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Joined: Oct 2020
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jasonb Offline OP
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Hello, so I bought a house this year with a 100'x130' pond I figure it's about 8' deep at the center (just a guess, haven't been out that far).

The house was largely unoccupied for about ten years or so as the owners stayed at their lake home most of the time. Basic maintenance was done but the pond went mostly ignored. As a result it has Annie 2' of muck at 10' from shore. It also has cattails around the entire circumference about 6'-7' across across (save for a stretch of storyline about 15' or so.

I want to make this pond swimmable (which means killing off the leaches as well) and prettier (putting in a heavy area, maybe a fountain, etc.) but the first step is getting rid of the muck and most of the cattails. Will likely stock it later with panfish and the like. However, baby steps.

My question, and please explain this to me like I'm 5, is what products can I use to chemically remove the muck and severely cut back on the cattails (would love a few small corpses of them for aesthetics)? Are there chemical additives that are reasonable priced for a pond with this much water?

Thanks in advance (and please file this thread in the appropriate forum if this isn't the right one).

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Quick observations...
1. VERY important you get in a boat, get a line with weight on it and start measuring actual depths so you don't have any misconceptions. Your plan and cost will change greatly if the middle of the pond is really 5' deep with 4' of muck rather than what you hope will be 8' of water and very little muck. If you need to remove at least 2' of muck then you will want to consider pumping pond dry, letting dry out and manually remove muck. You didn't mention if it is a groundwater pond or a pond with dam to catch runoff. Plan for a dam pond is different.

You can remove 2' or more of muck using chemicals but you need about 5 years of patience to get it done. Most people want to pump dry, use long arm excavator and possibly bulldozer in pond basin to re-excavate. You need a place to spread out the muck for a season or two as well. Too pricey to truck it away due to the fact that it won't stay in a normal dump truck bed.

2. Once you know depth then get a long stick of PVC (perhaps two put together) and start probing the muck till you hit a solid bottom. Check several areas to see how much muck you have. Post what you find here.

3. It will be tough to have a 'clean' swimming pond with all the nutrients and muck in there. An old, 'fertile' pond is hard to change back to a new, 'clean' swimming pond without lots of muck removal, filtration, chemicals and aeration. Leaches might be better managed by putting in fish that will clean up the leaches and also removing some of their hiding spots by cleaning up the muck.

4. research both horizontal and bottom mounted vertical aeration on this forum. Both have great advantages depending on your goals, availability of power at the pond etc.

5. I'm no expert on chemicals for cattails. I used mechanical removal, then go back multiple times to continue to pull out the regrowth from roots. Some have cut down and applied chemicals to the remaining stalks to try to kill the roots.

Last edited by canyoncreek; 10/29/20 01:21 PM.
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jasonb Offline OP
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Thanks. I will get on that. It's pretty chilly right now so might have to wait until spring.

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Originally Posted by jasonb
Thanks. I will get on that. It's pretty chilly right now so might have to wait until spring.


Get a fishing rod with a slip bobber and a heavy weight, heavy enough to sink the bobber. Keep casting to the same spot, moving the knot up the line until the bobber floats. Measure that distance. Record and repeat until you find the deepest spot. You can do this from shore.

I agree on the 5 year wait, that is if you are lucky. As for the cattails, it will take a few years to get them to disappear. Any catkins that form on the remaining cattails you need to cut off in July-October of the year that they formed. Cattails are best sprayed in Sept/October.
Rodeo, Clearcast or Habitat are all great for treating cattails.


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