I am Webster Hootenheimer, I live in Michigan, married, one child and I have always wanted a pond. In the fall of 2014 I got a new property (6 acres) and house that had a weed patch full of cattails and other unattractive vegetation in south east Michigan just north of Ann Arbor.
As I said I have always wanted a pond that I could catch bluegill out of and now that I have a 3year old daughter that can hold a rod its become an obsession. Our first spring my weed hole filled with water and it was a mess.
I talked to my wife about my desires and we started soliciting quotes to dig out what we had and repair the pond that had never been taken care of. We found an outfit that had a 65' long CAT backhoe with a 6' wide bucket and they were hired. They did an OK job and the end result was a cleaned out pond and a huge dirt bowl filled with muck. Had I known then what I know now I would have asked them to do things a little differently...
We dug out the pond Sept of 2016 and by January 2017 it had filled thanks to wet winter.
As I mentioned I still have to move a bunch of dirt but the pond is looking really good. I have algae that is starting to bloom and I still need to add some aeration. But we are getting fowl stopping by as they are working back north and the deer and turkey seem to like it too.
Check out the pics and I look forward to getting some advise as I trek down this path of pond ownership.
Welcome to the forum! Looks like you have a nice little pond there now - I made the same mistake early on re: the dirt - if that's the worst one you make regarding your pond you can count yourself lucky.
Stocked any fish in it yet?
Cute lil one there on that last shot - and that trackhoe is MADE for a job like yours. I've never seen one with an arm that long before. That guy could make a killing around here cleaning out farm ponds.
Dale
"When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water." - anonymous
Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:" "She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."
Suggest you have the dirt (from pond) tested so you will have a baseline to work from.
What would the dirt be tested for? Are you talking about the dirt from the bottom of the pond that is now under water or the piles that are now on the bank?
I hope I have not made a mistake, I have spread the muck from my pond all over my yard and surrounding grazing fields. The grass seed is starting to grow so it's not toxic. In fact, the muck dirt looks to be the best soil on my whole property.
Webster, I don't know your plans for the muck piles you now have, but if you will be moving them/using the dirt elsewhere, I suggest that you get them spread out somewhere so they can dry. My pond was dug out last October, we had a very dry winter (3 inches of rain from Oct to mid March and no snow to brag about) and any piles deeper that a foot or two were still mucky and hard to work with in February. It is amazing how well silty pond muck retains water. Areas on the back side of my dam where the muck was pushed up to 10 feet deep still pumps as I drive my tractor over it. There are places I will not take my tractor for fear of sinking up to my rear-end (that's the tractor's rear-end not mine).
Yeah I wish I would have had the pile the dirt on the other side.
Next project is bermming up the north side, overflow pipe and then aeration.
No fish in there yet. Found out yesterday thanks to John on here that I have central mudminnows in there.
Other than that my water is is gold colored from high iron content.
I am taking my time I want to make sure it holds water make sure it is all good before I putting living things in there.
Quarter, I am quickly realizing that the muck is going to be muck for a long time. I hear you loud and clear. We have had a super wet winter here and I can't even get my loader over there without burying it to the axles right now. So as soon as it dries up I am for sure going to spread some the bottom pond love around my yard.
For the berm I am probably going to bring in some clay and make sure I get a good pack.
So summer is in full swing here in SE Michigan and all my neighbors ponds are full to the brim and mine not so much...
I am losing about 2 - 3 inches of depth a day. My sides are really mucky and I can push a stick in about 5 - 6 inches before it stops.
I am pretty sure the water is leaking out the sides of the pond and not so much the bottom... The reason I say this is that about four feet out from the sides of the pond the ground is really saturated.
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