Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat hydroseed results

james, these are native to the area, so they really dont require much care at all. we had a couple scraggly old plants in this area when we moved in. all we ever did was to collect seed heads every (late) spring, spread them on ground where we wanted them, and kept the weeds away from those that sprouted the following year. you could probably get a much higher germination rate by scouring the existing soil, placing the seed, and be vigilant on keeping weeds down in the sown area. i'll try and collect some seed for you this spring and you can give them a try. if you want to try and find seeds online the genus and species is "Lupinus albifrons".

Great colors, Dave. Pretty tuff to one-up God's paint brush. I am hoping that the wet spring in the midwest gives us some decent results from our native grasses and forbes planted spring '07.

james, a couple of the plants have seeds ready to pick, if you want pm me, gimme yer address, i'll throw some in an envelope to you.

i managed a few poppy pics yesterday, along w/ a visit from JHAP and his wife, a nice mini pondboss meeting was had.

its so much drier than last year, mixed in are a couple other types of lupines (we have at least 6 lupine species on place).

enjoy the pics..

oxcellent, Dave
Pic #6 brings it together for me...or is it pic #7...?

I realllly like # 4 . Natural mix.

thanks bski and ewest, compared to last year, there are only small patches of the wildflowers to photograph and enjoy, i already hope for a wetter spring next year, and sufficient seed bank to keep it going.

JHAP started treating his elodea w/ cutrine and sonar the other day. looking forward to his report when he gets back to his puter in san diego.

Nice tranquil place where it looks like all of nature is in balance. And then, right at the end, you show what looks like a big chunk of JHAPweed.

Yeah...THAT would be pic #7

As you can tell from the photos JHAPweed, is able to obtain and store copious amounts of nutrients from it's surroundings.

Although it can be obnoxious at times, JHAPweed is mostly a friendly plant with relatively few thorns. However as you can also tell from the photograph, the vegetation at the top of this species is rather spartan. The above photo is reflective of what happens when you over-feed JHAPweed. Currently JHAPweed is on a diet so hopefully you will see less of it in the future.

Although JHAPweed will survive in various climes and environments it seems to prefer being watered with either a nice Ale, a glass of wine, or "Captain and Coke".

There is no need to fertilize JHAPweed as is seems this species produces more than enough fertilizer on it's own.

Just how we can get JHAPweed at our ponds? I'm sure many PMs are as interested in this as I am!

you a funny funny man JHAP...

Theo, thanks for the kind words.

DIED, you should seen me in person after several beers or a couple bottles of wine - oh wait, you have!!!

thought i'd update the summer (habitat) conditions out here. back in june there were 100's of fires started from a dry lighting storm that covered a large portion of nor cal. while we were out of harms way, the smoke was oppressive. here's a couple shots of a sunset from my front yard:







given my adverse horticultural conditions, i can only successfully raise spiney and poisonous plants here..............sounds fun huh?....... despite the smokey conditions the datura in the front yard has been spectacular this summer:

over 30 blooms one night and morning:






on the spiney side, here's some photographic mileage from a cactus bloom up above the pond:



















and here's what happens to a pond habitat in el dorado where the pond has no summer supplemental water:

for scale, there's a 10 ft jon boat at the upper end of pond to the right....




hope you enjoyed the pic show.

I did. I'm in love with your ranch.

Given the conditions Dave, your pond looks like an oasis.


Russ

DIED outstanding pics. What is the small dark green plant in the background of cactus bloom ?

thanks guys, eric i think the plant to which you refer is the "blue" agave. its the one from which they make only the finest "to kill ya".

there is also a yucca in the bkg.

GREAT!!! THANKS!!!!

Even in a drought the wildflowers look great.

Great Photos Dave.

Growing tequila plants eh? Hmmmm, One Tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor. (not like we don't get into enough trouble with wine and beer now you're growing your own Tequila plants?????)

I'll be up in a couple of weeks and we'll have another mini Pond Boss conference.

Oh and as an also and besides were you able to see the six acre fire off Sand Ridge road? (Note for others: Sand Ridge road is a road that is sort of between Dave's place and our place. A guy was mowing a dry field (real genius eh?) when grass built up underneath the mower and caught fire, according to the guys own words fire started in approximately 10 spots, he (in his own words) ran around the field trying to put out the fire spots but was not able to contain them, the fire ultimately burned down his house and burned six acres. The Dept of Forestry had to use both airplane and helicopter support to put out the fire).

thanks otto and JHAP. its so dern dry and brown here this time of year that a cactus bloom like that grabs yer attention big time....it was worth the camera time in my book.

heard about the fire, didnt see it from our hole. we've been relatively clear of fires in our immediate area this summer.........KNOCKIN ON WOOD HERE......

i think that fire near yosemite was caused by a guy target practicing, which is something we do here, but i seldom think of lead sparking or causing sparking.....guess it does depending on what it hits.....

going back in time a bit just to post/document some of the actual hydroseeding pics here:

shows clay patch and dozer cleats, also type of slope along top of dam...pretty dern steep, probably close to 2:1 for a short ways anyways


this guy's day job believe it or not is rodeo clown......great hydroseeder too BTW..


more cleat marks and steep slopes (although cleat marks are not the ideal direction, should be 90 degrees from this)








other areas that were done:

Looks great.

What does something like that cost?
How available is that service?
Otto

thanks otto, i dont know what it'd cost in yer neck of the woods, around here bids ranged from a low of ~1000/acre to a high of ~2000 per acre.

this type of service should be available anywhere....anywhere there is road/highway improvements, commercial or large residential construction/landscaping......it is typically used for post construction erosion control and (somewhat) instant beautification.

i imagine there's alot of companies that have this service in the houston or dallas metro/suburb areas who'd be willing to mob to remote locations.

died

Thanks. That price is not bad at all.