These are some of the true and scary facts regarding Hydrilla
problems.
Hydrilla is considered the most problematic aquatic
plant in
the United States. In the 1990s hydrilla is now
well-established in the southern states where control and management
costs millions of dollars each year. Florida spent $56 million dollars
for control during a ten-year period and, during this time, the acreage
doubled.
Hydrilla forms dense mats of vegetation that interfere with recreation
and destroy fish and wildlife habitat. Unlike other problem aquatic
plants, like Brazilian elodea, that reproduce only by fragmentation,
this spreads by seeds, tubers, plant fragments, and turions
(overwintering buds). One
square meter of hydrilla can produce 5,000 tubers. Once established, it
is
readily spread by waterfowl and boating activities. It can
very easily take over your water life.
Hydrilla has several advantages over other plants. It will grow with
less light and is more efficient at taking up nutrients than other
plants.
It also has extremely effective methods of propagation. Besides making
seeds (seedlings are actually rarely seen in nature), it can sprout new
plants
from root fragments or stem fragments containing as few as two whorls
of
leaves. Recreational users can easily spread these small fragments from
waterbody to waterbody.
If you have questions regarding hydrilla problems, feel free
to email us at sales@hydrilla-weed-killer.com
However, hydrilla's real secret to success is its ability to produce
structures called turions and tubers. (Presence of these structures is
also a characteristic which distinguishes this plant from similar
looking
plants.) Turions are compact "buds" produced along the leafy stems.
They
break free of the parent plant and drift or settle to the bottom to
start
new plants. They are 1/4 inch long, dark green, and appear spiny.
Tubers
are underground and form at the end of roots. Hydrilla produces
an
abundance of tubers and turions in the fall. Tubers may remain dormant
for
several years in the sediment. Tubers and turions can withstand ice
cover,
drying, herbicides, and ingestion and regurgitation by waterfowl.
US Distribution
Diocieous form: southeastern US, Texas, California. Monoecious
form: Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware,
California, Rio Grande River, Lake Ouachita.
Worldwide Distribution
Scattered subtropical regions: Australia, China, US, New Zealand;
native of China
Ecology
Submersed in 1 up to 20 feet depth
