Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions How can I stop erosion? What to plant?

Hi all. My brother dug a pond on his property which is located about 40 miles west of Nashville Tenn. He is having problems with some of the banks eroding. It is a clay substrate and hold water really well. What can he plant in the banks to stop the erosion? Is there anything that will work this late in the season? Any other tips are appreciated. Thanks. I'd like to post some pictures of the pond. Is that possible on this thread?

Hey David,

Tough problem this time of year. If it was warmer, I would recommend a low maintenance seed mix specific for you area covered with erosion mat. FWIW I would try winter wheat for now if I had to do something.

To post a picture, click on "Switch to Full Screen Reply" at the bottom of the reply box and then click on "File Manager." It will let you browse to the spot on your computer you have the image so you can add it. Hopefully, someone will offer another option to mine for something you can do now.

Good Luck!

This time of year, annual rye, covered with straw or some kind of erosion mesh. You might get germination if a warm spell occurs. I put down 50 lbs of seed winter wheat a month ago, and even after a couple of unusually warm, wet spells I only have spotty germination.

Aroostook rye was being looked at by BLM for use as a winter cover crop 10 or 15 yr ago. I don't know if it was found to be generally superior to other cover crops or superior in certain circumstances, orno better than other plants.
https://www.southernexposure.com/rye-winter-common-4-lbs-p-1034.html

To post pictures in a thread, you have to use an on-line hosting site too, like photobucket. There are instructions on how to post pictures in the archives.

How steep are the banks that he needs to get plants growing on? Like was said, you are fighting temperature now.

I would use both I would grab some feed wheat in 50# bags. Its really cheap and you can load it on there. I would add in some rye too so you can get a lawn started. You can get three types of rye now in the same mix. An early season, mid season and late.

Cheers Don.

For what it's worth, be wary of laying straw matting down, where it will be below waterline.
I was trying to control erosion on the main inlets into the pond, when the water came up, the GS would get under the mat, it would act like a gill net. Once one fish got in, it would attract others and so on. I ended up with this. (There must be straw matting that dissolves in water, mine is still very strong below the surface, one year later.)

Great picture! There's erosion mats that are made with a plastic netting and there's erosion mats made with jute or organic netting. I've used both and prefer the jute for exactly those reasons.

The netting that I've used has all come with instructions on the outside on how many ground staples to use and where to place them. I know us guys don't like to read directions, but this is one time that we should. A client thought he'd help and put some down by himself. He didn't read the directions and laid it down the wrong way, not layering it like roofing felt, he did just the opposite, and only put a few staples in.

When we arrived on Monday morning, the wind on Sunday had rolled some of it back up, and then rolled it into the pond.... What had partially stayed down had to be changed because the water would run over the topmost one, then under the rest...

If he's in a bind with major erosion he could always lay down some chain link fencing along the banks to help slow it until better weather permits fixing the problem.