Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Selecting a site New pond

We recently purchased a small piece of property about a 100' from my current one.

It is a former rice paddy and has a high ground water level. It has been recently converted to a palm oil orchard, and to try to keep the excess water away from the tree roots the owner dug two drainage ditches to move the water off of the property. The ditch digger left a dam at the end of each ditch and now both are small ponds, 10' wide by 100' long. I knew of both of these when we purchased.

While clearing the property, weeds, brush, trees and snakes we found a small treasure.

The new pond will be around a 180' wide by 160' long. I will try to keep the levies as low as possible,hoping to reduce the dry season exposed bank problem.

Good help is hard to find.

Congrats - Rad. Any plans other than clearing ?

I could be wrong, Rad, but I think your helper was in the video for Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science."

Congrat's on the new ponds & land!

Miss Quasimoto?

Nice score, Rad. Keep us updated. You gonna grow any palm oil?

Thanks all, ewest, we have a house planned, but that will be in about 3 years. February or March we will dig the pond, it is very wet right now and by then it should be dry enough to work. From then until house building we will fill in the hardscapeand landscape.
Theo, the palm oil trees will go, more trouble than value, we have about 400 palm oil trees on another piece of property and they barely pull their weight.
Tonight we will stock a few tilapia in the little pond, just to manage the algae of course.
Sunil, she is a ham, can't pass a window mirror or camera.

Congratulations on your new addition Rad. I bet you're excited, and can't wait to get it shaped up. I hope you keep the pictures coming in as you progress!

In the "good help is hard to find" picture, it looks like your helper may have spotted a snake.

Congratulations on your new addition - what are your goals? Oh, and the pond's nice too.

bobad,
We cleared a lot of stuff and didn't see one snake. But, we did have a cobra swim across the pond two weeks ago. Like anything new it is pretty exciting.
rmedgar,
For a set of goals I am going to say that this will be more of a package. I am going to plan on this being the last home I build and I will try to make that the center piece and main goal. Every thing else will be a compliment to it.
For fish I am going to start with tilpia and use a predator that is readily available when time for their stocking arrives, we have several species that have recently become available and I want to look at them.
A smaller pond goal is to build this pond as close to existing ground level as possible in the hope that I can avoid a lot of dry season water level drop. The two drainage ditches are near the level that I am aiming for and they only drop about a foot. We will see what happens.

Hey Rad,
I just wanted to check in and say congrats on the acquisition and new project. Does this mean that the plan is to cash out the other Shangri-La when you complete the new version? Are you going with similar architecture?

Brettski,
We plan on keeping the "old" place and renting the houses. I am planning a flat roof one storey, with much larger outdoor living space under roof. I am going to integrate the outdoor/indoor parts as much as possible. The outdoor kitchen will also be larger and abutt the indoor one. Lots of glass to bring the outside in and louvers for a free air flow. The pond will be the focal point and this one will have a lot fewer large plants around the banks. The large stuff will be between the house and the road. That is the current thinking anyway, but there is plenty of time to for anything to happen, we will see.

Based on the exceptional level of artisan and architectural expertise that you applied to the current crib, the next one is gonna be an eye-popper. Maybe for you and your neighborhood, it's just another neat project. For us over here, it carries alot more interest, if for no other reason because, well...it's so different. No doubt, it's two worlds removed for us yank's. I formally request that you start at least one dedicated thread (more as required for various facets) and keep us in the loop for all aspects of development.

...oh yeah, one more thing
Since I have the dubious distinction of being the most likely to post something awkward, I feel it is my duty to note (and admit) that your helper is a real cutie-pie. Is this somebody of significance in your life?

Yes, a rare find, 100% city girl turned into a country lass, now she even likes country music, Thai of course. I will pass your comments along, she is never one to turn down a compliment. Thanks also for your kind words regarding our abode.