Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat It's that time of year...Christmas Trees N-2 Pond?

Anyone planning on dropping Christmas trees into their pond this weekend or next week? I may give it a try and was wondering if there was a "best way" to do it? I assume Christmas trees float, so an anchor of some sort will be needed. Are half-size cinder-blocks what most folks use? Do you mostly drop it in and anchor it vertically? Or do some anchor both ends so it lays flat on the bottom? Any tried and true methods/tips appreciated?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfry55-F-lM

I'm ready!

Mark I've done the bucket and concrete thing and had good results. Now, I'm trying to put them out horizontally because I want them in shallower water. Most of the upright trees haven't produced as well for me, so I'll try more lay downs.

I've probably got 40 plastic Folgers cans, and that's what I'll use to weight them down. I just tie a loop of rope, then leave half the loop under the concrete, then tie the center of the tree to that loop. It's basically the same method as tying them to cider blocks, I just have the cans available.

Have you or anyone else tried keeping an occasional tree wrapped up when placing in the pond? Seems like that would give them a tighter cover for small fry. That is if their wraps stay on for any amount of time.

FNC, I haven't because I want as much surface area as I can get out of each tree.

Once the needles fall off, I think the bare trees will be perfect for what I'm after.

wow it sure looks like it.
you're about to be Santa to lots of little fishies.
will this be you this afternoon?

Nah, I'll probably put them out week after next. I ordered Momma some waders, and I've tried to convince her I'm scared of the water.

We almost got divorced last time I got her to help me move fish feeders in January, so waders seemed like a prudent investment.

That's very thoughtful of you.

There's actually an article in our local newspaper today, entitled:

"Indiana DNR: Better options for Christmas trees than fish habitat"

In it, they quote a DNR official as saying : "Fish attractors tend to bring fish and fishermen together. They provide cover, but don't necessarily grow more fish."

The article goes on to advise a better use for your old tree would be taking it to a recycling center, tossing it into the backyard for a bird shelter, running it through a wood chipper for mulch, or cutting it for firewood....

REALLY????

Thanks Dave, I like to believe chivalry ain't dead.

I wire mine up to a concrete block using SS picture-hanging wire. It takes 2 blocks to sink a dried tree. Toss it on top of the ice if you have any and let it sink in-place. No ice, just shove it out with a long pole or drop it over in a Jon boat.

Took down 21 today have 30 more to go. From the structure archive. There are other methods as well.

From the Hands On Structure presentation during PB III.

A method of adding structure to a pond with water. This is an adaptation of the Ray Scott method from the Great Small Waters video. It can be done using xmas trees , buckets of limbs , pallets , or pvc structures. It involves driving a post into the pond bottom and using it to mark and hold the structure items. Using a boat (if unsteady you can use an A-frame ladder to drive the post) to drive the post ( using a shovel or fence post driver or hammer or ax) . After the post is in place tie the xmas trees to the post with small trot line string. Think about how you want the trees to hang in combination. Top up or down , horizontal . vertical and at what depth for each. You can also tie several trees together in squares to triangles (tree tops to bottoms to form and even structure). Then tie and place it over the post. Note after a year or so you can cut the string and allow them to fall to the bottom and tie on new ones. This will form a pile or cone of trees from bottom to top.

Post and trees



Tied to the post



Set to feed over



After they sink



Xmas trees work well for BG cover from predation.






A typical Ray Scott rendition of a pond with this method (pickle bucket method) and ridges , cuts and standing timber etc.

Eric when u posted the pics before, it really got me thinking. I'll post mine as soon as I try it, but the concept is a very good one to me.

Not too many BTU's in a Christmas Tree. You would generate more just by cutting it up and stoking the fire

Just a silly question here.

Are the trees you are sinking in the pond treated with any Fire/Flame Retardant Chemicals?

Just wondering about the nut's and bolt's involved in this nowadays. NFPA has a bunch of crazy codes involving Christmas Trees.

No clue. Most of the NFPA stuff on Christmas trees is just the standard safety suggestion type stuff. I'm sure if they did, it would be plastered all over the labels, and they would cost 3 times as much.

I have been picking up a few discarded trees from friends and that I see on the curb. I have been using old brake rotors for weight since I had quite a few lying around. I took a 36" long heavy duty black zip tie and looped it around the trunk and through the lug holes several times about 1/3 the way from the bottom of the tree. This will anchor the tree horizontally along the bottom which is what I am wanting for shallow cover. With them being shallow, I can see when all the branches are gone and pull the trunk and rotor to reuse the rotor.

