Pond Boss Magazine
https://www.pondboss.com/images/userfiles/image/20130301193901_6_150by50orangewhyshouldsubscribejpeg.jpg
Advertisment
Newest Members
dompeters, GDarby, SSJSayajin, Reed Johnson, Shortydog
18,051 Registered Users
Forum Statistics
Forums36
Topics40,240
Posts548,373
Members18,052
Most Online3,612
Jan 10th, 2023
Top Posters
esshup 27,551
ewest 21,241
Cecil Baird1 20,043
Bill Cody 14,728
Who's Online Now
4 members (esshup, Bobbss, kelltl, Snipe), 701 guests, and 119 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 14
G
OP Offline
G
Joined: Nov 2019
Posts: 14
Hi pond friends!

So we have a three-quarter acre pond, and we are seeing some pretty substantial drought right now. The pond is more than a foot lower than it should be. I know that’s not a lot for some places, but it’s very significant for us.

This pond was ignored for decades, and I am trying to help it. It has zero, I repeat zero emergent plants. There are plants on the shore, and there is a crap – ton of Coontail, what does nothing like cattails or pickleweed or anything like that that helps to stabilize the bank.

What I need help with is figuring out plants that can be submerged in water up to a foot over their crown. There’s a pretty good drop off right at the edge of the shore, it’s not like a slope where I have a lot of places where I can plant things that will just have 3 inches of water over them.

A lot of the reading I have done says that things like pickerel weed will only survive if there’s 4 inches of water above them. I know there’s stuff like cattails, but that is also supposedly aggressive and will take over the pond.

So put another way, what can I plant in the pond at the shoreline that’s like pickerel weed but can tolerate up to a foot of water over it most of the year, and was like cattails, but won’t grow out in water up to 4 feet deep?

In Connecticut.

Thanks!

Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,652
Likes: 248
R
RAH Offline
Lunker
Offline
Lunker
R
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,652
Likes: 248
I agree that cattails are a poor choice due to their aggressiveness. Pickerel weed and lizard's tail generally like shallow water but would likely work somewhere around your shore, but giant burred, spikerush (many species), whoolgrass, etc. would also work. While the water is down might be a good time to plant bald cypress as well, but away from the dam. Good luck!

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

1 member likes this: FishinRod
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,883
Likes: 340
S
Online Happy
S
Joined: Oct 2018
Posts: 1,883
Likes: 340
I've had good luck with Deep water duck potato from Kester's.. took 2 years to get it figured out but they blew up this year out to 1.5-2'..

2 members like this: Quarter Acre, RAH
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,338
Likes: 98
Offline
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,338
Likes: 98
My pond varies by a foot or so most every year. The trick to starting vegetation that likes a certain range of water coverage is to plant several (4 or so) in a particular area with the first planting on the high side of the bank, next a few inches lower, third, forth and so on a bit further down in the water column. 4 might be excessive depending on your water level variance, but this allows them to get their roots established so they won't be so susceptible to low or high water conditions.

My pond has the Duck Potato (Arrowhead), Thalia Dealbata, & Pickerel Weed as emergence. It took a couple years of buying some of them to get them to take well. I'd bet I had a 50-60% success rate, but now, 5 years later, I have strong clusters of the PW & TD. The arrow head came on naturally and tend to not cluster, but are spread out in more solitary plants.

I have rather steep banks and would make a tight ring of rocks below the water and dump a bucket of good soil into the ring, then plant my plants in them. This helps keep the soil from sliding down the steep bank and gives the roots something more than a hard bottom to grow in. To this day, I still dump some soil in the rock ring pile every spring to supplement the loss of soil. My clusters have escaped the rock rings and are making the surrounding areas their own. I doubt the adding of soils is really necessary any more.


Fish on!,
Noel
2 members like this: FishinRod, RAH
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,180
Likes: 392
F
Lunker
Offline
Lunker
F
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,180
Likes: 392
We always talk about picking the right plants. However, I like Noel's idea about installing some good soil to make a fertile bed for the plants.

Look at the soil surrounding the houses in new home construction projects, it almost always looks like crap in areas with clay subsoils. They either use stockpiled topsoil or truck in topsoil before planting the grass.

Looking at the pictures on the forum, most of the newly built ponds also have low-fertility soils along the littoral area immediately following construction. If you are going to expend a lot of effort to improve the plant population at your pond, I think improving the plant environment is an excellent idea!


Link Copied to Clipboard
Today's Birthdays
Mudfoot
Recent Posts
What did you do at your pond today?
by esshup - 03/26/23 11:18 PM
The 14 Year Tilapia Conundrum
by esshup - 03/26/23 10:47 PM
Sprayer Setups- metered copper
by esshup - 03/26/23 10:33 PM
Looks like the otters cleaned me out
by esshup - 03/26/23 10:33 PM
Newly Stocked Pond with Major Failure
by woodster - 03/26/23 04:14 PM
Yellow Perch Talk
by Bill Cody - 03/26/23 03:55 PM
We've got it good!
by Sunil - 03/25/23 09:53 AM
Restocking an old 8 acre pond.
by Dave Davidson1 - 03/25/23 05:52 AM
Habitat Video
by catscratch - 03/24/23 04:49 PM
Yellow Perch Spawn 2023!!
by Perch Pond - 03/24/23 03:43 PM
To all those caring for livestock in this weather
by Dave Davidson1 - 03/24/23 12:29 PM
Newly Uploaded Images
Fish ID help
Fish ID help
by PDT333, February 24
Bass from my new to me lake part 2
Bass from my new to me lake part 2
by Lunkhead, February 9
Bass from my new to me lake
Bass from my new to me lake
by Lunkhead, February 5
Alligator Ice
Alligator Ice
by Theo Gallus, December 30
Union Valley
Union Valley
by TX Chris, December 19
Pond Renovation
Pond Renovation
by ArkieJig, December 15

� 2014 POND BOSS INC. all rights reserved USA and Worldwide

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5