Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction new pond owner questions on vegetation

I'm new to all this and just learning,I live in Louisiana and they just finished digging my pond it's 2 acres and 10-15' in most spots . My question is,is there any vegetation I can put in my pond that won't take over and is good for fish I have built structure out of concrete blocks and palettes and a few Christmas trees not sure what else I need to add before the pond fills

Usually plants will show up by themselves. Hopefully Bill Cody will chime in - he knows plants better than I do. American Pondweed, different varities of eelgrass, Pickerelweed, Arrowhead, Blue Flag Iris are just a few that aren't too agressive for a pond and are relatively easily controlled if they start to go where you don't want them.

Hybrid Lilies Bill?? What else did I miss??

esshup provides a good list of beneficial manageable plants that are not rampant. Since you are in the south seriously consider planting spiral (corkscrew) eelgrass and or dwarf sagittaria as the best submerged pond plants. They prefer a warmer climate such as LA. Louisiana iris are very beneficial shoreline plants. Numerous other native and exotic weeds will be delivered by Mother Nature.

Is there anything else I need to add before the pond fills up

Not sure what kind of fish your adding but some fish like a gravel bed for nesting. If you plan on catfish I think they like a tunnel/cave/hollow log type habitat.

If you think you might ever siphon your pond down it would be easy to place the pipes now. Siphoning from near the bottom is better I think.

What about a dock, do you want a dock? Unless your planning on a floating dock, get your supports in NOW.

I agree with Bill Cody on the planting of spiral (corkscrew) eelgrass. If you can get it started it grows low in the water and looks really nice. I had some nice beds going and drought dropped the water level and killed them. But if I had a new pond I would try hard to plant it all over the pond and get a good start so as to try and crowd out more aggressive plants that will appear later.

Thanks I've never owned a pond or built one it's always been a dream of mine and now that I have I'm trying to make sure I do everything right I have all these big ideas but what Im finding out is what I want to do and what works is two different things haha

Is there lily pads you can plant that won't take a pond over

""Is there lily pads you can plant that won't take a pond over"". Yes choose varieties that are listed as dwarf or small spread. They grow very slowly and almost always stay shallow less than 3 ft deep. Dwarf being the smallest spread.

I have a 1/4 acre pond in Northern Illinois. I keep reading about how beneficial vegetation can be and also a lot about having to control it later!

What's you vegetation recommendation for my pond?

Bill D. Start with the dwarf and small spread hardy hybrid water lilies. Put them initially in tubs with shallow garden soil not potting soil. Follow proper planting instructions for water lilies. One year later transplant the lily into shallow areas (15"-2.5ft) where you want them to grow. For shallow water shoreline emergent plants consider starting with these: native blue water iris, Louisiana iris, pickerel plant, several types of spike rush, variegated sweet flag.

Thanks Bill! It is really hard to find recommendations on this. I will follow your advice in the spring. Any ideas on where I can buy these? What's your thoughts on stiff arrowhead and lizard's tail? I found a paper from Illinois DNR saying these might also have potential.

If Bill doesn't know, see if you can contact Andrew Davis, he should know. Here's some photos that he took.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/

Thanks!

I've had lizard tail as a shoreline plant for 10yrs and so far it is not a problem. It says in shallow water and has slow spread. Not sure what you mean by the specie stiff arrowhead. Arrowhead usually stays in water around 2ft and less. Do you have a link for its description?

Maybe this will help. The scientific name for rigid arrowhead is Sagittaria Rigida

Here are a couple links to more information about rigid arrowhead.
http://www.maine.gov/dacf/mnap/features/sagrig.htm
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SARI

Not sure why the IL DNR thought S.rigida would be more beneficial than other species of arrowheads. They all have similar growth habits and generally are good shoreline shallow water plants. Control would be easy with aquatic approved glyphosate based herbicides. There is an ornamental variety called double flowering arrowhead that has small carnation like flowers and leaves are larger arrow shaped; a nice plant from some aquatic plant nurseries.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=767+774+2711&pcatid=2711

Hi Bill,

I do not know how to attach a file to this response or I would send you the chart the DNR provided in their old report. Only thing I can see is the stiff arrowhead moves to deeper water than the common (30 inches vs 2 inches). Maybe this is why they rate it as "High" habitat potential and the common as "Low."

You can send me a PM (private message) or get my email address and send it as an attachment. See my profile by clicking on my name.

E-mail is on the way!

Just an update for anyone following this thread. I have been working thru this with Bill Cody's kind asistance. Thank you again Bill! The Illinois DNR published a chart ranking vegetation on habitat usefulness vs nusiance level. I will attempt to populate my new pond in the spring based on Bill's recommendations and let you all know how it is going in the future.

Del