Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Help! Out of control pond

We just bought 4 acres in North Central Texas that has a 1/4 acre pond close to the house. The pond is home to 11 geese and about 20 ducks some catfish and turtles. We are slowly trying the reduce the number of ducks.

The water is green and smelly and I don't think there are any plants. Right now the water is about 30 inches deep (drought) but will only be about 5 feet when full. We drilled a shallow well that is pumping about 3 gallons a minute into the pond and purchased a Kasco pond aerator that we run about 12 hours a day.

How do I get this pond back into a healthier state? I think it needs some plants....but which plants are best and where do I get them? (I will have to put the plants in cages to protect them from the geese.)

What else should I do? I love this pond and want to see it healthy.

Joy

Welcome! Sounds like you have some hard decisions to make.

The well will help a lot, but I guess the shallow depth will be an ongoing problem. If you don't choose plants carefully, they can do more harm than good. The norm is to remove plants, not add them. Shallow ponds are particularly subject to choke up with weeds. I'm not even going to mention those feathered fertilizer factories.

Read these pages and get a wide variety of opinions on each issue you mentioned. Enjoy Pond Boss and enjoy your pond!

Thanks, Bob. I have been reading all the pages and doing a lot of research. The former owner used a Copper Sulphate compound to kill the algae, but it seems to me that that just adds more fertilizer to the pond.

I don't think I have to worry about the plants taking over the pond because the geese eat everything that is green. I think I need lots of plants to use the fertilizer that the geese put in the pond....but then the geese will eat the weeds and put them back in the pond as fertilizer!!!! There has got to be a balance somewhere.
Joy

2 geese or 4 ducks per acre are plenty. You have to thin them out if you ever want a healthy pond.
I understand that there MAY be family members that will balk at this suggestion.

Joy, we are near Bonham, 30 miles east os Sherman/Denison. Are you anywhere near close?
We have several ponds and are going through the same drought conditions that you described. I commend you for investing in the well and aerator but doubt that will help out appreciably.

What type of Ducks and Geese do you have? Are they all domestic varieties? They can be trapped and removed if you don't want them there. Check your local flea market and you'll find several people selling ducks and geese. They will most likely come remove them free for you.

If they are wild ducks and geese that hang around your pond, in a couple months the 2006 waterfowl season will open in TX and I can give you the e-mail addresses of approximately 12,000 hunters who would gladly pay you to come hunt there for just one day!

You are pumping 3 GPM? That's 180 gals/hr. At four acres, your pond is around 1,300,000 gals PER FOOT of depth! Pumping 3 GPM will take TEN MONTHS with ZERO evaporation to refill ONE FOOT of depth. That means two and one half years to refill completely. Do like we do here, PRAY for rain!

Is your pond situated so that it does collect surface water for refilling? Was the property recently used for cattle or livestock operations where their waste could be flowing into the pond.
Or how about excess fertilizers or poisons from Ag operations?

Hi Cappy,
We are in Denton County. I wish the pond was 4 acres but it is only 1/4 acre in a 4 acre lot. So the pump isn't a "hopeless cause". It looks like we will get a lot of run-off if it ever rains. The land contours look good and the road ditches are collected and drained into the pond. Everyone around us has horses so I am sure there will be more "fertilizer" in the run-off.

There are 5 domestic ducks and 10+ Muscovies that come and go. Plus 5 Canadian Geese and 6 African geese. Two of the Canadians can fly but choose to stay. And then there are the wild ducks and geese that come to visit. I thought we could thin the flock by attrition, but then I found out that geese can live 30 years...so they will probably outlive me.

Do you think plants will help?

Hey Burgermeister, thanks for the reply. Culling is a really hard decision. These critters have all been raised here by the previous owner. We are getting rid of the Muscovies which will eliminate about a dozen ducks. But I was hoping for a solution that would permit a higher "occupancy rate" than 2 geese and 5 ducks. How do you choose between Baby Huey, Noisy Nick, Dapper Duck, etc.?

Isn't there something else I can do?

Well, if you get rid of the grasses, some of the waterfowl will probably move on. The former owner probably had it right. Kill the excess grass with Cutrine plus not copper sulphate, use the well water with a nozzle if it is under pressure. You may have to get a surface aerator. This will all help rid the pond of excess nutrients. It's all about breaking the cycle. DO you have fish, and if so, what kind?

The only fish I have seen are catfish. There were at least a 1000 fingerlings earlier this month. The herons have been gorging. There is no grass in the pond...the geese have cleaned out every plant.

Waterfowl and small ponds really don't go together too well. They foul the water and the shoreline. IMO you have a choice of who is going to enjoy the pond and the area around it; you or the previous owners pets. You can have a fish pond or a duck pond.

It's about like having only one squirrel in the attic of your home and hoping it doesn't do any damage.