When we talk about mechanical means of removing vegetation, we are discussing the removal of vascular rooted aquatic vegetation, mechanical removal of filamentous or planktonic algae or some of the small floating weeds is next to impossible.

Pulling weeds by hand: this method of weed removal has the advantage of being very inexpensive and the disadvantage is that it is very time consuming and a lot of work.

Rakes & Hand cutters: There are a number of rakes and hand cutters on the market to cut and remove aquatic weeds. Generally the rake or cutter is attached to a long line, so they can be thrown out from the shore and reeled into shore, bringing the weeds with them. This method is also relatively inexpensive, time consuming and hard work. It also is limited to how far out the rake or cutter can be thrown from shore.

Home made devices: Over the years we have run across many home made cutters and harvesters, one of the most common is to take a old bed spring mattress attach it to a long line and tie the line to the back of a truck, the bed spring is then cast out into the pond or lake and allowed to sink and then pulled in by the truck, dragging large qualities of weeds with it. Many of the home made devices work very well, but usually are very limited to very small bodies of water.

Weed Harvesters: Although a very expensive piece of machinery, and only practical in large bodies of water, weed harvesters work very well to keep areas open for boating and recreation. Probably the largest advantage to weed harvesters is they remove the weeds from the lake, thus removing the nutrients they contain from the body of water, nutrients that could otherwise be utilized by other more noxious plant growth such as algae. The down side of weed harvesting is that is much like cutting your lawn, in order to keep the weeds down, you must keep going back and cutting it again.

Liners: Pond liners are often used in smaller ponds where leakage or seepage is a problem and are installed many times with the mistaken belief that they will stop all weed growth. When a rubberized liner is first installed it will stop all weed growth, and in a lined pond the normal problem is algae. After a period of years the lined pond will build up a layer of both organic and inorganic sediment, that weeds can grow in, right on top of the liner.

What ever mechanical method you are considering using, it is important to note that the weeds need to be removed from the body of water. Some weeds like Water Milfoil and Eurasian Milfoil are what we call fragmentation weeds, what this means if you would take a strand of milfoil and cut it into a 100 pieces and left them in the lake you would have 100 new plants. So if you just cut the weeds and do not harvest them you could be multiplying your problem.

Aquatic Systems handles both manuel weed rakes and hand held cutters, for more information give us a call at 1 866-442-0420 or send us a message.

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