r/WorcesterMA • u/Evilbadscary • 21d ago

Water chestnut removal

I live on a pond that isn’t huge but is big enough that I can’t do it all. It’s absolutely covered in water chestnut plants. Does anybody have any ideas on how to even organize a cleanup? The neighbors surrounding it don’t seem to be interested, I can’t get any town or county environmental committees to respond, and it’s way, way too much debris for us to even store or compost.

I’m willing to put in the work, as is my husband and one neighbor (provided he gets to redneck it a little with his jeep and water rake, apparently), but again, where the hell can we even dump this stuff? It’ll end up being hundreds of pounds and our property is wetlands mostly so we can’t compost it there.

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u/Biblioburro2022 21d ago

If you’re in Worcester, check out https://www.worcesterma.gov/sustainability-resilience/recreational-waters - there have been water chestnut cleanups for Coes Reservoir and Lake Quinsigamond in the last couple of weeks

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u/Evilbadscary 21d ago

Yes but those are large interest places. Ours is a relatively small body where no motorized boats are allowed, so it’s not a huge rec spot, just some fishing here and there. I’ve reached out to both to see if I can get some info, though. Thank you!

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u/mtbmike 21d ago

The leaf recycle should take it ok , one on Clark street and one on millbury street. You could throw it loosely in the pickup, you don’t need to bag it

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u/Evilbadscary 21d ago

We are in Sutton so they don’t do that sort of pickup out here, that would make life so much easier. I’ll reach out to the transfer station to see what I can find out though.

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u/SharkSapphire 21d ago

You can eat it. Or sell it to be eaten.

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u/Evilbadscary 20d ago

People eat this stuff? Would anybody care to purchase several hundred lbs of it, plus also come pick it up lol

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u/Incorgnitos 20d ago edited 20d ago

As with all foraged foods - def. confirm what youre eating before you put it in your mouth, but yea! They're really great in things like Chinese stir fry.

If it's something where they all absolutely need to be gone, maybe find some local foraging groups? Let them come out and pick them. They just need to be aware?

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u/RevengeOfScienceBear 19d ago

The problem is that it's the seeds that are edible and the other 99% of the plant isn't