I have an approximately 1 acre fish pond. I'm getting a lot of bushy, fast-growing trees that I think are Willow popping up all around the water's edge, including all over the dam. I assume that's not a good thing. I've been just cutting them off or mowing them down, but they come back almost as fast as I can cut them. If I try to pull them up by the roots I rip up a lot of dirt and grass and I don't want to cause erosion problems. I only recently got enough grass growing well around the pond to stop erosion and I don't want to cause problems again.

Anyone have tips on how to stop or slow them down? I'm hesitant to use Roundup because I don't want to get it into the water.

Also, I've been told that Weeping Willow is different from these wild Willows and won't spread around if I plant one by the pond. Will I cause myself problems if I plant a Weeping Willow near the water's edge? (not on the dam). Will it drink enough water to be a problem for the pond?

you're likely seeing black willow...I absolutely despise them. I've tried pulling them up, cutting them off and spraying them down with herbicide. Pulling them up works fairly well assuming you get the whole root system - which is difficult. Cutting them off just spreads them IMHO - the pieces you cut drift to another spot and take root. Herbicides are my preferred solution currently. I hate chemicals, but these willow trees are an infestation and there doesn't seem to be any other solution.

I have weeping willows relatively close to my pond for years now and they haven't caused any new growth. They definitely do suck up the water though, so if that's a concern you might want to avoid them.

Thanks. Any tips for herbicides that would be effective without hurting my pond or fish?

Here is a recent thread about willow control. I had luck with SHORE-KLEAR. I purchased from TSC.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=3301&Number=349641#Post349641

Cut the trees down and treat the stumps with a chemical called Tordon. It will kill all the roots and runners from that stump. Should be able to get it at a farm and ranch store.

Thanks, everyone. I know this is an old thread but one more question:

How bad is it if I leave one or two wild willows on the non-dam side of the pond? The plan would be to allow them to grow big to provide a couple of shaded fishing spots.

Am I shooting myself in the foot if I leave a couple but keep cutting down and killing the rest?

I'm certainly not an expert but I'm personally not a fan of Willow's, especially the big ones as they can be massive water consumers! And it seems like there's always smaller ones trying to crop up nearby!

I heard big Cottonwoods can consume up to 100 gallons of water per day with Willows being worse? (someone correct me if I'm all wet on that one ).

But knowing nothing about Black Willows, I just pulled this up on the internet:

Black Willow is the only tree in the willow family that has found many uses by people. Lumber, furniture, cabinets, doors, boxes, barrels, and toys are some of the products we use Black Willow for. It is also planted as a shade tree and used along shores to stop erosion. This tree helps with pollution too! Its roots will intercept nutrients running off from farm fields before they get into the water.

Interesting, but I still (personally) wouldn't want one there!

Willows give off that white fluffy pollen that I hate with a passion next to the poplar tree. Anyone willing to plant any of these is really hard up for a tree.

The junk any tree other than a pine or spruce puts into a ponds water is just polluting your pond with organics.

Find your self some four foot scotts pine or a local pine and plunk it by the shore on the south side. It will shade your pond quick enough. In five years you will have a very very nice tree.

Cheers Don.

P.S. cheap easy way to kill any tree is to pound in some copper nails into the tree.

The copper nail remedy is a common urban myth. There are a lot of different trees that can be very nice next to ponds. Common willows are invasive, so are a poor choice. If you really want willows, use corkscrew willow or weeping willow, but expect a lot of water use by these species, but little invasiveness.

X2 on RAH's response...couple of years after my original reply, the weeping willows are a good bit bigger but still no offspring anywhere that I've found.

I continue to have to kill off the black willows regularly. I've gone almost completely chemical at this point. I treat 2X a year and have managed to keep them under control.

So long as we're talking trees, I'm thinking about planting one or two cypresses on my east Texas pond. The soil is relatively acidic, though, and the dominant trees are pines.

Is a cypress a good idea? Does it take too much water?