Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Water chemistry Low pH, low Alkalinity in Fresh ponds/Lakes

Lankyfish, welcome to the forum. You have to watch alkalinity also and not just pH. Being in a pine forest, I'd expect the alkalinity to be low. Get the soil pH tested. Your pond will end up like the soil pH if no ag lime is added. You want the water alkalinity to be at least 40 to give you some wiggle room. Check the pH of the drainage ditch water.

As for plants, you might have some plants show up. Sago Pond weed, Bushy Pondweed etc. might show up by themselves. Do a search around you to see if you can find some place that sells underwater plants. You don't want aquarium plants because many of those will be too fast growing for the pond and just cause problems. American Pondweed, eelgrass, Sago Pond weed, basically any of the potamogeton genus are good for a pond in moderation.

With the pond only being a max of 5' deep, that will cause some issues managing the weeds since sunlight can get to the whole bottom of the pond.

As for fish, what are the fishery goals for the pond?