Here is the reply I got back to a request about using White Amur to control Giant Salvinia in Caddo:

It has been discussed for many years relative to hydrilla. However,
containment is an issue on Caddo Lake. Many would be expected to move
downstream and out of the lake, and if they are not there they can't
control the weeds.

It is doubtful that grass carp are as effective on giant salvinia as
they are on other weeds. For example, just a few years ago well over
100,000 grass carp were placed in Lake Conroe for hydrilla control.
Hydrilla was wiped out, but giant salvinia continued to grow and spread
until herbicide treatments were used.

Earl

Dr. Earl W. Chilton II
Aquatic Habitat Enhancement Program Director
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Austin, Texas 78744
(512) 389-4652

Well it looks like it's going to be a tough row to hoe when it comes to this new plant in our waters. The latter part of its scientific name should give us a clue about how this aquatic plant is going to treat us: Salvinia molesta.

From what I've read, it reproduces by vegetative means. That is to say that smaller pieces that break off from the main plant grow into a separate plant. That means that mechanical removal is probably just going to allow the plant to spread even further. They should have slipped "hydra" into the scientific name.

I'd expect Dr. Chilton to know what he's talking about, so biological control with species currently available to us is probably out as well. Don't even think about bringing whatever it is that eats this stuff in South America up here and releasing it. That's how we got Kudzu.

That leaves chemical control, which has its own unique set of challenges. If you kill too much mass of the plant at any one time, you'll be setting yourself up for a fish kill due to the oxygen demand of the microbes that break down the dying vegetation. Spray the wrong chemical and poison the fish and water. Spray the right chemical at the wrong time and risk a minimal kill on the plant you want to control and kill something desirable.

There is not going to be a silver bullet for this plant, but it also isn't going to be the end to life on our waterways as we know it. Our TPWD folks will find the best solution and spread that information far and wide.

I also believe that you're fooling yourself if you think that we can keep this stuff out of any water body of any size in our state where it can grow. It will spread for the most part by unintentional means, but there will be some damned fool somewhere who will unilaterally decide that Salvia will improve his favorite fishery and will release it on his own. This intentional transport will occur much in the same way I've heard rumors about hunters transporting ferals hogs into parts of our state where they weren't populated before. Much like those amateur wildlife biologists being someday caught by a rancher with a 30-30 when they release hogs on his property, heaven help the amateur aquatic landscape architect who plants some salvinia in front of an angler who cares.

My point to all this rambling is that we're going to have to find a way to live with this stuff in a similar way that we live with our other favorite South American import: the fire ant. Salvinia is here to stay.

I'm afraid that these are the facts of the case.

But perhaps, perhaps, genetic engineering could save the day.

A gene alteration that could be spread by ag plane that transmogrified the Giant Salvinia so that when boiled and fermented, it made a powerful, Australian-strength beer. At that point the Giant Salvinia would become extinct at a speed that would make heads spin.

Robin, you're just not paying attention to all the Coors and Bud light cans you see at the lake, are you? Your diabolical plan would work fine right up to the point that folks tried the beer and found that it had "flavor".

"We don't smoke Salvinia in Muskogee;
We don't take our trips on White Amur;
We don't burn no Federal duck papers down on Main Street
We like fishin right, and tyin' flies."

txredraider that is just mean, especially since its so true! I mean, who markets a beer on it being "drinkable"? Swamp water is drinkable.

BassBug, making it smokable is even better. But then big tobacco and the gummint would step in as they would if it could be turned into likker.

Making it smokable scares me even more. That just means that we'll be pitching bugs into the weeds and run afoul of some Deliverance type who is angry that we's tryin' to steal his 'Silvia. A double barreled shotgun is bound to be involved at some point.

I'm a glass half empty guy today.

Y'all stop, that is just too funny. Okay, yes, the thing to do is make it worth something to somebody. Find out what the best qualities are...such as a food source, gardening, tobacco alternative, seaweed alternative...yes some people actually buy it and eat it at the store...
You can buy seaweed fertilizer...concentrate it, and sell it to gardeners. But the demand won't make people go out in boats to get it. If you could smoke it, or make an alcohol from it...then you have your magic disappearance of it on Caddo.
Do I hear dualing guitars playing? Oh, never mind...

Wonder if it will relate to bio-fuel?

In all seriousness the usefulness of an aquatic plant as a feedsource for livestock or as feedstock for ethanol not economical because of the amount of actual dry material that is left after the water is removed.

Most water plants are usually more than 90% water by composition. So if you harvested 1,000 lbs of Salvia, you'd only end up with 100 lbs of actual plant material and 9,900 lbs of water. That means you can't economically ship it anywhere to be processed and that you have to expend energy to remove that water before you can use it for anything.

DUH!

No need for a "duh", I didn't know that kind of thing either until I started looking into it a few years ago.

That's the same reason that after all the rain we got in 2007 a lot of the cattle looked so bad in spite of standing in grass that was belly-deep. There was so much water in the grass, the cattle couldn't consume enough of it to meet their requirements. The old timers call grass like that "washy" and it's the same concept as the salvinina example above.

And maybe the noisy bubbles method would keep the triploids from moving downstream so you wouldn't lose the investment in fish?

Edit: somehow missed the part about grassies not being effective on salvinia... key... so much for reading skills. sorry!

This is a pretty interesting bio-fuel idea.

http://tinyurl.com/mspotp

Rick

If it was smokable I don't think you would have to worry about sxs wielding grass smokers. Marjuana requires cultivation, GS doesn't.

If herbivores don't work, havrvesting don't work, and herbicides are the only effective way to keep it in check but not eradicate it then I see a future of extra fees to buy the poison to control the weed to keep the fishery.
TWPD will start selling weed control stamps to fund it.