Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Tornado Damage Trees for Structure

Question yall... Tornado came thru my place in Northern Alabama April 2011. I have huge piles of trees that I have piled up and am burning as I can.. I am in the process of renovating my 2.5 acre pond into a 8 acre pond. I was thinking about using some of the blown down trees as structure and also the stumps that did not burn as structure. I have oaks, pines, sweet gum and poplar. Is there any issue with using these as structure? Also -- I have access to hundreds of used tires for free... would these make good structure? Are they hazardous over a lifetime to the fish or people eating the fish? Thanks for any help!!

The only issue that I see with any of those are the Oaks and Pines. The Oaks have tannic acid in them, and if there are too many they might leach too great of a quantity of it into the pond - ask Dave Davidson about that.

As for pines, they are acidic, but I think that if the water pH is tested before stocking fish, and adjusted as necessary, you'd be O.K.

Depending on the tires/trees, if piled in such a way to make cavities, catfish might spawn in them. So, it all depends on the goals for the pond and the species that will be stocked.

I killed everything in a new pond with oaks. It stayed lethal until I pumped it dry. The tanins in the green trees did it. I know nothing about the other trees. I'll never do that again.

I've used tires on several occasions without a problem.

I have used all of those without problem. If they have been down for a year you should be ok. Just don't fill the lake up with them.