Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site It begins

Well I'm taking the plunge and starting a pond. I started digging my test hole to assess my site and will have the NRCS coming out in 2 weeks to take a look. The hole is 5 feet deep just 3 more feet to go :-).

It's only the beginning, it's only just the start-Chicago
Good luck with your new adventure. My only advice for you is to check here with the large brains BEFORE you do anything serious. I've missed the boat several times and believe Bill Cody is STILL disgusted with me for adding Koi before checking.
Please keep us posted as you progress and take lots of pics.

So i'm assuming this is a good thing, but the day after I dug my test hole it had about 2 inches of water, despite no rain. The level appears to have stayed the same over 24 hours :-)

It doesn't tell you a lot other than you have a high water table. The big differentiator is if you have enough clay for a good seal on site and/or if the water table stays that high even in dry years. Around where you live you will want to dig several test holes around the area you plan to dig. Best to rent an auger or small backhoe to get them deep enough to get a good feel for where bedrock resides.

From what little I know of Maine, there is a lot of granite under normally shallow soils. You can go from a few inches of soil over some really hard rock to many feet all within a few acres. The good part is granite is not like shale, if you are lucky, you could have an impermeable rock-lined basin like my relatives do in Saco. Nothing really leaks from solid granite.

The NCRS came out today and met with me about the pond. Virtually the best possible case. The only problem is the soil (slightly). It is ok for a pond, not great. I will hold but during summer will drop a bit. So I asked about trucking in some clay she said that might help as the clay content is not a high as it should be. The drainage area is fine, the water shed is good and everything else is in line. Luckily I don't have to get a state permit based on where the pond is, but I have to check with the town to make sure no permit is needed. This drops the permit fee from $500 to $20-$30. So now the next phase begins. I have to plan the exact size and parameters and then start digging.

Lake, ALL earthen ponds leak! You may also want to consider the cost of bringing in, and tilling in properly, Sodium Bentonite clay. Some clumping Kitty Litter's are also made from Sodium Bentonite. As a caveat for Bentonite, it has to be disked in and added in the proper portions to be effective, yet when done right, is exceptional in sealing ability.

As soon as I get clearance from the town I will started the project. First I plan to fell some of the tree and mark the perimeter of the pond. Any pearls of wisdom or suggestions from anyone? Also I had one of my buddies over yesterday and he was looking at some of the trees that need to come down. He expressed that due to how straight they grew and the fact that there are no low lying branches, I should consider trying to sell them to a lumbar company. I am skeptical about this as there are only about 10-12 tree of the correct size (eastern white pine). Would a lumbar company even be interested in coming out for so few trees? Does anyone have experience with this?

Look in craigslist in your area, yes there are some smaller operations that would be happy to get good trees out and pay you some money. Also if you have a local small sawmill in the area call them up and they may know of individual that would pay to cut them or potentially themself. It is worth a try.

So far I been taking down some trees and working on stripping the to layer of soil. But that came to an abrupt halt today. I was working on moving soil today. Turned the backhoe off then realized I hadn't lowered the blade in the front and the darn thing refused to start. I turned the key and nothing happened. It started no problem about 1 hour before. So I hooked up a trickle charge to the battery and am letting that thing do its work. Hopefully this was the problem. Any thoughts?

Good news, the project can continue....as soon as the thunder Storm passes. It ended up being a lose batter cable.

Pond is coming along slowly but surely, haven't had a large amount of time to work but still plugging away. I got a new chainsaw the other day so taking trees down is going much smoother. I'm about half way done getting the top soil out which I hope to finish over the next few weeks. I did how ever learn a nice lesson yesterday. It had rain a fair bit over the previous few days to make it nice and wet. I was in the pond about 4 feet off the "current" shore line cleaning branches and took a step onto what appeared to be slightly wet top soil, turned about to be about 8 inches of very water mud, boy was I surprised. Glad I didn't bring that backhoe in there man would that have been a mess.

Are you digging the whole pond out with your own backhoe? Thats dedication there. Are you building a levee as well or just a hole in the ground? How big?

It's not going to be all that big about 95x75 feet, it is mostly a hole in the ground but will have a small berm on one side which at it's highest will be about 3 feet.

Pictures!

I'll try to get some up soon :-)

Here's some photos of the site. The pond starts just to the right of the Eastern White Pines and wraps around towards the stone wall to the right of the top picture. I have removed some of the trees in the back ground, and it will extend about 20 feet into that area. It is sort of kidney shaped. I'll try to get some mid dig pictures when I can.

Here is some pictures of my progress, we have taken down some pretty large eastern white pines today, but now that they are cleared, it is a matter of taking the stumps out and continuing to dig...

....and here is the Yellow Jacket nest I didn't know was there while we were cutting...they did not give me a very cordial welcome to their nest.

Ouch

Good news, I think we fixed the issue with the backhoe today, appears to have much more power so progress should increase, just have to get those pesky stumps out first. I also took down about 14 eastern white pines last weekend and now have to continue limbing them and the cut them up, to get them out of the way. Here to busy weekends :-).

Well the snow has finally melted So work begins again. Hoping to get this done by July. That is if the backhoe cooperates...which it did not this weekend.

Thanks for the great pics! Good to know SOMEONE can work on their pond, mine has been delayed two months due to excessive rain.

I'm certainly no expert, but it looks like you might have pretty acidic soil. Have you thought about checking the alkalinity of your water and, if necessary, liming your pond?

Also, the big brains here would likely tell you to keep a few misshapen trees and rootballs, especially if they are hardwood. They make good cover when sunk in the right places, will definitely help your small fish survive to become big ones.

Lastly, you are SMART to check in here where you get expert advice (not mine, obviously!) for free. Despite being from Maine, you obviously have learned not to take anything for granite!

Unfortunately I'm not getting to far. The backhoe is continuing to have issues and not running at the moment. I'm glad my pops let me borrow it, but man what a pain it has been. So basically have been doing small jobs, moving more brush and collecting stones for rip rap. Hoping to get it running soon....but I actually broke something else while I was working on fixing it...oppps

I wouldn't be surprised if the soil is acid, as we have a lot of pines, and the ground water is on the acidic side. I do a lot with aquariums so I can easily do the testing should be easy when the time comes.

The pond "current hole in the ground" is actually filled to the brim right now as we got a couple inches of rain last night. I haven't sealed any of it but so far this spring it has held water very well. Pumping it out as we speak. Love the granite pun :-).

Backhoe is finally working again :-). I got quite a bit of work done yesterday and today. I finally pulled out all the logs, and got some digging done. Hopefully I can get back on track :-).