FREE Water Chestnut Control Program

Take advantage of the FREE Water Chestnut (Trapa bispinosa) Survey and Control Program administered by Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS).  

Virginia Waters and Wetlands, Inc. has been selected by VDACS to conduct the Water Chestnut monitoring surveys and treatment.  Private ponds located in the cities of Alexandria, Arlington, and Manassas and the counties of Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, and Stafford are eligible to take advantage of the program.  Funding is limited so contact us today for the program’s application.  

Two-horned trapa is a floating, annual, aquatic plant with submerged stem and roots. Preferred habitat is freshwaters such as tidal rivers, streams, ponds, reservoirs, lakes and wetlands; relatively shallow, slow moving or still water. It prefers full sun. Roots are long and anchor the plant into the mud in waters up to 12 feet deep. Fan-shaped leaves have doubly serrated margins and form a central rosette. Floating leaves are green above with red undersides, each leaf having a distinct “inflated” petiole that allows the plant to float. Small, four-petalled, pink flowers emerge from the rosette center beginning in June. Two-horned trapa may flower and produce fruit from early July until frost. The seed pod is a large drupe (1.5-2 inches) with two opposing “horns.” Two-horned trapa senesces in late autumn with frost. Seeds can lie dormant for at least two years, while the upper range of seed dormancy is debated. A high majority of Trapa sp. seeds (97-100%) will germinate in the first or second year after they are produced.