WHY DO I NEED TO KNOW WHAT TYPE OF WATER WEEDS I HAVE?
Isn’t it better to know your enemy so you can attack its weakness? Knowing the type of weed will give you an advantage when deciding the course of action to take. Weeds are all different; they can propagate by seeds, fragmentation, and by nodes. Changes in temperature and PH of the water can effect some weeds. Time of the year is another parameter that needs to be discussed.
How do I go about Identifying the Water Weed?
Identification can be done a few ways, grabbing a sample from the water, taking pictures, or asking an expert in the field. If you are able to get a sample then use the information below from the ERDC to help you identify the weeds you are dealing with to come up with a water weed removal plan.
But in most cases the use of sun shading products like the Lake Bottom Blanket have little to no regulations. We have found over the years that there is no magic bullet when it comes to water weed control, except that this type of weed removal is 100% effective on all subsurface weeds. From The ERDC website (Engineer Research and Development Center) Aquatic Plant Management Information Invasive Weeds.
American Pondweed (Potamogeton nodosus)
Bladderwort (Utricularia spp.)
Brazilian Elodea (Egeria densa)
Coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum)
Curlyleaf Pondweed (Potamogeton crispus)
Didymo, Rock snot (Didymosphenia geminata)
Eel-Grass (Vallisneria americana)
Elodea (Elodea canadensis)
Eurasian Watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum)
Gray Fanwort (Cabomba caroliniana)
Horned water weed (Zannichellia palustris)
Hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata)
Illinois Pondweed (Potamogeton illinoensis)
Northern Watermilfoil (Myriophyllum sibiricum)
Parrotfeather (Myriophyllum aquaticum)
Sago Pondweed (Stuckenia pectinatus)
Slender Naiad (Najas minor)
Small water weed (Potamogeton pusillus)
Southern Naiad (Najas guadalupensis)
Spiny Naiad (Najas marina)
Variable-Leaf Milfoil (Myriophyllum heterophyllum)
Water Buttercup (Ranunculus longirostris)
Duckweed (Lemna spp.)
Giant Duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza)
Giant Salvinia (Salvinia molesta)
Mosquito Fern (Azolla spp.)
Mud-Midget (Wolffiella gladiata)
Punctate Duckweed or Spotted Duckweed (Landoltia punctata)
Water Spangles (Salvinia minima)
Waterhyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)
Waterlettuce (Pistia stratiotes)
Watermeal (Wolffia spp.)
Widgeon-Grass (Ruppia maritima)
Bulrush (Scirpus)
Cattail (Typha)
Common Reed (Phragmites australis)
Cordgrass (Spartina)
Floating Heart (Nymphoides)
Lily Pads (Nymphaea)
Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)
Spatterdock / Cow Lily (Nuphar lutea)
Water Primrose (Ludwigia)
Blue-Green Algae / Cyanophyta (Anabaena, Aphanizomenon, and Microcystis, etc.)
Filamentous Algae (Spirogyra, Anabaena, Oscillatoria, Lyngbya, Pithophora, etc.)
Muskgrass (Chara)
Stonewort (Nitella)