Pond Boss Forums Active Threads This Week

I assume it will rot pretty quickly. This particular tree died in a fire 2yrs ago. It was a prototype to test this idea because it was easy and I have a bunch of them that need to be dealt with. I'll likely start using Hedge (Osage Orange) soon which won't rot out for a long time. I'm ok with replacing structures though, and this method is cheap.

I like the look of that structure, catscratch.

I could be wrong, but I think that structure will disintegrate to just the main stalk in (2) years or so. Just something to be aware of as you put in the labor/effort.

Happy belated, Theos!!!

Can do, we've had three new ones born since Saturday.

Missed it. Hope you enjoyed it.

The rebar goes through holes I drill through the tree. Acts as a stop for the block.


I just started this project yesterday. The yard only has 1 scraggly old tree in it for now... many will follow! The wife has no clue what's coming!

Happy Birthday!

I have seen yards with cars up on blocks.

I have seen yards with scraggly dead trees.

Now I have finally seen a yard with a scraggly dead tree up on a block!

I bet your wife was happy when that project made it into the pond.


P.S. How are you holding the tree inside the concrete block?

Tried a different way to make vertical cover today. 3 holes, 3 lengths of rebar, and a cinder block. Very easy to assemble on a boat and makes for a stable tree. So much easier than what I was doing with wire and quickcrete.

I would leave the aerators running.

Another way to mix it is to put a tote on a trailer behind an ATV. Fill it with water,dump in a bag or two of alum. Mix with a canoe paddle use a gas powered pump with a 1" suction hose and outlet hose that has a nozzle on the end. He can reach out quite a ways with that. They make brass "sweeper" nozzles that fit on a 1" hose. Repeat until the alum is gone.

Watch the pH of the water, if it drops too much, have a bag or three of hydrated lime to mix in the tote once you get all the alum out of it to spray on the pond.

Typically it's a 2:1 ratio for applying alum and hydrated lime. i.e. 300# alum to 150# hydrated lime per ac/ft water.

No, it's not too big to spawn. Here's an article by the owner of this forum. https://americansportfish.com/golden-shiners/

I honestly don't know any way to tell if a particular shiner is infected or not.

Typically you want the alkalinity over 40 ppm so plants and phytoplankton can utilize the nutrients in the water. Low alkalinity is like having very low pH in soil. It locks up the nutrients, making them inaccessible to plants.

That's why it's not recommended to fertilize water to get a bloom until you can get the alkalinity up. There might already be plenty of fertilizer in the water already.

Ervin: Look into getting agriculture lime (dry) and spreading it out in the pond.

See my post #566339 above.

Hey Sparkplug - Have a good relaxing healthy birthday. Any good update info about your ponds? I heard shagbark hickory produces some excellent syrup.

Have a good Ohio birthday. Hug a cow for me.

So this one is too big to spawn? Thanks for the help.

Are the CC controlling the small BG for you and allowing for the development of a good population of large BG?

That sounds like a fun pond! I hope your half-acre pond is producing some good table fare.

Hi Mainer,

I too am in Maine, midcoast, and looking to build a pond in our backyard. Just getting started though, having done the research to buy a 2 ton excavator and should have that soon. Now need to turn to how to actually dig the thing.

First though, I'm wondering if you'd share your notes on permitting and regulations,
I'm told that, as I'm not near (150' I believe) a designated wetland than I do not need a permit.

Also, I'm wondering if I'm going to find clay in the area we're looking to dig, it has standing water often but that could just be where the shale is near the surface, no? Is clay a common material found underlying the ground cover in Maine? Are you seeing a lot of clay where you're digging or is mostly shale?

And, if there is no clay would this work anyway? Can you dig down into shale and have it hold or at least retain water?


Thanks,
KWL

Happy Birthday Theo.

Hopefully you got a perfect Spring day for your birthday present!

Hey Sparky

Thanks for this

The pond is only 3 years old though?

Wanted to see if if any of the bacteria’s work?


Thank you

I mainly fish for BG, some CC, the size of the pond keeps my LMB small in numbers.
The last LMB I got was 18". But they do not really bite as they have so much to eat.

What is your main goal to be reached by altering your alkalinity? Hard to evaluate the bang for the buck without knowing the ultimate goal.

Could not agree more with esshup's post above.

I have mixed a lot of dry powders in my lifetime for a wide variety of applications. Almost all of them required agitation for mixing.

Maybe all you need is a 5-gallon bucket and a paint-stirring bit on your drill? However, at a pound of material/bucket that is still 200 buckets! Hopefully you can mix a thicker slurry and decrease your work load.

Can you walk the inaccessible areas of the shoreline with a 5-gallon bucket or backpack sprayer? If not, then distributing by boat is almost certainly going to give you a bigger bang for your buck.

Perhaps have a helper on shore mixing slurry for you, and your drive up to the dock and pick up a load of buckets and then go back to your shoreline distribution. If you can use a boat bigger than a jon boat, then have your mixer working in the boat while you drive and distribute.



esshup (and others), doesn't he need to keep the aerators running at full capacity during the treating phase to maximize the interaction between the slurry and his water column?

HI I checked my ph and it is at around 6.2 but my alkalinity is below 20, last year I added 2.5 gallons of Cal Flo liquid lime that bought my ph high at the time to 9 and alk. around 60 but now its like it didnt last, do I need to try a different process. the pond is a half acre around 8 ft. deep