I have placed 5 so far and am looking for a few more. Would it be better to spread them out throughout the pond (roughly 1.5 acre with lots of shore line) or have them clustered in one or two groups?

I would think clustering. I tend to try to find a shallow area that has access to deeper water, and is close to my CNBG spawning area. To me, that's a triple play.

I also put them out in areas I feed. I've noticed that some of my fish will move into an area just before feeding, then move out of that area once the foods all gone. I'll position my feeders this year to the areas that they naturally roam. Kind of like home delivery.

That sounds great. I will be moving a few this weekend. I have a 3-4' deep cut that goes around one side of my island that dumps out to deeper water on each end. I was thinking of creating an 'L' or 'H' shape stretching to the deeper water, kind of the highway idea.

That sounds good.

I got lazy and didn't do the Christmas trees last week... partly because the weather was in the 20's-30's and party because I couldn't get up off the holiday sofa.

However yesterday we dropped a nice size cedar tree into the pond and will continue that trend as time and weather permit.

We have a huge supply of cedar trees on the property.

ATV Cedar Tree Tow

Fish will be Happy, Happy, Happy! I got to get started myself.

Mark, did the one cinder block keep the cedar down?

Much easier to put them in the boat (not drag them through the water)and dump them out at the spot picked.

I have 50+ to put out. Put out about 10 yesterday. Going to tie some in groups on their side and put a post through the middle for shad spawning structure. Will put them where the water flows into the lake (2 locations).

Yes we just used one this time, it sank like a rock. It was a learning experience though and we will have a better "system" next time.

ewest....Yes we learned that the hard way. In a "spur of the moment plan" we first tried the dragging method and the rope got tangled. So we ended up going out in a very shaky jon boat and pulling the cedar tree back out of the water and into the back of the jon boat with no motor, just a paddle! It was a mess...lol. We have a better plan using a small fiberglass boat next time...we'll see if that works better.



ewest...can you explain this "post for shad spawning" a bit?

Ok. TShad like to spawn over cover in the back of inlets/streams (where water comes into a lake). In ours there is not enough cover/structure in those locations. Last year I cut a bunch of woody brush and made piles where water comes in (2 big piles). That helped but is not enough. So I have tied together xmas trees ( 3 top to bottom) to make triangles. They are flat (1 xmas tree wide - 3 feet ) when on their side. I will put them over a post driven into the lake bottom to sink and form a spawning mat. I will take a pic and post later.

Ok thanks for the explain. Sounds pretty neat.

I was just curious...do your Christmas trees lose their needles pretty quick once in the water?...I was wondering how long the cedar trees would keep their "leaves" or whatever they are called on the cedar tree branches.

Needles. Depending on their condition upon entry to the water the needles will be gone in a few weeks.

I added 10 Christmas trees to my 1.5 acre pond this past weekend. I scrapped the whole brake rotor idea and picked up 10 cinder blocks.

I placed one under each side of my bridge spanning between the two post in 3-4' of water, used zip ties to hold them to the post. One under each corner of my dock, I drilled a hole in the end of the trunk and zip tied a cinder block to it, then zip tied the top to the corner post just under the water surface so they are leaning at an inward angle.

I took two short ones (6') and drilled through the trunk and zip tied them to each side of one cinder block where they stand up in a V shape. I placed them where the 4' water drops off to 8-10' coming out of the cut to the bridge where just the tip is sticking out the water. I then took the remaining 4 and zip tied a cinder block to the middle of the trunk on each one so they will lay flat and placed them in a line running just above the drop off from the corner of the island to the two that are standing.

I'm not sure if any of that makes any since, but that is what I did.

Had a good day at the pond today before more rain hit.

We sank 5 decent size cedar trees for fish cover.

First we had to get a buddy un-stuck from the mud:


Next it was Texas Chainsaw Massacre time:
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y273/It...zps6f6f8eea.mp4

And then 5 of these puppies w/cinder blocks went into pond.



We'll do more over the next few weeks/months.

Those are big trees. So far I have less than half of mine in.

Eric it was almost comical out there.

We learn each time, but yes the 10 foot jon boat was very taxed...
with two 45 year old plus "teenagers" in the boat and the tree
mostly hanging off the back.

BTW....I think owning a pond and some property might very well end
up finally getting me in decent phyiscal shape which I have sorta lacked for years.
I'm wore out tonight in my recliner sipping on my Southern Comfort & Coke.

