Something about Texas Hydrilla 99% of Us Don't Know

It's not often that I find something out and tell 10 buddies and every single one of them says "I didn't know that"...this is one of those.

Thanks for the info Ken PM sent.

very interesting

Sorry, but can someone explain how we had Hydrilla abundance in Lake Amistad growing from 30+ feet up and not even close to a boat propellar? Guess I’m not buying the fragmentation theory.
And I believe birds are the most common spreader of plants to different bodies of water.

COOT"S and wind are what spread it so much on Amistad. Not boat propellers --------I don't know about 30' but I've seen it matted on top to 26'

monecious or dioecous. I'm quite sure the fish don't care.

Is there a public list of what product is being sprayed, where and when? I was at Toledo Bend when the big flood hit. If they are saying the muddy water killed all the hydrilla then what killed all the lily pads and haygrass? Ever since they went spray crazy at Fork the year the hyacinth popped up there has been little to no hydrilla in the lake. I feel like they are trying to get a little to cute and over managing and doing more harm than good with the spraying.

That's the history of TPWD. They have killed many lakes with spraying. I will forever miss Purtis Creek in the 90s. They have never learned.

If you have a private lake, the biologist will advice using sonar pellets. It killed our lake in the early 2000s. Once again we are being advice to treat the grass. Homeowners trust the guy they paid so dead the lake goes. It happens more than it should. Poisoning the drinking water never made sense to me.

While I am sure muddy water at a sustained high level affects hydrilla. I may not convinced that is the main contributing factor. There are many lakes that have very stable water level that are now void of grass.

He admits that the spraying killed that haygrass and pads. They are saying that one product they were spraying was killing that stuff so that's when they did the rayburn study. Now they spray stuff that should only stun the hay grass and other stuff but it should recover. That's where I think the issue is, over spraying, incorrect mixtures, etc are still killing everything. I've personally seen where they've sprayed up the bank and everything was dying, buck brush, regular grass, trees, everything. Don't get me wrong, I am glad we have someone in TPWD that cares about the lakes more than in the past and they are actually trying to fix past mistakes. I will never agree with spraying chemicals in our water, that's just wrong and unacceptable IMO. I'm hopeful we can find another solution to this obvious problem and hopefully our lakes aren't being permanently hurt by these chemicals

Good information. Thanks for sharing.

That’s good information, but I question some of it I to think they over spray or have the wrong mixture, I remember when Cedar Creek was full of hydrilla back in the late 70s when they killed it it has never came back. I also remember the first time I went to Amistad I could see Hydrilla down deep it would move around like wave action . It seems that when TPWD kills it it never comes back.

very interesting. Thanks Ken

First we have a home on Cedar Creek. The lack of ANYTHING growing shallow there has nothing to do with TP&W, dock owners here have decided that they own all the water in front of their property, and therefore will spray, pellet, pull, do whatever it takes to keep anything from growing in front of their docks. It makes me sick, but I have seen it now since we bought our place in 2004.

Second... and I don't want to rile the TFF, but if TPW won't import some hydrilla from the north so we can experience the hey days of the 80's again then lots of guys make trips up there to smallmouth fish in the summer, this seems like an easy fix.

Good stuff! Thanks!!

To be honest, I thought the same thing. The fishermen could probably implant the hydrilla. But, the question is why isn't it growing in lakes that have had it? Seems the poison is settling on bottom and making the soil bad for anything to grow.

There hasn't been any hydrilla in the lake since I bought the house but one thing I would note, Our house is on the main lake beside a point. When we first started going there that point, for a long way out into the lake was soft, silt and sand bottom. We used to beach the boat there and the kids would play all up and down the point. As everyone knows we've had significant up and down years with our water level. What most don't realize is when we have those big moves up and they open the gates we get crazy amounts of current, we can see it around our dock. That point no longer has any sand or silt on it, it's 100% hard clay, which I don't think anything will root in. I don't know if we lost that sand/silt to the current, or it washed away when the lake was so low, but the bottom is certainly different there and around our dock that what it was 15-17 years ago. Just my observation.

Biggest problem I saw was the lack of oversight of the spray contractors. They sprayed a ton of areas on toledo that they 100 percent shouldn't have. As in main lake haygrass mats. Tpw confirmed that as well.

Sure seems like a good time to toss a bunch of seeds out at fork to get some type of grass growing. Certainly there is something someone could seed that will take hold and help prevent the massive erosion of shoreline as well as give the bait somewhere to hide and reproduce.

Id buy a big bag of duckweed seed if legal and available or coontail or potato weed, alligator grass seed or whatever. Best time to plant seed is when the lake bottom is exposed in the muck areas like right now. Wonder if there is aquatic grass seed the TPW would be ok with that grow good at Fork, what those types are, and where to purchase in bulk.

So it was stated in the video that Hydrilla from the north would help with the growth and spread of hydrilla but is an invasives species. Who determines what is an invasive species? Is it TPW? Are they making any attempt to get it removed from the list? Not trying to sound overly negative but when it comes to aquatic plants in TX lakes there is a lot of talk from TPW but the only action we seem to hear about is spray and then spray some more.

It sounds crazy that we would put any kind of poison in our water supply. That’s crazy crazy crazy. TPWD is funded by tax money. We pay taxes. It sounds like we need to ask our governor, senators and reps about the issue. Focus the issue on poisoning the water NOT about bass fishing.

