My 5 ac pond is an old gravel pit that has been "weeded" pretty good by GC. I would really like to plant some kind of grasses or other good fish (young BG mainly) cover plants in the shallow parts. BUT i really don't want to create a mess I will have to clean up later. Are their any such plants? Every time I add some structure (cedar trees and such) around the edges it will have fry all around it within the hour.
Thanks!
Look at American Water Willow or Maidencane. Both are good for peripheral growth in steep-sloped sided bodies of water.
Kill all the grass carp, much easier.
Does the gravel pit have steep sides? What is the slope of the shorlines toward deep water. What percent of the shoreline is slow slope vs steep sloping into deep water? How quickly does the water get to 5ft to 6ft deep?
Kill all the grass carp, much easier.
That's easy for you to say. I have been hunting them for 2 months. Managed to kill 4 of at least 20 that I know are in there! If deer and turkey were like carp we would never kill any!
Mr. Bill, does this make any sense? The darker areas are deeper of course, at least 5'. The ridges vary from 2' to 4' deep.
It looks like you have enough shallow areas to plant some shoreline marginal plants. For your larger pond - pit that can be fished from a boat, I would start with low cost free plants - some cattails collected from wild growing plants. There are two types of native cattails wide leaf (Typha latifolia) and narrow leaf (Typha angustifolia). Look into the bull rush species hard stem and soft stem, learn to recognize them for when you go collecting. Bull rushes tend to have more open spaces between individual plants as cover for young fish. I would not use these plants in ponds 1 ac or less due to fast spread and being a nuisance in later years. You may have to protect the initial plantings with tree branches so the GC cannot get to the plants to eat them. Once established these plants should be not be a prime food of GC. These plants will grow into water 3-5ft deep but GC should/could eat the deeper ones. These plants do spread, but in 5 ac it should take many years before they are a nuisance. Proper herbicides will work to keep them under control.
Sounds good to me! Thanks!
I think I'm gonna plant American Water Willow. Anyone have any advice?