Mark, y'all hit the weather right. Temp's dropped 30 degrees since 5, and it's hailing here right now.

You seriously need to let me take pics next time y'all put cedars that big in a 10' Jon boat.

So Davy Jones locker is looking a little bit like Christmas!!

I bet the fish will love it!

Mine are floating tied to posts. A beaver is causing problems.

Al we've had a drought for years & the 2.5 weeks since the guy came down from
Colorado to build our mini-log cabins our propery has been a mudhole!
But it's all good...the rain is very good for the ponds.


Ha Ha...it's really kind of nuts...but what the heck....
you saw the pic from last week?
The trees were larger today..plus they were wet and muddy..HEV-Veeee!

Mark if your building stuff will keep the rain coming, I'll pay for you a shed! It's been great these last few days to actually see some new water hit North TX.

But he has to use wood pegs to assemble the shed!! That should add a week or so.....

He got a quote yesterday from a father/son carpenter team...
$400 per hour!
Yes you are reading that correctly...$400 an hour.
I hope we can do better than that!
Or we may end up instead in a pop-up trailer.
Wow...

For framers, or cabinet guys? Either way that's a tad rich for my blood.

Take it slow with the sub guys, they will take a shot at a perceived city guy. So a month researching subs up front, may save you months and money down the road.

I'm still checking for you Mark.

Sometimes I feel so stupid. Eric I had never even thought about providing beaver forage with Christmas trees before you posted this.

I think I'm down to one Beaver. All the others have been removed. I left this one active hut alone, because I didn't want him moving to somewhere else. Far easier to trap this way.

All the other old huts have been opened from the top, so they'll flood this Spring, and I think I'm getting close to having this problem solved, for now. As potential new beavers come in, I'll be better equipped to jump on them quickly, since I'll know it's new damage.

This hut is right on the end of George's Point, and the small CNBG constantly gang up around it. They seem to love the random, natural nature of the limbs around the hut. There's a lesson in structure placement there for me. Shallow, random, natural.

Beavers don't prefer conifers to eat or chew on, but if a softwood or hardwood pole is used, it's fair game.

If they are eating or chewing on conifers they're really, really hungry.

They really don't eat the wood, they eat the cambium layer of tree bark.

Scott, I caged almost all my oaks because of bark damage, and these crazy beavers started girdling my Pines, Cedars, Willows(Yea!), and Bald Cypress. I'm beginning to think it's a battle of will's, and I'm finally starting to get control.

I was negligent far to long, and I paid the price for it.

Brian wanted a Cliff Notes type primer on traps, so I'm bringing down a sample. 330, 220, 110 and a couple of old style leg hold traps. I don't have any of the new ones with laminated or padded jaws.

Beavers are like other rodents, they have to chew constantly to keep their teeth worn down. My buddy down there had to do the same thing on his larger pond when the water rose 4' a couple of years ago, the beavers were starting to chew on his large Oaks - trees that were 24"+ across. He wasn't happy......

Good idea, and I'll love seeing Brian try to set a 330.

Beaver's are like weeds to me. Weeds are the perfect plants, and can survive places more refined plants would die in. Bare Earth? A weed grows, not St Augustine. Beaver's do the same. They are survivors.

I heard that!!

And you are welcome to watch!!


Perhaps we will video tape the lesson!

Traps are in the car. I'll drop off the dog in the morning, then pack the car and hit the road.

These beavers are nuts. They will chew the line off and drag a tree off to eat. They eat pines (xmas) trees first over all others except gum trees. Water is way up so hard to trap.

Two other helps are tinfoil around the trunk and spray paint. These beaver will stay away from those. They are hard to trap - they stay away from any metal.

Wait a month and get 'em in castor mound sets made on shore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZRfvxiUpDg

Good vid. Have not tried that yet. Scent is next or maybe high speed lead.

With that type of set they can't see the steel. You can also make it with a 330, but they can see the steel then.

Thanks Scott. I'd watched other beaver videos, but that guy made it very clear. I guess castor lure is going in my bug box.

The only descrepancy that I can see is that he talks about the chin stick to get a front foot catch and the one that he shows in the trap is a rear foot catch.

But, not everything goes as planned either!!

That's the clearest, most step-by-step video that I could find.

I agree. I have yet to trap a beaver my the front leg, so I assume they're caught pushing up off the bottom.

As I said, I think I'm down to one beaver and I'll be trapping by Friday. Should be an interesting weekend with me placing Christmas trees out, and setting traps not 20' away from them.