+1000. The focus should be outlawing the poisoning of our water and fish. TPWD should be all about that as well because they are paid to protect the resources, not just eliminate salvania. There are better ways than poisoning our fish that people eat and water people use.

Yep they killed Purtis Creek and that was after they killed Conroe for many years and they did not learn from that. After Purtis creek was Fork, killing grass.

They DON'T CARE......its just a job to them.

Just curious how many on here have seen a lake with salvinia that has gone untreated?
And for those worried about the chemicals hurting your water, chemical spray is a very minor pollutant compared to many other things that go in our lakes. Despite what tv lawyers tell you, herbicides are not as bad as you might imagine. Most of us eat food every day that has been exposed to some kind of pesticide or herbicide. Contractor application control is the main problem. If someone takes enough care treatments are effective and relatively harmless to non-target plants.

Does anyone have a problem with the guilty party being the “expert witness” in his own trial? Clickbait

time load them livewells up with hydrilla and spread it around

I won't argue that the Contractor application control is the main problem, the real question is why isn't the control being done? The contractor is suppose to have approval from the TPWD. Take a look at the approved aquatic vegetation treatment proposal's and see what is being approved at some of the lakes. The one that really sticks out to me is Murvaul which I have not seen much Giant Salvinia on. TPWD approved 5 different chemicals for 600 acres each plus weevil on it. I will admit to not know much about how these chemical work together but it seems to be a bit high for a lake that is only 3,820 acres. I got this data from https://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/water/environconcerns/nuisance_plants/treat_proposals.phtml

The problem is, the smaller the lake, the faster Salvinia can completely cover. They have to be extremely aggressive to knock it back on those small lakes, like they did with Athens.

Also depends on water quality or clarity. Salvinia won't take over clear lakes. It likes stagnant, dark water for the most part. The backs of creeks and north ends of lakes like Toledo and Rayburn. It was on Kurth in one pocket and never left that pocket. Just never would grow on that main lake. It's weird stuff but it'll take over quickly

I've spent my whole life growing plants in one form or another. I've pretty much grown every specialty plant there is at this point. The one area I have never really worked in is the arena of aquatic plants. However the basic principles of plant growth still apply. Seems to me some really basic problem solving steps have been skipped in this hydrilla quandary. It really shouldn't be that hard to figure this problem out. The solution may prove to be more complicated, but identifying the problem should not be. First step should be getting some very simple soil tests, plant tissue tests, and water quality tests from lakes that have abundant hydrilla. I'm sure states like Florida, Tennessee, Alabama etc would be more than happy to assist in getting us samples from their lakes that grow hydrilla in abundance. You also have lakes like Fairfield that you could get these basic tests from. We are talking about tests that literally cost less than $100 for all the needed tests. Very simple stuff. Then you compare that data with the data you collect from lakes like Toledo and Rayburn. Within that data I can almost guarantee you will be able to find some answers. Not anecdotal answers, but true factual answers that can be acted on. The fact that hydrilla attempts to grow on lakes like Toledo Bend and dies again tells us that something has changed dramatically in that lake. It could be lots of different things such as nutrients, water quality, herbicides, or some combination of all the above.

As far as herbicide applications go, I took a quick glance at the recent herbicide treatment applications made on Texas lakes. The chemical Flumioxazine raises a red flag to me. That particular chemical is our most powerful and long lasting pre emergent herbicide in the ornamental industry at this time. For those that don't know, a pre emergent herbicide is a chemical applied to keep plants from germinating and growing. So it basically kills a plant before it ever gets started growing. Flumioxazine also has some post emergence control but it is very weak compared to herbicides like glyphosate. Testing for levels of that particular chemical in the water and soil should be part of the testing done. Again, I have no definitive answers here, but this is a problem that can be figured out with just some very basic problem solving.

I wish more would have been discussed about TPWD adding Asian carp to a lake. Clearly they added too many carp to Lake Conroe, wiped out all vegetation and they eventually admitted it. Then they add 55,000 Asian carp to Lake Austin years later. The lake went from #8 on Bass Master list to catch a double digit bass to a mud hole. I'm sorry, but TPWD screwed up and they officially admitted it. Since Lake Austin is in Austin, there was politics involved and a group name Friends of Lake Austin, (FOLA). FOLA is the home owners on Lake Austin. They put pressure on TPWD to do something when only a 1/3 of the lake still had Hydrilla. TPWD added even more carp due to pressure from FOLA. Needless to say that was in 2013. The lake has yet to recover.

The point I want to make is, if TPWD is adding Asian carp to a lake near you, you better get involved. Or you could end up like Lakes Conroe or Austin.

Ken, Thank you for posting this. Much appreciated!

If you watch the latest video, John atleast admits that the money and politics of places like Conroe play the biggest part in vegetation control. There's still a lot of stuff that needs to be fixed but it seems like John is one of the good guys that will try to make the best of it. Personally, I don't think we should be putting the chemicals in our water at all. I also think those chemicals are settling on the bottom and that's what hurting the grass growing back. Thats just me though

Absolutely, I'm old and had the opportunity to fish Conroe in its hey day (So far back, Rick Clunn was still guiding) and it was a great place, even with the traffic. The introduction of the carp killed it. Even though you can catch some bigs on it, it really never recovered. Just as with Lake Austin, it was homeowners associations on Conroe that twisted politicians arms and got TPWD to do their bidding. The worst part was the hypocrisy of those same people having the audacity to then gripe that the water was muddy.