I have a 2 acre fresh water pond. A couple of years ago, someone planted several elephant ears sporatically around the pond to decrease the amount of erosion that was taking place. Now, every foot of the pond perimeter is covered in elephant ears. You can hardly see the water from the bank, not to mention that we cannot cast a fishing pole without getting stuck in the elephant ears. It's terrible because the elephant ears are also home to hundreds of water snakes. I also have a feeling the elephant ears are sucking the life out of pond. Is there a way to get rid of them without harming the water life? Any info is helpful. Thanks. Amorgan.
Actually, I was just corrected. They are not elephant ears, but some other variety of water plant with a long tube shaped stem and a huge 'elephant ear' looking top...not sure of the correct name. They are green, green, green. In the next week, I'll attempt to get a picture.
And I'd just been thinking the way to deal with the problem was to count them, divide by two to get the number of elephants, and call in a mahout to lead them away . . . ;-)
As you can tell, Michael F is not crazy about the term "Elephant ear". And for that matter, neither am I! But............. Depending on what species you are growing you may be able to turn them into a "cash crop". Look up Colocasia esculenta and see if that is your plant. There are several forms, some black, some green. That one, and a ton of other plants, are sold as "elephant ears". (sorry Michael). If it is Colocasia you can easily dig them up, pot them in 3 gallon pots, and sell them at a farmer's market or on the roadside. People pay our local garden centers $20 a pot! If you sold them for half that amount you'd make out OK. If you don't want to do it, find a kid looking for summer work and let them dig them and sell them and share the cash with you. If it is something else, you'll just have to try to determine if it has any value to plant growers. Poisoning them is not a good thing to do since it will kill everything in the pond as well. Not good for the environment! Get a photo on the board and hopefully we can help figure out what you are growing.