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Posts: 13
Location: Pewaukee, WI | Has anyone got any experience or info about alternative methods for controling milfoil without
the use of chemicals?
I ask this question because the Pewaukee Lake Improvement Association is again planning on
dumping 2-4D into the lake.
Is there such a thing as a milfoil eating beatle?
Let me know.
Mark Sankey
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Posts: 149
| There is an aquatic weevil (Euhrychiopsis lecontei) that feeds on milfoil (all types) including eurasian milfoil. They are found naturally in many Wisconsin lakes already. Over a long period of time (years) they may slow the spread of milfoil somewhat, but it's very unlikely they could eradicate it, as they simply weaken the plant by eating holes in the stems. They don't kill the plants. Because of that, they are not considered an effective management tool. The best alternative on a lake-wide basis is still chemical control of heavily infested areas (NOT the whole lake as chemical control is non selective and kills the good weeds as well) and education to help slow the spread. |
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Posts: 696
Location: Northern Illinois | With a major chemical weedkill, how much of that affects the fishing populations? Is the chemical harmful to the fish at all? |
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| Sanks,
What has been the effect of the 2-4D in the past. I read in the local paper that the prorety owners on Lake Wissota are going to have the lake treated with the same chemical. There are only about 8 acres that have any milfoil out of 6300 acres in total.
Does the chemical treatment have any affects on the fish or other vegitation?
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Posts: 686
Location: Tomahawk, Wisconsin | I know that they put those little weavles in Manson Lake in Oneida county a few years back and there was a vast improvement although there is still milfoil to be found. The lake association tried this method and seems to have had some success. Sure beats dumping a bunch of chemicals in my opinion. |
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Posts: 3926
| I posted an uninformed rant on this topic a few months ago. I meant to become more informed and this post is a good reminder to do the research and share what I learn.
I've lived on two lakes where chemicals are used every year and my main local musky lake is also treated with chemicals every spring. The chemicals kill the young weeds, the young weeds drop to the bottom to rot. Those rotting weeds provide excellent fertilizer for the next batch of weeds. More weeds requires more chemicals, and you can see how it appears to be a self-sustaining cycle. Zebras are a factor in this equation, too. They serve to clear the water of little bitty stuff, allowing deeper light penetration and so encouraging weed growth at deeper depths than was possible in the past. Now add in the factor that our lakes receive increasing amounts of septic sewage and lawn fertilizers. In summary - zebras introduce more light while people plus chemicals introduce more fertilizer. Great conditions if you're a weed.
As an aside..
One time as I was putting the boat in my local muskie lake I was smelling what I thought were farmers spraying local fields. I boated a small muskie within a few minutes and as I was releasing it the treatment guys started spraying at the other end of the lake. They had been spraying before I got there, I guess they were reloading the cannon as I was putting in the boat. I left the water pretty quick, who wants to be downwind of that stuff? Anyway, it's interesting to me that I caught a muskie while they were in the process of spraying the lake. I had heard that spraying shuts the fishing down for a few days at least but I can't verify that.
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