Mechanical removal of invasive and overgrown aquatic vegetation from Long Island’s ponds, lakes, and shorelines — no herbicides, no runoff, just the plants pulled out and taken away.
Choked ponds and weed-clogged shorelines don’t just look neglected — they starve the water of oxygen, crowd out native species, and block recreation. The conventional fix is chemical treatment, which leaves dead plant matter to decay in place and sends herbicides into the water table.
Spadefoot takes the plants out entirely. We cut, gather, and physically remove aquatic vegetation, then haul it off site for composting. The nutrients that fed the overgrowth leave with the harvest, breaking the cycle rather than resetting it.
Spadefoot Ecosystem Solutions operates a Weedoo TC-3012 aquatic workboat — a compact, exceptionally maneuverable harvester built for the shallow, hard-to-reach waters typical of Long Island’s ponds and coves.
A skid-steer on water — trailers directly to the launch and goes from land to water on its own.
8-inch shallow draft, works right where the weeds are
Fiberglass / Kevlar, engineered for payload and balance
Clean-burning Kubota diesel, eco-friendly hydraulic fluid
Deck-mounted marine boom cutter, reaches well below the surface
Quick-change loader, marine bucket, and root rake
Shorelines, shallows, docks, and tight channels
Equipment manufactured by Weedoo Workboats.
Cattails, duckweed, water chestnut, and other overgrowth cut and lifted out by the root.
Golf course, HOA, estate, and community ponds cleared and kept clear on a maintenance schedule.
Overgrown edges, channels, and dock lines trimmed back for access and open water.
Fallen limbs, logs, and accumulated muck rake-lifted and removed from the water.
These are the aquatic invaders choking our ponds, lakes, and shorelines from Nassau to the East End. Every one of them spreads by crowding out the native plants that hold our waters together — and every one of them responds to the same core strategy: pull the plant out, and take the nutrients that feed it out with it.
Phragmites australis — common reed
The reed you see everywhere along roadsides, marsh edges, and pond margins across the Island. It forms dense monoculture stands up to 15 feet tall, shading out native marsh plants and degrading habitat for the birds and fish that depend on them.
How we work it: Cut and haul the standing biomass, then work the root mass. Because it regrows from rhizomes, real control is a multi-season program, not a one-time cut.
Lemna & Wolffia species
The bright green film that blankets a pond’s surface — like the water at Mill Pond. It thrives on excess nitrogen and phosphorus, and a heavy mat blocks light and pulls oxygen out of the water below.
How we work it: Skim and convey the mat off the surface. Removing the biomass draws down the very nutrients that let it bloom.
Myriophyllum spicatum
One of the most widespread aquatic invasives in the state, present in roughly two-thirds of surveyed New York waterbodies and found across Long Island’s freshwater ponds. It builds thick underwater canopies that tangle boats and shade out native beds.
How we work it: It spreads by fragmentation, so we harvest on a scheduled program — repeated cuts through the season keep fragments from maturing. Best done as ongoing management, never a single late-season pass.
Hydrilla verticillata — “water thyme”
One of the highest-priority invasive plants in New York and among the hardest aquatic species in the country to control. It’s already here — documented on Long Island at Caleb Smith State Park Preserve in Phillips Mill Pond — and grows from bottom sediment into a wall of vegetation up to the surface.
How we work it: Like milfoil, it multiplies from tiny fragments and tubers, so containment discipline and repeat harvesting matter. We clean, drain, and dry all equipment between waterbodies to avoid moving it.
Trapa natans
A floating annual that forms dense rosette mats, shading out everything beneath it. Long Island knows it well — the DEC has led removals at Mill Pond, where volunteers pulled roughly 1,600 pounds of it in a single July effort.
How we work it: Timing is everything — harvest when rosettes first appear in mid-June to early July, before seeds set, and repeat early each season to draw down the seed bank.
Potamogeton crispus, Cabomba, Egeria
Curly-leaf pondweed, fanwort, Brazilian elodea, and starry stonewort round out the list of submerged invaders turning up in New York freshwater. Each forms dense growth that displaces native plants and fouls recreation.
How we work it: Survey first, then harvest on a schedule matched to each plant’s growth cycle — always removing the biomass and its nutrient load from the system.
Tell us about your waterbody and we’ll put together a harvesting plan built for it.
Tell us about your pond, lake, canal, or waterway and the challenges you’re facing—our team will develop a targeted harvesting plan that removes invasive vegetation, improves water quality, and restores ecological balance without chemicals.
