Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Soil questions New Pond-to lime or not

I have completed a new pond approx. 1 acre in size..have some water in bottom with good clay bottom..I have read several post about "liming" a pond..Everyone around here including a reputable fish dealer said I did not need to do that in this area?? Question..I plan on filling the pond in the next month..I am in south central Texas...Is a soil test absolutely necessary? Also I plan on stocking it in March with BG and FH and catfish and starting a feeding program...Do I need to fertilize this new impoundment?

Hello,
I would spend the little bit of money to know exactly what I have and what I need. TAMU will save you money by making liming and fertilizing recommendations, so you may not have to do liming, at all, or spend extra money on overdoing the fertilizer. Seeing is to know; not seeing is guessing.

You still have access to the pond bottom, so now is a good time to gets the test.
http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/

Make yourself a Sechhi Disk to monitor your water clarity and plankton bloom.
http://www.noble.org/Ag/Wildlife/SecchiDisk/Index.htm

Hope This Helps...

AS A GENERAL RULE, lime in pine country and not in oak and cedar country. Your situation might be different. Central Texas could be either or both.

Lots of Cedars around my area of East Texas, so note that Dave wrote Cedars and Oaks; not Cedars, Oaks and Pine Trees. I've seen two ponds with PH below 6.0 and Alkalinity of 20 PPM and almost all Cedars and Oaks.

It's not but $20.00 or $30.00 for the soil test. It will give piece of mind and save you money in the long run.