Weed Control

How to Control Aquatic Weed Types and Aquatic Plants

Ponds grow a variety of pond weed types, many of which look similar. The aquatic weed identification information below lists the most common weed types -- including emergent, submerged, and floating weeds -- to help you explore and identify aquatic weeds in your pond or lake.

For those looking for weed control solutions, Lake Restoration has developed all-in-one pond and lake weed control kits that make it unnecessary to identify the type of weeds in your pond. Feel free to use the information below to facilitate your pond weed identification goals, or contact us today to talk to our customer support team about the right control product for your pond or lake.

Visual example of types of aquatic weeds, including submersed weeds, free floating weeds, emergent weeds, rooted floating weeds, algae, and excess nutrients.

Curly leaf pondweed floating on water.

Curly Leaf Pondweed

Curly leaf pondweed has green to reddish leaves with wavy edges that have fine teeth.
Clump of Hydrilla on rocks.

Hydrilla

Hydrilla is a rooted submerged plant with whorled green leaves that have tiny teeth.
One Eurasian watermilfoil piece on tarp.

Milfoil

Eurasian watermilfoil has feather like leaves with 14-20 pairs of leaflets whorled around the hollow stem along the entire length of the plant. Northern Wate...
Close up of water lettuce group.

Water Lettuce

Water lettuce often looks like a floating open head of lettuce.
Group of water hyacinth.

Water Hyacinth

Water hyacinth has spongy green leaves and purple flowers above the water.
Watermeal on fingertips.

Watermeal

Watermeal is a tiny floating plant that makes swirls across the water and looks like bright green strawberry seeds up close.
Algae on the surface of a pond.

Pond Algae

Planktonic algae look like pea soup or spilled paint. Filamentous algae have an appearance similar to that of stringy hairs or cotton. Starry Stonewort ha...
Duckweed on fingertips.

Duckweed

Duckweed is a small free floating plant that resembles clovers and has short roots.