Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Pond "expert" desired in Waco Texas

Hi all,

Our 60-70 year old pond needs some love and we need direction and advice. We have looked for someone in the Waco area, but so far haven't found anyone. Could y'all suggest someone not too far out of the area? Do I just need to buy books out of the pondboss store and become an expert myself?

We've got about 2 acres total and desire to develop it with better trees (all hackberry and cedar right now), less poison ivy and green brair and more pretty flowers and fruit. Any suggestions towards someone of this callibure is also appreciated!

Thanks,
Rachael
Woodway, Texas

Call the Pond Boss office and talk to Bob.

On the poison ivy and briars, just about any herbicide, like Remedy mixed with diesel , should work. I cleaned out a lot of that stuff along 1 mile of road and various other spots. I just sprayed leafy spots.

Trees are a long term proposition. You can have someone take them down and plant whatever you want. If you’re only doing a couple of acres, I really like fruit trees.

Welcome to Pond Boss, Rachael!

We have lots of poison ivy at our place. Crossbow Concentrate is by far the best product I have used for PI. I can buy it at a steeply discounted rate from our County Noxious Weed Dept. (Don't know if you have that in Texas?) I do add a little surfactant because our poison ivy sometimes has a little waxy oil coating on the leaves and the surfactant makes your kill rate very high, even when the PI is waxy.

Greenbrier can be controlled with glyphosate, but well-established vines will probably require re-treatment. You should be able to buy RoundUp concentrate at a big box hardware store for less than the cost of Crossbow. There are multiple species of greenbrier, and some are VERY waxy. Make sure you get the concentrate with surfactant mixed in, or add your own surfactant (especially if you buy some for your Crossbow).

The glyphosate should kill the greenbrier way back, but it has running roots. A few of these will probably survive - even if you treated the plant perfectly the first time. When the re-growth sprouts up to 6" with broad leaves, then hit it again!

Is anyone in your family moderately handy with a chainsaw?

Cedar trees are generally easy to kill. Usually, if you cut the trunk below the lowest branch, then the tree will die.

Hackberry trees are harder to kill. Usually you have to poison the cut stump right after felling the tree for the best results. However, hackberry makes decent firewood. If you have a family friend or neighbor that heats with firewood, they might cut your hackberry trees for free? However, you must use a person that you trust. Felling trees can be a hazardous job. You don't want an idiot on your property that drops a tree on himself and then sues you!

Clearing trees is a big job! I would recommend making a small clearing first. Once the surrounding trees will all fall away from your clearing, then you can start planting your new trees. A little windbreak (in Waco!) from some existing trees will probably be a net benefit to your new trees - even if the existing trees cast a little shade.

Finally, I would certainly buy some of the excellent Pond Boss books. If you are knowledgeable yourself, then it is tougher to get scammed by a contractor or make an expensive mistake yourself. For example, all of my daughters wanted to be informed about car repairs, so they know if the guy in the shop is feeding them some BS!

Texas Park and Wildlife Waco. 254 867 7951

There is generally a County Biologist

Mama, your county agent can tell you about fruit trees that do well around Waco.

Before you plant any fruit tree, you would be wise to get someone with a backhoe to dig a ten-foot hole about three feet deep then rake the soil back into the hole. Spread about a cubic yard of good soil on top of that then plant your tree in the center of the mound. If you plant in hard soil, the tree will probably just linger there and finally die.

Consider CELESTE fig, ORANGE FROST satsuma, and FUYU persimmon. You might be too far north to plant OWARI satsuma and WASHINGTON navel orange.

Peaches are care intensive.

Ask the county agent about pecan and other fruit trees.

If buying bare-root trees from a nursery, get the 4 to 5 foot size for the better root system.

Good luck and keep us in the loop.

So many good ideas! I'll see about calling the Parks and Wildlife next week. And I'll have to put some pondboss books on my list of things I want.

We did get to talk to someone from a local tree nursery today and we feel really good about that relationship. Yes, we want shade trees around the house and fruit trees further out. I don't think citrus does very well here b/c we do freeze over the winter. Not constantly, nor every night, but often enough to kill a lot of the really tinder stuff.

We are thinking that we will work to clear all the vines from around the trees that are around the pond so that we can see better what is there. The hard part is that this pond seems to be spring fed, and didn't dry up last summer. And the pond extends onto the property south of us and they water cows on a tank dug off the main pond. I read that letter to the editor of the guy who is cleaning out his pond by hand (shovel and wheelbarrow). That has inspired me!

I love this magazine and this forum is a lot of fun. Thanks for all y'alls help!

And yes, Hubby has and can use a chainsaw. We fell many of the trees here before it was cleared for the house.

If you are sharing the pond with a neighbor, then I think your next step is to meet your neighbors (always a good idea) and discuss your goals for the pond AND their goals for the pond.

The more things you can do in agreement, the better. (There are probably also some Texas laws concerning shared ponds.)

If their goal is just watering their cattle, then there are lots of things you can still do on your side. However, there are some things that are prohibited. For example, some of the pond herbicide labels say things like, "No watering livestock for 48 hours."

Have fun on your new projects!