Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat How Much Weight to Keep Trees Down ?

New to Pond Boss - Am building a 3/4 acre pond and have stacked oak trees in a couple of bays - they are anywhere from 20-36 inches in diameter and 10-15 feet long. Locally I am getting answers all over the board from- "don't worry they will sink" up to "you will need 250 lb. weight for each tree" - now how is that for a wide range of answers? Hoping to get some help here as I don't want to fill the pond and then have the things floating all over the place. The sides of the pond are very steep and anything over about 75 lbs I would have to hire an excavator to place. I can buy blocks locally that weigh 75 lbs. each and have a hole in them that I can get down in the pond myself and run a cable thru. Don't want to overkill here- but don't want floating trees either --can anyone help on this?

thanks !!

Hi Wayne, and welcome to the forum.

I think the question of how much weight will always be subjective. There are a tremendous amount of variables that can affect it. If the tree is fresh cut, it has a lot of water inside it that will make it easier to sink it. But if it dry, it will definately be more bouyant. I recently weighted a dry pole 10' long and 4" dia with a broken cinder block on each end. As the water rose, the one end still floated. Had to add another piece of block. Another example would be in the old days when they floated logs down rivers and across lakes, bringing them to the mills. These were fresh cut logs and the guys would stand on top of these to move them around. So by that example, they were holding a man of +/-200#. Kind of sounds like what you have. If you can leave a root ball on one end, you can almost be gauranteed that end will sink, but the other end may not.

I have seen pics on here where guys have staked trees down instead of using weight. Check out this link for possible help. Also use the search feature for help. Good luck..........

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463

Anchor them like you would a boat. Tether them to stay in place with boat anchors or screw a mobile home anchor into the ground and lash them to the anchor(s). Over time, they'll sink. Until them, they'll float in place, if they don't sink.

White oak sinks like a rock ,, many lake associations here I'n Wisconsin use them for log cribs I'n structure free lakes. Placed I'n winter they sink when ice goes out. Run around with gps I'n winter to mark and fish them I'n summer.

If they are freshly cut, I wouldn't use them. Or, at least, test them first for tanins. I loaded my new pond with them about 10 years go with freshly pushed oaks for structure. The water turned black and was lethal for fish. I killed everything I stocked. I finally had to pump it dry and let the summer sun dry the bottom.

To test them: Cut a fresh piece and put it in a bucket of the pond water. If it turns black, let them dry until all of the tanins have leached out.

Hi Dave, I'm curious what happened in your case. Was there any tops, smaller limbs, leaves, roots, with the oak pieces you put in or were they just a big log section? I would be suspicious of tanins staying in the wood even as it dries, and then releasing again when soaked. I kiln dry my own wood I use. It is amazing how the color of the water comes out and is affected by some woods.

Green wood (oaks) sink. I use them all the time. Drive a few stakes and tie them down for good measure.

fnc, when the pond was built, a lot of post oaks were cleared. I had them pushed to the bottom which was about 17 ft deep. We got a 2 inch rain and the water turned inky. After another rain, I stocked BG, fatheads and cats. They all died in an hour.

I bought enough chlorine to kill everything in an olympic sized pool. It was still lethal. I had to pump it all dry and let the summer sun dry everything.

I cut a fresh oak limb and put it in a bucket with the pond water as a test. It turned black and I learned my lesson. Lusk tells me that not all water will be affected; depending on the chemical makeup of the water. In my area, I'll never do it again. Your mileage might vary.