . potential concern for human health if they affect
a drinking water source or occur where there is recreational use. They are also
a potential concern for aquatic life. (Robert Gilliam et al, 1999) There are
hundreds of publications on the dangers of herbicides.
If you kill all the weeds in a lake without eliminating the cause of the
weeds, the plant nutrients are still in the water. The weeds will quickly
return, unless algae can shade the water before the weeds are established. Then
you have a lake full of algae. If it happens to be blue-green algae, it can
extract nitrogen and carbon dioxide directly out of the atmosphere. Blue-green
algae can increase nitrogen coming into a lake up to eighty pounds per acre
each year.
Aquatic weeds and algae decline as a result of nutrient reductions. All
submerged aquatic plants must absorb their major food, carbon dioxide from the
water column; not through the roots. Clear Pond Oxygenation System exhausts
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, reducing carbon dioxide to such low levels
that the plants starve.
To accelerate the removal of phosphates and limit plant and algal growth, we
add our formulated beneficial bacteria and enzymes. Each program is designed
based on water quality data and existing conditions of a particular water body.
With the Lake Cleanser applications and aeration we
typically remove over 97% of the phosphate in the water column. Inversion,
aeration and Beneficial Bacteria and enzyme formula to improve water quality
reduces nutrients (fertilizer) needed for aquatic macrophyte (weed) growth.
