Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Floating island construction and vegetation types

Hi, Mark. I haven't posted in quite awhile but the Boss convinced me I needed to pop in now and again, again! I had some time today and found your post and thought I'd offer my thoughts in addition to what has already been shared. I built a small island probably 8 or 9 years ago and it is still floating in my smaller pond. I used two sheets of the hard foam insulation boards, cut them just a little to add some contour, and glued them together. I used a bit of scrap from another piece to make a raised edge all the way around to hold in the topsoil I added. I also drilled a ton of holes all across the surface of the platform to allow for the roots to grow down into the water, including two large holes that I dropped potted plants into so the bottom hung down in the water. I also bought maybe 6 of those gutter guard things that you stick down inside your gutters to prevent leaves from filling them up. The guards are a very open sort of plastic but have a structure kind of like a loofah so water freely flows through them. I used long wire ties to fasten them to the platform through the holes. The idea there was to create a lot of surface area to encourage growth of small algae to attract baitfish.

I covered the top surface in topsoil and then planted several different plants - ferns, iris, grasses, some perennial flowers of some sort - and put a couple of logs on it in case a turtle wanted to come hang out. I later added a long cable fastened to a cinder block to keep in wandering in a more controlled area as opposed to having it drift with the wind and end up buried underneath some overhanging brush on one corner of the pond. Now it just sits out in the open year round. It has since lost pretty much every bit of plant life I initially placed on it but, in cool fashion of nature doing it's thing, it is now fully populated by native plant species that are all around our pond already. It grows back every year and is absolutely thriving.

So, yes, you can definitely make your own island. Just do it right at the edge of the pond so you can get it into the water (if not just outright building it in the water to start with) - this thing was heavy and took two of us to get it into the water the day we launched it!