I've heard that hardwoods not only last longer in the water, but also that pine resins tend to repel fish. After a couple of years the resin is gone, but until then pine cover is not as productive as hardwood cover.

Anybody have info or experience on this point? I'm getting ready to add cover, would like to know if it's worth specifically picking out hardwoods.

I'm in the same boat. My pond will be done by the weekend and I will likely have a mixture of artificial and natural cover. I have a bunch of pines that I chopped down, drying out in my backyard, because we've always been told that "christmas trees" are good for cover. But we've also been told that pines can be very acidic and contain higher levels of tannins. Curious to see your responses.

I want to know how you plan on putting hardwoods in the pond and sink them or lay them along the shoreline running into the water? I have several large sweetgum trees in the pond but they were placed there before I had water. I would like to add some more along the shoreline but have not figured out how to get it done. A crane would be nice I am betting you have some Sweetgum trees around your place. They make good cover and the fish like them.

When my pond was built some big oaks had to be taken down. I had them pushed into the bowl for structure. I got some good rains and immediately stocked bluegills, redears, crawdads and fatheads. Then the water turned black from tannins. All the fish died and the mud bugs crawled up on the bank to become coon food. It took awhile to pump it dry and let Texas summer dry out everything. Admittedly it was a lot of oaks.

I wouldn’t do it again unless the wood was totally dry.

A good sized skid steer with a grapple attachment can do a good job placing trees extending them into the water off the bank. I placed many cedars this way. My SS can lift the butt end, then push the tree into the water leaving the trunk end on the bank. They wont be fully submerged if water isnt very deep but great cover. These are big trees, 20 ft w/ 12" trunks. This worked better than I thought. Next time I will get a good 10 to 12' log and then use that to further push out the cedar as far as I can.

Have used them all. Hardwood does last longer IMO. Never had a problem with either. xmas trees do not in my experience force fish away. See pics below. Xmas trees are about 1 mth old and filled with fish and Bryozoa . Exposure to air/water/air causes wood to deteriorate quicker.

Yeah, I think the algae kinda creates a protective barrier as well, and probably helps to draw fish in.

Related-> Have any of yall used Bamboo to build structure?

Thanks to everyone who replied. I had some trees place in pond before water filled it. Some friends and I later cut shrubs and small trees, tied them to cinder blocks, and sunk near dock. But to cut and deploy big trees we will need heavy equipment for sure

The best way i have found to add trees after my pond had water was to place them on my floating pier and then disconnect it from my walkway and pull it out to the area where i wanted to add them. I did this by using my pond boat with a strong trolling motor. A 45hp trolling motor. It takes awhile to get it in place and you want to do it on a calm day with little wind. It would work better if I added two trolling motors in tandem to the floating pier instead of pulling it behind the boat. So, here is a thought, build a floating platform that's large enough to place some trees on it, add the trolling motors and then go for it. After you are done, place the floating platform out in the middle of the pond for a swimming, sun bathing platform. You need to be careful or a year later you will have cover all over the pond, I know