Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat New pond

Just Kidding about Arrowhead. I love it also. Lots of good memories from my youth there.

otto, I didn't take offense at all. There are better lakes around, but over an hour or more away. So we just stay here most of the time. Possum Kingdom, wow, there's a beautiful lake. And we are planning on going up to Lake Texoma for the first time this summer, provided I can get the boat remodel done in time.

Hey, I cut my pasture today, then used a landscape rake to gather some cut grass. When I put it in the pond, it just floated on top, and the wind gathered it all in one area. Will this still help with the muddy water problem?

Mobilus
Where you live the water is not muddy that is just its color.
JUST KIDDING.

I bought a couple of corkscrew willows this past weekend and planted them on the shoreline at the deep end. I've been adding more grass clippings to the water, as well as to the shoreline to prevent erosion.

Anyone have any suggestions on trees that'd grow fast, provide good shade and be good for the pond?

Bald cypress like lots of water and do very well in North Texas..du

Cork screw willow is a pretty tree. Sweetgum and black tupelo are both native and fairly fast growers and prefer moist soils. The swamp white oak is slower growing but a very nice stately tree. All should do well in northern Texas.

Thanks guys! I'll check with my local nurseries and see what I can get a few trees for. I might be able to transplant some sweetgum trees from Alabama next time I go back to visit.

I haven't heard alot of good stories about the rewards of having sweetgum trees. Do the research.

I like sweetgums, but not around a house. They are fast growing, invasive trees with roots that will cause problems on a foundation. The female tree drops spikey round balls all over the place that a lawn mower never seems able to pick up. Those spikey balls are the biggest complaint of them if they are away from a house. The wood isn't really good for anything, but they are a very attractive tree with nice colors in the fall. Here they are like weeds. Mow them down, take them out, do whatever you want to the ground, in a month, they will start growing all over again. I would never spend any time or money on them, but then again, I kill thousands of them every year. I'm keeping plenty of them because they are so pretty in the fall, but given a choice, I prefer a nice oak tree over a sweetgum every day.

Eddie

I like sweetgums, but not around a house. They are fast growing, invasive trees with roots that will cause problems on a foundation. The female tree drops spikey round balls all over the place that a lawn mower never seems able to pick up. Those spikey balls are the biggest complaint of them if they are away from a house. The wood isn't really good for anything, but they are a very attractive tree with nice colors in the fall. Here they are like weeds. Mow them down, take them out, do whatever you want to the ground, in a month, they will start growing all over again. I would never spend any time or money on them, but then again, I kill thousands of them every year. I'm keeping plenty of them because they are so pretty in the fall, but given a choice, I prefer a nice oak tree over a sweetgum every day.

Eddie

Mobilus, welcome to the forum and have fun with your pond. Please let me know what trees you plant and how they do. I have a new pond myself and seeing how you live pretty close to me, I would like to know what trees work for you. Where will your get your trees Smith's Garden Town?

jakeb, I have bought my plants and trees (not that many yet) from Wichita Valley nursery on Southwest Parkway and Barnett. The folks there are kinda like cool old hippies, but they know their plants...especially the native plants, which is what they specialize in.

Thanks for the word on the sweetgum trees. I'll check into other options before going that route. Maybe some post oaks, as they grow naturally less than 30 miles east of my place. The bald cypress was recommended by the nursery owner I know...but it isn't a fast grower, is it?

Since I've added grass clippings and vegetable plants that I pulled from the garden, the water has started to clear near the surface. The suspended mud isn't anywhere near like it was, and the color of the water is more brown than red. So we're making progress there.

I've also started adding grass clippings around the side that is complete, holding off on half of the shoreline because I'll start pulling more dirt from there when I get time this winter.

Oh, the corkscrew willows are taking well...when I feed the CC, I dip a couple gallons of water into each planting. I'll be adding more plantings soon if I can, or I might wait until it starts to cool off. Supposed to be 105 tomorrow.

That is a good picture of a west Texas pond.

So this is an old thread with the last post in 09.
Can you give us an update on how the catfish are doing now (still feeding them and how big are they?)and a picture of the floating island and what it looks like if the plants did well would be interesting.

Thanks for prompting a follow-up on this pond, snrub. I enlarged it a bit, and it seems that it has held water better than a lot of stock tanks because of its shape: long, narrow and deep. It is positioned so that as much runoff as possible is captured, and it has less evaporative potential than a similar sized bowl shape.

I'm very proud of its success. Yeah, it'd be more aesthetically pleasing if the water was clearer, but it is a brown instead of the red clay that was suspended for so long.

I stocked 100 CC, 100 HBG, and FHM in 2009. Those CC are at the 5# size, and very healthy. In 2010, I stocked 50 CC and 100 RES, and those CC are around 3.5#. The BG and RES are hand-sized.


I give them just a half of a coffee can of feed each day. It's kind of like feeding hogs, and always good to watch.



My grandkids and I swim in it some each summer, but my wife won't dare get into "that dirty water". It has been a fun place to spend time with them, and fishing is much better from the dock.



I've got a lot of things left that I want to do, and the most immediate will be to pipe the water from the new shop roof into this pond. Just 1800 sq ft on this phase, what size pipe do you think will handle a decent rainfall?

Define decent rainfall. Have you actually ever seen one? Probably 6 to 8 inch.

Hey, try to stay warm and dry the next couple of days

Ha! That's a good question, Dave! It HAS been awhile, for sure. Just hoping this front is very productive. It's wet and the wind is pretty fierce as I type this...I just want to see torrential rainfall on my place (and the lake watershed).

I've got a fire going and plenty of dry wood...

Nice to hear a success story.

Fish look good, floating island looks good, land island looks good, dock looks good, pond looks good. Life is good!

I remember when I was a kid my dad saying when he built a pond he wanted it deep and with only enough runoff area to keep it full. He said too much runoff area and it silted in too fast, not deep enough and it would go dry in dry weather. Now my dad was not thinking of recreation when he said that (much too practical for that) as a pond for him was something so he did not need to haul water for the cattle. But I still remember his ideas and reasoning in pond building and think they have merit.

Thanks for the compliments! I'm glad to know your dad had the same thought process I used with this one...in good company, I'm sure.

I need to get out on that island and cut down that dead mesquite. And maybe build a foot bridge to it...I know the grandkids would like that.

There's always many projects and never enough time...

I hear that things got a tad cool, wet and windy in your neighborhood.

Dave, they sure did! I saw some of it as we drove south. The front hit home after we left on a trip to Phoenix. I saw freezing rain all the way down I-20 to where it meets I-10. From there to Tucson, it was very windy. From Tucson to Phoenix, it rained all the way. One tough 14 hour trip!

Driving back was easier by far, clear skies, good roads, and I do love that 80 mph speed limit down in south Texas! 80 plus what you think you can afford...that should be the rest of the sign.

No appreciable rainfall though...I think my pond dropped a little while I was gone the nine days.

Father-in-law (78) broke his hip on the morning we were to move him to another assisted-living facility. Parkinson's and a list of other ailments makes for a tough existence. Third or fourth trip this year. We have to take care of family, that's a given, but it's good to be home.

Dang, you made that trip from Wichita Falls to Phoenix in 14 hours?

With all of the sleet, etc., I got 1/2 inch.

Gonna be crummy weather again for a couple of weeks when the front comes in Friday.

Can't do much elk hunting in this stuff..... Count your blessings. That's only 4.5 hrs worth of snow and it's supposed to continut until tomorrow morning.

Scott, can I just pay you a $100 to come down here and say you are hunting? You seem to be bringing weather with you the last couple of weeks.