Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Christmas Trees questions???

I just received an email from our local Five Rivers MetroParks chief biologist, that he will give our new organization ( Greater Dayton Fishing Association ) a permit to place trees in two of their lakes. There are also two city owned lakes as well as the 40 acre lake our county owns that we are seeking permission from to place trees. I have several questions I hope to get answered, and wanted to run them by everyone here first.

1.Generally speaking, is there any rough formula that would give me an idea of how many trees would be ideal to place based on BOW size, average depth, and greatest depth?

2. Is there a preferred way to arrange the trees . . . all in one location, in scattered groups, or all trees separate?

3. One of our lakes is a former quary with good depth, and a fair amount of standing timber and honeysuckle(submerged). Would adding Christmas trees still be a benfit there? Would there be any harm?

4. Generally speaking, how much weight is needed to sink a standard Christmas tree?

5. Do we need to be concerned about the trees that have been sprayed to look greener?

6. Is it better to tie a float to the top end of each tree, or not?

7. How many trees is too many (based on bow size and depth)?


Our city will be collecting trees this year along with the trash, which means they will be headed to a landfill. This means that we have several motivators to do our own separate tree collection. We are partnering with other groups to try to do a major collection, and chip some for mulch. This means I may have access to several hundred trees . . . at least.

Thanks for any feedback you all can provide.

Lots of info here - look at the archive threads http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463

1.Generally speaking, is there any rough formula that would give me an idea of how many trees would be ideal to place based on BOW size, average depth, and greatest depth? I make a pile from bottom to top using a post driven into the bottom. No more than one brush pile per acre (some put up to 3). It depends on your lake.

2. Is there a preferred way to arrange the trees . . . all in one location, in scattered groups, or all trees separate? See the archive. I put several trees at least per pile and make highways connecting structures. I use some in shallow water to help spawning and protection for small yoy fish.

3. One of our lakes is a former quary with good depth, and a fair amount of standing timber and honeysuckle(submerged). Would adding Christmas trees still be a benefit there? Would there be any harm? Yes help - harm probably not. Tie several trees in a circle or square (top to bottom) and place them over the standing timber - do several layers.

4. Generally speaking, how much weight is needed to sink a standard Christmas tree? A lot. That is why I tie them to posts until they are water logged at which point on some I cut the string and they sink.

5. Do we need to be concerned about the trees that have been sprayed to look greener? They have not cause a problem but I try to avoid them

6. Is it better to tie a float to the top end of each tree, or not? No the post marks the pile so no float is needed.

7. How many trees is too many (based on bow size and depth)? I use up to 100 per year on 3 lakes totaling 35 acres. I used about 200 trees initially and then up to 100 replacements a year (usually between 35 - 75).

Thanks E for your informative response. I especially like your idea for piling them in layers, using a post or submerged timber to keep them stacked.To make sure I understood you right . . . each additional layer pushes the preceeding layer down so that if no weight was used, there might only be the top layer exposed at each pile for a while.
(I was wondering why you have to tie them to the posts, if they are tied top to trunk all the way around the post?)
In other words, I picture the popular baby toy where the colored rings get stacked on the post.

Now I can even picture staggering each layer so that the trunks and tops of the next layer would line up with the middles of the preceeding.
Thanks!
BTW, the one lake is like a dug farm pond & about 20 acres. It has a vaiety of weeds, but very little structure or additional cover. The other is a former gravel pit with almost no structure or cover other than the heavy weed growth. It is about 150 acres, with a slowly sloping shore all the way around, and no trees(standing or fallen).

See the archive thread as it has the structure story in full including pics , methods and the whys and hows. Here is part copied

From the Hands On Structure presentation during PB III.

A method of adding structure to a pond with water. This is an adaptation of the Ray Scott method from the Great Small Waters video. It can be done using xmas trees , buckets of limbs , pallets , or pvc structures. It involves driving a post into the pond bottom and using it to mark and hold the structure items. Using a boat (if unsteady you can use an A-frame ladder to drive the post) to drive the post ( using a shovel or fence post driver or hammer or ax) . After the post is in place tie the xmas trees to the post with small trot line string. Think about how you want the trees to hang in combination. Top up or down , horizontal . vertical and at what depth for each. You can also tie several trees together in squares to triangles (tree tops to bottoms to form and even structure). Then tie and place it over the post. Note after a year or so you can cut the string and allow them to fall to the bottom and tie on new ones. This will form a pile or cone of trees from bottom to top.

Post and trees



Tied to the post



Set to feed over



After they sink



Xmas trees work well for BG cover from predation.






A typical Ray Scott rendition of a pond with this method (pickle bucket method) and ridges , cuts and standing timber etc.