# I'm In Trouble - Lilly Pads Taking Over



## X-Man (Feb 1, 2009)

Against my wishes and all logic, my wife planted a couple of lilly pads at each end of our pond. "They will be really pretty and what harm could they do?"

I know everyone reading this can finish this very sad story. What do I do now? The lilly pads have completely covered the pond. I had put many fine bass and hybrid bluegill in the pond, now it is unfishable.

Do the chemical treatments work?


----------



## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

From what i understand, yearly maintenence requires that youll need to pull each stock out to keep them in check. and Yes, chemicals do work but will wait for "Fishman" to chime in, Tom is the sites aquatic Nuisance weed expert, I think some species are better at not spreading then others, do you remember what species you put in and how long ago , some pictures would help. 
Salmonid


----------



## Nikster (Mar 14, 2007)

Since your wife thought that they are so preety, have or make her pull them on a yearly basis.  
Now this incident happened 15 years ago, & now things could be different as far as chemicals go & what one puts in a pond to maintain it? Don't really know?

A friend of mine did that to his pond also. Well his wife, & almost landed in divorce court, no kidding. It took over his 1acre pond in 5/7 years & made it into a real mess. After spending almost a week pulling the weeds it was useless cause 2 years later it was back & starting to get chocked again. His ONLY solution was a chemical that not only killed the Lilliy pads but everything else also. He spent considerable money in nurturing this pond & he had to start all over. Killed everything off in disgust & now you should see it. WOW, only troublesome green foilage are cattails which he pulls stalk by stalk, roots & all, & do not become a nusance.

Now you say, how do I know it took him a week? Well him keeping a active record of his pond, it shows me helping out for almost 12 hours in 1 weekend.

Check with your local farm office of county Farm Extension office, they may be able to steer you in the right direction as far as what to do & what not to do??????


----------



## X-Man (Feb 1, 2009)

Thanks for the replies. This is good info. I have no idea of the species. The pads are about as big as a coffee cup top and bloom yellow in the summer.


----------



## Fishman (Apr 5, 2004)

It's simple to control it, even if it's out of control.

A lot of people choose to control it annually by just spraying plants that are spreading. It's not hard to do, it just requires a little manual labor. By manual labor for a 1 acre pond I mean spending 2 hours tops spraying Aqua Pro/Cide-Kick mixture once every 2 weeks to get it undercontrol and then once or twice the following summers to keep it in check. Aqua pro will only kill the vegetation that's "emergent," basically if it's above the water. The thought of spending 1 week working 12 hour days and risking a divorice all in the name of ridding myself of lillys is crazy. 

If you really want to drop a bomb on them flouridone found in Sonar , or any flouridone containing products work incredibly well. Generally in small doses too. Again, so ya spend a grand - still cheaper than a divorice 

It's possible what the one person experianced was seed germination explaining why he saw it crop back up. Either way it would of been really easy to stop it right then and there with Aqua Pro. Likley the guy put in Sonar and spent a nice chunk of change in doing so. There's a residual time on that product and I can guarentee you 2 years after whatever it was he put in was gone meaning either someone reintroducted or seeds germinated from the past.

I'de personally go with the Aqua Pro/Cide-Kick II combo. Cheap and effective if you don't mind doing some work managing the pond.


----------



## valeriec (Feb 9, 2008)

I agree with Fishman on the AquaPro and Cidekick II combo. It doesn't take much, will not hurt your fish (as long as you do not kill off too much at one time and deplete the O2 levels) and is very effective. We treated a 0.4 acre pond last year that was over 1/2 covered with lilies using this combination. It looks llike a brand new pond!

You can get it on our website, www.atac.cc, or just stop into the shop at 4229 Wilmington Road, Lebanon, OH.

Valerie 
Aquatic Biologist, ATAC
1-888-998-POND


----------

