Got Weeds?

By Dick Hurwitz – Lake Management Committee

You look out at the lake or cove near your dock, beach, shoreline or seawall and see some, or maybe a lot of weeds and lily pads.  You wonder what you should do about them.  Should you try to get rid of them?  The answer is “maybe.”  Consider the following:

• Where they are growing, the weeds help to control or reduce the algae in the water. After all, the weeds need nutrients to grow—many of the same nutrients needed by algae to thrive.
• Unless they get too thick, weeds are good for fish and fishing. They provide shelter, oxygen, ambush points, and a smorgasbord of baitfish for the fish you might be “angling” for.
• But maybe you really need to clear the weeds so you, your family, and your guests can swim, or so you can dock and use your watercraft.
• Or maybe you just don’t like the way the weeds look.

So it’s really up to you to decide whether to leave the weeds, try to reduce them, or try to get rid of as many as possible.  And if you do decide to go after the weeds, consider using one or more tools designed for the purpose and listed below.   Be sure that whichever tool or tools you may decide to use, it is important to gather and remove weeds cut from the lake so as not to contribute additional nutrients (decomposing weeds) into the lake.  Also, uncollected cuttings may root elsewhere and compound your weed problem.   Collected weeds can go into your compost bin or be disposed of at the Village compost site.   Suggested tools include:

• Weed rakes: these are designed to pull loose or growing weeds toward you so they may be removed.
• Weed cutters: these are designed to cut the weeds near the water bottom so they may be raked or gathered.
• Combo tools: these are designed to both cut the weeds and gather* them in one step.

An Internet search using key words such as “lake weed rakes” or “lake weed cutters” will yield many different tools at various price levels, but most will cost from about $70 to $200.  Your Lake Management Committee has no specific product recommendations, but you can check out the following YouTube videos to get an idea of the different types of products and how to use them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-B2YFXrB-M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ZvFXVbjiA

Decisions, decisions.  Ultimately, the choice is yours.  Hopefully this brief article will lead you to the answers that are best for you.

BE LAKE RESPONSIBLE