Physically removing lake weeds: cutting, raking and pulling by hand — to commercial weed harvesters.
The BIG problem: You make a lot more weeds.
Raking, Cutting, Pulling by Hand
The more weeds you rake, the more weeds you create.
When aquatic weeds are physically disturbed, countless small pieces break off, settle to the bottom and start new weeds. It’s called “fragmentation reproduction.” The more aggressively they’re cut, ripped and raked, the more pieces break off. Depending on the time of year, you also may spread thousands of seeds by attempting to physically remove the parent plants.
Plus, raking lake weeds is a lot of hard, back-breaking, dirty, stinky work. And, if you’re like most lake people, you’re wallowing in muck while you’re trying to clean up your weeds.
Weed Harvesters
I was invited to a big lake in Ohio, being overwhelmed with Eurasian watermilfoil and other invasive weeds.
The first thing I saw was a lake weed harvester. Actually, there were three harvesters cutting and ripping through thick masses of weeds, mostly Eurasian watermilfoil and curly leaf pond weed. Oh no!
“How long have your weeds been this bad?” I asked my host.
“Just in the last two years,” he answered.
“And how long have you been using the weed harvesters?”
“Three years,” he replied.
I rest my case!
Weed harvesters can make weed problems a lot worse.
If you want job security, buy a lake weed harvester and offer the first cut for free. You’ll have repeat business the rest of your life.
LakeMat Pro vs. Physical Removal
LakeMat Pro and MuckMat Pro are simply laid over your lake weeds, depriving them of sunlight so they can no longer conduct photosynthesis. You’re not breaking off weed fragments.
It only takes 10 minutes to assemble and install a LakeMat Pro; MuckMat Pros, a little longer. Your weeds are covered immediately. In four weeks you can move your LakeMat Pro and have a clear, weed-free lake bottom that stays weed-free the rest of the year.
Note:
LakeMat Pros are for lake weeds only.
MuckMat Pros are for both lake weeds and a firmer lake bottom.
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