Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat My journey into the depths of pond ownership

I am documenting everything I do on my property and learn here: A Texas Woodlot since it is not all pond related. I will also use this thread to show the work around the pond, since most of the work is going to be wildlife and human habitat. Planting trees and native plants around the pond, milling trees for construction lumber , clearing the unwanted tress and brush, and building human habitat. Here is a pic to wet the appetite, enjoying the fruits of my labor clearing the shoreline in November:

I love these type of threads. Looking forward to seeing more photos.

dittos to JHAP.

neat website jeffrey.

Had some time to go out to the pond and work on Christmas Eve. The previous owner left a lot of 2' tall stumps that resprouted right where I want to build, and half were thorny bodark with thorny vines all in them . At least these are not as bad as 16" x 4' tall elms with 20' tall stump sprouts on the other shore. Foundation is next now that I can mow .
Peninsula halfway done:

Peninsula after:

View from site, still need to mow:

Jeffrey3: Just read your Blog on the other site. This should develop into a very interesting project and one I will enjoy keeping up with.

Bing

jeffereythree, Checked out your blog and will follow your progress.. Have gone through many of the same steps and being a DIY guy will read your experiences with interest. This website may be helpful: http://texnat.tamu.edu/BrushBusters/index.htm for some of your projects. Noticed your mowing of volunteer trees. Please note that Locusts( if you have them) will be a 100 times worse after mowing. Use of Surmount & Inergy(surfactant) for foliar application or Remedy/diesel for very large tree trunk treatment is the only way to control them.. Good luck..du

David,
Thanks for the link, I have the hardwood stump chart from somewhere else as a .pdf but that is a nice site. I have been using Remedy RTU around the pondon stumps, figure it is a little better if it gets in the water. We will see if it works as well as diesel mix in the spring. Luckily, no locust except a little honey locust deep in the woods where it would be shaded out if cut.

Mike Otto came out yesterday to help me make sure my dam situation was OK. The setup is pretty unbelievable, you got to see it to belive it. He said a lot of engineering work went into it including rerouting the main source runoff. I can leave all of the trees I want on the dam. If a couple of 30" tree stumps are not causing a leak, then the 2-4" trees there now will not be a problem. The pond cannot be made bigger without a ton of work and a lot of tree deaths, except using the original engineering in a different way. He said a simple concrete structure with a gate for water control in it can be placed at the end of the dam where the original builders routed the overflow around the dam into the original stream bed. I could get 1-2 feet of water in the pond using this:

in a structure like this but all concrete:

It would only be the 1-2 feet height I would need to raise the water level and basically act as a spillway. He said to make it completely out of concrete. Now the interesting option is I could raise and lower any time I want by the 1-2 feet. Hold a little extra for summer evap, lower in the winter for pond week killing. Or, maybe even better, lower in summer to plant wildlife food plots for ducks and flood it in the winter. I would probably get 1/2-1 acre of additional shallow pond, and I can't go any higher or the creek will flood a large portion of my forest unless I only kept it that high for 3-4 months. Hmm, 2 penstocks at different levels maybe?

Great stuff J3. Otto is a wizard when it comes to pond construction. When I was at the Lusk Lodge last year Bob drove us around his property and showed us all of his ponds. During the tour (if I recall the story correctly) told us that he and had one idea of how the ponds would lay out and that Mike Otto looked over the property and said nope, we're gonna do it this way. The end result at the Lusk Lodge is an amazing string of ponds that are not only very beautiful but are also very functional as well. I guess this is a lot of words to say that Otto knows his stuff. There is a reason that he has such a good reputation.

100 Cypress and 25 Mayhaw seedlings coming in at the end of the week, and hopefully the dibble bar makes it in to. Next week I should be planting on the northeast end of the pond . Needed something that could take 6 months of flooding where some oaks died. If this works out well, then next year I am stepping up the planting program to another flood prone area and a couple thousand seedlings of various species. A couple are going in on the pond shore, too. The mayhaw is for me to make jelly once they grow enough. They are going in behind the dam. I should be picking up my new sawmill next friday to start cutting wood for people habitat: ie. bois d'arc for dock pilings, white oak for structural pieces, and cedar for furniture. I am trying to make as much of the building building material as possible from our property or local logs milled at our place. Hopefully I will have pics next weekend of everything. Any of you guys around Paris, the mill is a mobile if you need lumber made from any of yours trees .

Wow, J3 you are an industrious guy! Bob Lusk purchased a saw mill and milled a lot of lumber that was used in the construction of his home. Please continue to take photos and post them, we love threads like this.

Never heard of Mayhaw, I'm gonna have to google that.

J3 please keep us updated on how your mayhaw grow, I love mayhaw jelly and plan to plant some of these trees sometime as well.

Wildlife loves mayhaw too! So you will be making a lot of critters happy!

At ont time you where going to get the forestry service out. Have they made the visit yet?

Otto, the forester has not been out yet. It is a state agency and I am not a large landowner, so I am prepared for a long wait. If he takes to long, I will have already written my own plan written . To bad every used sawmill I look at is either junk or sells before I can get a look at it .

Does anyone have a recomended source for the adjustable flood gate?

Agri Drain has a design
A couple of pondmeisters on this forum have them installed

Well, here is a photo of my dibble bar. PH meter was on backorder, got one that works on dirt and water for garden, woodlot, and pond. Shouldn't lose the bar in the grass while planting! If only those seedlings would ship .

And better yet, here is the mill I ordered Monday, though mine is customized a bit:

Should be ready to pick up in about a week and a half .

OK Jeff, what is a dibble bar?

We used to call 'em a spud

Dave, see link for photo description: Planting trees It is a quick and easy way to plant seedlings, plus I like the name . I should be able to plant all 125 of my trees in less than an hour. It took longer than that just to clear the weeds where they are going.

Thank you for the lesson on the dibble bar. I found one laying around here & since "Mongo" was unavailble for consultation...I've been using it to chop/break ice for the horses. Works like a dream much better than the pick, axe, & shovel that I've been using for the last 10 yrs. Guess I know how I'll be using it come tree planting. LOL

Don't tell Mongo!

Mrs. Mongo

Your secret is safe with us, Mrs. S.

Thanks Jeff. I just realized that I have a low mileage tile scraper shovel from Harbor Freight that will do that. Assuming, of course, that we get enough rain to loosen the ground.

great info jeff3,

i was gonna say too dd1 that even w/ some rain, it helps to have soil....all my planting holes are dug w/ pick ax, digging bar, grub hoe, and landscape rake (to clear out the chipped rock...)