I was recently
asked by a friend to check out her farm pond, which has become over-run with
weeds
(her term was seaweed
) this year. She wanted to
know what she could do about them, and whether there was some sort of chemical
she could apply that would make them go away. I told her that I knew a lot more
about growing aquatic plants than getting rid of them, but I also have a number
of resources in the field of invasive weeds and wetland mitigation, so I figured
I could ask around for ways to help solve her problem. So I told her I’d come
out and take a look at what was going on.
I arrived on a beautiful New England fall day to check out the pond. I was
expecting to find the pond choked with either Eurasian Milfoil or Cabomba
Caroliniana (native to the U.S., but not to New England ponds, it has become
a pest in some areas). To my surprise, I arrived to see the pond covered with
tiny yellow flowers! Not invasive non-natives after all, but (to my plant-loving
eyes!) a beautiful mix of Ludwigia, Nymphoides and Utricularia!
The offending
plant, with all the lovely yellow flowers, was the Utricularia,
which was growing not only across the surface of the pond, but up onto the boggy
shoreline as well.
After talking with my friend for a while, she told me that they had never had
a problem
like this before. I pointed out that we had had a cool,
wet spring, followed by a long, dry summer and fall. The water level in the
pond was much lower than usual, and as a result, it had only a trickle of water
running into and out of it. I explained that this overgrowth could well be the
result of the unusual weather conditions, and the fact that the pond water had
almost no current at this point. I advised her to wait and see what happens
next year. Sometimes, growth like this is dependent on specific weather conditions,
and it could be completely different next year. I also explained that any
chemicals that would kill these plants would also kill all the others, and would
damage the animals who use the pond as well. She agreed that she didn’t want
that!
So, in the end, this wasn’t a case of invasive non-natives, but it was a case
where I was able to do some teaching, and advocate for the preservation of a
beautiful natural habitat. I even was able to capture their interest by explaining
that Utricularia is a carnivorous plant! But we, as aquarists need to
really work to make sure that our plants stay safely in their
aquaria, and do not make it into the wild. We also need to educate others, whether
they are aquarium keepers, pond keepers, fishermen or boaters. We need to be
advocates for our native waters, both in protecting them from non-natives and
protecting them from people who want to remove native species, thinking they
are cleaning up
an environment!
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