What is everyone using for lake algae and weed treatment?

[lakeside7455]

I have used copper sulfate for algae treatment and it seems to work well, but still trying to figure out the best treatment for weeds. Wondering what everyone else formula are using with their success. I also add blue dye as most everyone does to slow growth and looks.

[igkya]

We use copper sulfate for algae control, just don't ski for several hours once applied. For weeds, we've used dye in the past but something happened 2+ years ago and the weeds took over. We ended up using Sonar and that killed them within a few days.

[DW]

I suggest you go to the Aquacide site and/or get a booklet which does a nice job detailing which option works for what weeds.

[Skoot1123]

Spot treat with copper sulfate works quite well, though I try to stay away from that if possible. That mostly means manual removal of the moss/weeds/scum in our swimming area. Another thing that helps is using an aerator/water fountain to keep our swim area from temperature stratification. The main lake we have steep enough sides to keep the weeds/moss close to the shore. The boat going through the course also keeps it stirred up pretty well. We use the Blue Sensient dye and that has helped keep the big algae blooms in control. This year I’m trying to keep the color a bit darker - the lake looks a lot better when it is dark blue.

[skierjp]

I’ve used Copper Sulfate but Aquastrike works 10 times better, at least here in Florida. The only way to really control weeds is grass eating carp.

[Luzz]

We bought 2400kg of these bad boys 12 years ago and never had a problem since :smile:

[jhughes]

Sonar. One treatment a year is all that's needed.

[ral]

@luzz , same here. We did, though buy less than 5 kg, and they became around the weight you mention in a couple of years…

[Luzz]

@ral that's great. We haven't notice much proliferation in our lake, though the fish we have are huge :lol:

[ral]

They do not reproduce in still water. We got them and they were less than 10 cm long. They grew huge in a very short timeframe.

[RAWSki]

What is the best way to apply copper sulfate for best results have seen broadcasting the crystals on surface mixing in a tank sprayer and dragging behind boat in burlap bag? The instructions suggest treating half the lake then waiting a week to treat the other half? Seems about 15lbs per treatment for a typical lake??

[igkya]

Ours usually comes in a plastic kind of bag (~50 lbs.). We put the bag in a burlap sack, make several cuts/slices in the bag and then tie burlap sack to back of boat, drop in a few feet of water and slowly drag the length of the pond. 1-2 passes, depending on the size of the slices/holes and the bag is empty. This allows the crystals to slowly dissolve directly into the water. I check the bag every so often and may need to adjust bag depending on # and size of slices/holes. I've also just dumped the entire bag of CS in the burlap sack but the crystals dissolve much quicker this way (bag is empty by 1/2 way down the pond). Both ways seemed to work well. Unless the algae is really bad, 1 bag works very well.

[LeonL]

@RAWSki we have needed to apply copper sulfate to our lake each of the last 4 years. Prior to that we had no significant problem. We cut a corner off of the bag and let it sift out slowly as we idle down the lake. Our lake is 16 surface acres. We use 50 lbs. Sometimes we have had to use 150lbs spread over 2-3 weeks. If you're treating a ski lake I don't think 15 lbs will do anything, unless of course if by some fluke it's isolated to a small area. We have seen no ill effects from treating the whole lake at one time.

[skierjp]

I’ve used 50 lb of copper sulfate just around my dock. Like I mentioned before, try Aquastrike

[igkya]

@skierjp Copper Sulfate is for Algae control. Isn't Aquastrike for weeds?

[rawly]

Any of you have experience with Spiritflo herbicide ? We just dumped six gallons of that stuff mixed 1:4 with water into our three lakes which are roughly 33-35 acre feet. We have niade and what appears to be horned pond weed growing to the surface in places 4’ - 8’ deep , which is our bottom. The pond weed is nasty. It gets spooled onto your prop at slow speeds around the dock and start zone. You then loose your steering. One of our boats almost ended up on the island yesterday. We plan to drag the docks and drop zones to harvest the bad areas. Any thoughts in that ?

 

Thanks for the help

 

[DW]

@rawly - we get a similar weed in the fall, celery, that has long stringy stems. It also wraps around the prop and can be the size of a softball or soccer ball. It can be a major PIA to rip it off the prop and shaft similar to a tightly wound ball of string.

One thing to also keep in mind, celery is an example, the timing for application can be critical where if missed your application has no effect.

[disland]

I thought weed treatment was to make up for giving up booze in that other post

[Golfguy]

@rawly Spiritflo herbicide has the same active ingredient as Sonar. If you followed the table you should have positive results.

[Golfguy]

Followed the label directions

[scuppers]

Free advice is worth what you paid for it! We had a crystal clear lake - pristine perfect in fact!

Then came the Hydrilla, and so prolific in two seasons it looked like we had carpeted the whole lake (and most of it is at least 20 feet deep) We called Sonar - they sent a representative with a PHD in aquatic plants - he literally wrote a prescription! He gave us a time table and and amounts of chemical application required plus REQUIRED sending in water samples on a specific schedule. Three months later - no weeds! 2 years later still no weeds!

We did follow up with an additional 300 sterile grass carp just in case.

PS the carp are positively only effective in controlling new growth. If you have a major weed outbreak they can't over come it.

[LeonL]

What is the cost of Sonar currently?

[igkya]

@rawly How much is the Spritflow?

[scuppers]

@LeonL 22 acre /calculated18 ft deep average over 20K

[LeonL]

@scuppers holy shit! Glad I don't have weed problems, just algae.

[rawly]

@igkya $1500 a gallon.