Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment Lotus

Bill - You always give wise advice. My situation is that I have a lot of land in development for wildlife in relation to my time to do the work. Therefore, I try to do things that can take care of themselves as best as I can. The pond where I am planning to add the lotus is new and about 1/2 acre (still filling). This is the same pond that I am hoping to have a breeding population of blue catfish some day with black crappie as forage. My first pond is a BG/LMB pond, and my second pond is a YP/SMB pond (both also have RES). This pond is somewhat isolated so I do not expect the lotus to escape anywhere else. I am thinking that large lotus are worth a try and I can use herbicide to kill them off it does not work out. The pond also has a drain if my fish experiment goes south. I consider this an ill-advised experiment, but as a research scientist, I have occasionally accomplished what everyone else has deemed futile. If I fail, it is not a big deal, but if successful, maybe it will pave new ground?

P.S. My deepest wetlands with permanent water (for over a decade) were built after the FWS said the site would not hold water. They even have permanent fish populations although fish kills happen periodically.