Clipper Aquatic Herbicide and Weed Control

Weed Control with Clipper Aquatic Herbicide.

Federal G.C is a Canberra golfing icon and currently ranks in the top 100 Australian courses. The Achilles heel of the course has always been limited water. How does Pete Dunn, Director of Agronomy, deal with water quality issues heading into the driest time of the year? The last thing the Club needs is poor water quality due to aquatic weeds or algae. So, does Clipper Aquatic herbicide based on flumioxazin cut the mustard?

Background.

In August 2024 Gilba Solutions were contacted by Pete Dunn the Director of Agronomy at Federal Golf Club in Canberra. Federal Golf Club has an issue with a build-up of aquatic weeds and algae in their storage dam adjacent to the maintenance facility.

With limited water storage at the Club, it’s very important to Pete and the Club to ensure a good, clean supply of irrigation water. 18 Championship bent grass greens coupled with Canberra’s long, hot dry Summers are not a good mix. So, anything that limits water availability has a major impact on the club both from playability perspective but also financially.

Aquatic weeds and algae have historically been an ongoing problem, but this year the milder weather has meant that it has become a problem earlier than usual.

Jerry Spencer the Senior Turf Consultant at Gilba Solutions met Pete on site to review the situation. He is Accredited for the use of Clipper herbicide.

Pre-Treatment.

A survey of the site revealed the following:

• Floating Filamentous Algae.
• Several floating and submerged weeds including:
• Milfoil
• Salvinia and
• Leafy Elodea

The presence of aquatic weeds plus algae meant that the use of Agri-Tec was not feasible as it only treats algae. See this Twin Creeks case study.

Pete had to take several factors into consideration when making his decision. Three of the most important were the water pH, the time of year and the withholding period.

• The unique Canberra climate means that the water temperature in August plays a major role in herbicide efficacy when you treat aquatic weeds.
• Water pH also affects many aquatic herbicides. Early morning pH readings showed a water pH of 7.6.
• As it was an irrigation dam for the course treatment options had to consider not only the weed population but also the need to use the dam for irrigation. Heading into the Summer months meant that the Club could not afford to not water bent grass greens for any length of time.

Clipper Aquatic Herbicide.

Several options were considered but it was decided to go with Clipper herbicide due to the large number of submerged weeds. Clipper is a fast-acting contact flumioxazin herbicide, that controls floating, emergent and submerged aquatic weeds and algae.

Among the weeds Clipper Aquatic Herbicide controls are:

• Cabomba.
• Watermeal.
• Eurasian watermilfoil.
• Water lettuce.
• Duckweed and
• Giant salvinia and more.

The exceptionally low environmental footprint plus minimal withholding period, are two of the key reason Pete decided to run with this option.

• Clipper Aquatic Herbicide controls all the weeds that are present in the storage dam.
• There was a need for quick results
• The 4-day withholding period for bent grass was workable
• Clipper works on floating, emergent and submerged aquatic weeds and algae.
• The dam water pH was less than 8.0.
• We were heading into the best time of year for treatment.
• Clipper has reduced PPE requirements and 51% WDG tablets means easier application and handling.

Treatment began in the first week of October.

Clipper Herbicide Mixing Instructions.

Clipper Aquatic Herbicide (Group 14) is a large-diameter, effervescent herbicide tablet or “puck”. This flumioxazin tablet is contained in a water-soluble wrapping, and you apply this in one of two ways:

• Throw it directly into the water body where the target weeds grow. This means you don’t need to use any spray equipment, or
• Dissolve it in water and then apply Clipper Aquatic Herbicide with conventional spray equipment from a boat or tinny.

Rate of Clipper Herbicide.

The dam in question contained 8 Ml of storage and was pretty much full. As the rate is approximately 27 tablets per Megalitre of water (1 tablet per 37.5m3 of water), 216 tablets of this flumioxazin herbicide would be needed.

These flumioxazin herbicide tablets were evenly applied over the entire dam surface.

The Results.

As the images below show the results have been impressive. After three weeks there was no evidence of any aquatic weeds on or below the surface and all the filamentous algae has disappeared. For any storage water issues please feel free to contact us.

Clipper Aquatic Herbicide Label

Clipper Herbicide SDS.

2023 Clipper Herbicide® Stewardship Update