Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Osage Orange Trees

What are the "Pro's and Con's" of using Osage Orange trees as cover? I know they will last forever but, do they contain Tanic acid or anything that would prevent me from using them?

Cut a chunk of the green wood and toss it into a bucket of pond water. See if it changes color. Then, if no change, toss in a couple of minnows and see what happens.

Bob, my pond is full of osage orange trees (I call them bodocks). The people who built the lake just left them where they stood, so they were big, old, nasty trees with massive, dense networks of branches. They are perfectly safe for the fish, but personally I don't care for them because the branches are so stiff and hard, and there are so many of them. They don't flex or give at all, and it's hard to fish around them without getting hung.
I'm sure all the branches provide great habitat for the fish, but they definitely make it harder on me, the fisherman. I would definitely prefer to have slightly cleaner, "neater" structure that's easier to fish around.

If you're going to add them (well, first of all, good luck because they aren't the easiest trees to handle) they probably won't be as problematic mine are, but I'd recommend thinning out the branches a good bit to make them easier to fish amongst and around.

-D