Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Need some advice!

Been a while since I have visited but it's been a whirlwind last year. Finally pulled the trigger and retired, bought a farm in Kentucky, sold two homes, lost my pops, and a very dear friend. But God has a plan for all of us and I travel forward knowing I need to follow that, keep my faith and love my wife!

The farm we bought has 3 ponds on it, two wildlife and stocked, amend one used for the drinking water, that is stocked also, My need for info currently is the drinking pond. It is about 1/3 of an acre, bout 15' deep with steep edges. Currently the water enters into a pumphouse, he's thru a bleaching, then drinking water in the house goes thru reverse double osmosis treatment. The faucets are not reverse osmosis treated, and I'm ok with that, just a special spigot at the kitchen sink and ice maker are osmosis treated.

The previous owner stocked bass and bluegill in the pond. In this pond I am not concerned with the fish I'm concerned with my drinking water. I need to know what I can use to control cattail (which I don't think will get to bad since the sides are so steep, but want to ask if there are any chemicals usable that are not harmful to us? And what are some things I can do to help with my water quality going forward? We are hoping for county water in the future, but I'm pretty sure they arent going to race to get it to us.

I appreciate any help and advice!

Doug

Got any pics of the new place?

I don't know the answers to your questions, but good luck!

I'm no expert, but I would think that with steep sides the cattails will not get very thick and they would serve as a natural filtering mechanism to all the water that runs into the pond from the bank. Not to mention steep banks could use some plant life for stability. If you get rid of the cattails, what holds the banks together.

I can appreciate your concern for using any herbicides in the pond and I would NOT use anything manmade (or maybe even otherwise). If the cattails truly offend you, say for cosmetic reasons, I would consider removing them by hand and try to reach an agreement with them with regards to how much work you are willing to exert to remove them and how many can stay.

Fluridone will knock out the cattails, and it's not a poison so perhaps that is an option. Unfortunately it is non specific, and will do a number on any beneficial plants also.

One of my former customers had a drinking water pond, and Fluridone was what he used every couple years.

Spark, was that the guy with the recurring urinary track infection?

We also use our pond for the house water supply. I used Shore Klear on my cattails last year. According to the label as long as you do not apply it directly to the water you don't have a restriction for using it around a potable water supply. If you do spray directly on the water there is a 48 hr restriction. I think the secret was to wait until the seed heads emerge and then cut the heads off. Then spray and wait until they turn brown and lastly cut them off below the water line. I hope it works. I guess I'll find out this summer.

Well yes, but that seems an insignificant price to pay for being able to use one's own urine as a terrestrial herbicide. Think of the savings in Glyphosate on an annual basis. It adds up.

Sunil, I need to take new pics, here is one I took when we were doing home inspection.


This one is after we moved in of the fireplace.



Here is a pot rack we saw on the internet, wife wanted one just like it.


so tried hand at it and came up with this, how'd I do?



GKLOP, do you aerate your pond? If so what kind of system did you put in. And did you do the same for your water treatment?

Another question for the forum is should I aerate? The pond has been in use for 8 years so far without but I want to be proactive for my purposes.

And y'all, I appreciate all your comments.

I want to try to add a larger pond down the road but don't think my
terrain is going to offer that. Unbelievable, being up in the mountains in the Appalachians, I have SAND. Most neighbors who have ponds (most are 1/4 acre or smaller) had to line the ponds to get them to hold water. Wanting 1.5 acres or better, not sure I'm going to be able to do this. But its down the road, plenty of projects currently going on. Here is a arial of the land.

Drahts...beautiful cabin...love the porch.

Yes, we do aerate. The previous owner installed it just before we purchased the property in 2014. I don't know the brand of the pump but that's on my list of projects to take it apart to see if it needs to be rebuilt. Last year I replaced the diffuser with a disk type. This year I will be adding another diffuser. The pond was in pretty bad shape. It was dug in the late 80's and had a lot of trees and shrubs around it so there was a significant amount of organic muck and FA. I have since removed most of the trees that have been adding leaf litter to the pond. This year will be my third in adding tilapia to help clean it up.

btw... Awesome looking place!!!!

DITTO !!

Tripple that. Great lookkng place.

Plenty of "spots" for a pond. Hope you find a way to economically make it hold water.

[quote=Drahts]Sunil, I need to take new pics, here is one I took when we were doing home inspection.


This one is after we moved in of the fireplace.



Here is a pot rack we saw on the internet, wife wanted one just like it.


so tried hand at it and came up with this, how'd I do?



GKLOP, do you aerate your pond? If so what kind of system did you put in. And did you do the same for your water treatment?

Another question for the forum is should I aerate? The pond has been in use for 8 years so far without but I want to be proactive for my purposes.

And y'all, I appreciate all your comments.

I want to try to add a larger pond down the road but don't think my
terrain is going to offer that. Unbelievable, being up in the mountains in the Appalachians, I have SAND. Most neighbors who have ponds (most are 1/4 acre or smaller) had to line the ponds to get them to hold water. Wanting 1.5 acres or better, not sure I'm going to be able to do this. But its down the road, plenty of projects currently going on. Here is a arial of the land.



Hey, love the cabin...I also use my pond for drinking water, and have cattails. Do you like that fireplace; I almost put that one in my house! Thought it was a real good one!

The fireplace is beautiful, however it was incorrectly installed and must be taken completely out to fix it. However, it is only rated for 1000 sq ft, so when I take it out I am replacing it with the Astria Montecito Estate, it is the real deal and looks similar to the Napolean currently in there. www.astria.us.com/Montecito-estate

Thanks for the kind words on the place. Definitely gonna try to get the pond I want?

Thanks
Doug

just in case you want another fireplace option.

http://www.heatnglo.com/Products/North-Star-Wood-Fireplace.aspx

this is the best fireplace i have ever seen. it is small, but a heating machine. it says 1000-2600 sq ft capable, we have 3000 sq ft and 1100 of that is underground basement/ downstairs. there is no way to close off our downstairs from the main floor and it keeps the entire house warm. of course the downstairs isnt near as warm, but it stays in the mid 60's with the upstairs in the low to mid 70's.running the blower on its lowest setting.

very quiet and efficient.