Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Which species of natural tree to sink?

My pond project has officially started and I'm looking to sink a whole line of trees down the center of the lake (approximately 12-15' of water). I have access to a lot of scrap 2x4 and other lumber, so my thought was to submerge the trees in a triangle pattern and then nail the 2x4 material between the trees to create smaller gaps for the baitfish to hide in. My logic here is that it will last a heck of a lot longer than the thinner branches and make it much easier to work with. Obviously, I'll leave a few branches on the trees but was planning on thinning them out quite a bit because I have no idea how to erect these things if they have a full canopy on them.

My property has mostly hackberry, elm trees and willows. I do have a few live oak and mesquites, but we were trying to save as many of the Live oak as possible and there's probably only about 6 mesquites that are large enough to do anything with. There are also a lot of properties nearby that are typically looking to get rid of cedar trees. I'm wondering which tree will last the longest or be the best to submerge for cover. I'll likely be targeting trees with a diameter of at least 6".

Thanks in advance

Folks I've talked to have spoken most highly of cedars. The late great Dave Willis has suggested them in the past as well. He also offered this tidbit once....

"Be sure to keep your trees submerged. The ones that decay (disappear) fastest are those that are exposed to air, submerged for a while, exposed again, etc."

I used Osage Orange, which will be there until pushed out by a glacier during the next Ice Age.

I used Cedar and a shmedium 6" Ash. Ash was not preferred by any means but It was in the way and needed to be removed. Likely will be the first to rot away and will be added to in the fall or spring next year.

Would have loved to have used Hedge/Osage Orange. Would have lasted longer than me for sure.

I had to look up what an Osage Oragne tree was, and I have seen them before but the likelihood of me coming across one to use is going to be rare. My guess would be that the common hardwood trees (pecan, oak and mesquite) would also be good to submerge as well because the wood is denser? While I don't have a lot of these on my property, they are very abundant in the neighborhoods around my house and are frequently taken down.

Don’t use fresh oak. I once used a bunch of it in a 1/4 acre pond. The water turned black and everything died. It has tannins that are toxic/lethal to fish. I now use cedars.

While any tree is better then no tree, you will have some that will last longer then others, all of them will last longer if submerged permanently and not, like some others stated, spend a portion of the time above water and the rest of the time below, they rot fast that way.

My biggest concern from your post was the depth that you are talking about placing this cover. Im a long ways from a professional on the subject, but do some research on this forum, I dont think you will be providing any cover for baitfish at 12 to 14 ft of depth, probably not even much at the tops of those trees if they are anything below 6 ft of depth.

Like I said, I'm no pro at it other then spending a good bit of time fishing over the yrs, but some of the guys on this forum might be able to give better advice, they may tell me im crazy and thats the perfect depth for your cover. Good Luck!

An example. See the structure archive for more info .
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92463#Post92463

I love those pics from ewest for people adding cedars, but couldn't remember where to find it to post.

Yes, "permanent cover" is nice. However, we don't know exactly what the fish in the pond prefer. At some point, I assume some fish will find the state of the cedars to be absolutely perfect. At a later point of decay, perhaps some other species of fish will find that degree of cover to be perfect.

For people with cedars in their pastures, they are hard to beat as one important type of cover in a pond. (If you don't have cedars, you can frequently grab as many Christmas trees as you want from the drop-off locations before they go to the recycling center.)

Gehajake, just going to have to give it a try. A lot of our public lakes have flooded tree lines that are pretty deep and they tend to be good fishing spots so I'm not sure why it wouldn't work. Just so were clear though, I'm not planning on any of this cover being that deep, it will all be at the top closer to the surface of the water.

Unfortunately I don't have any means to keep this lake full other than rain, so the as the water level rises and falls my trees will be exposed to air. So what I'm learning from this is to probably prioritize cedar trees for this middle section as it will be the hardest to replace when the trees rot away. Use maybe my elm trees and readily assessable stuff near the shore that can be much easier to replace in the future.

Does anyone have any experience with magnolia trees for structure? We had to clear several but can’t find much info on leaving them. I currently have them on the side waiting for all the leaves to fall off.

No experience personally, but it's listed as a soft hardwood. My guess is that it will rot faster underwater than some and longer than others. If it was me and I wanted to use in the pond I would definitely trim the branches to 1" think at least. Dispose of the cuttings in the mulch pit or have a nice bonfire with them. If the rest of the tree still looked like it was good for habitat.....why not use it up.

I had a magnolia tree winter die. Cut it down and trunk rotted very quickly (on land). I like Osage/hedge for firewood and when I need something that won't rot in my lifetime.

Does anyone have any experience with southern magnolias? We cleared several and I kept the tops to place in my pond along with 6 cypress tops. Will it hurt the water quality and should I wait until the leaves have fell off before sinking them?

No pond experience, but I do prune my mother's magnolia tree.

I do not believe there is any "risk" for sinking magnolia tree tops. The wood I cut seems pretty soft to me, so I expect your treetops will degrade over time. (However, that may be just fine, because your habitat is constantly evolving. You can put in some more tops every other year to keep a range of habitat density.)

The leaves I see on magnolias around here (and farther south of me) are typically very large. I would NOT want the leaves in my pond.

If they don't readily fall off, you might be able to burn them off. (If you have a very safe place to perform a burn!) Pile the treetops up, light the dried leaves on fire, hit the pile with your leaf blower so the entire pile is quickly on fire, spray your hose on everything after 2-3 minutes or as soon as the leaves are gone.

Sometimes fire hardening makes softer woods last longer. Burning off the leaves might actually make some of your smaller branches last longer in the pond.

Good luck on your project to make your fish happier!

I’m up in NY and should be able to harvest some Eastern White Cedar from my wood lot for fish habitat in my new 3/4 acre fish bowl. What are others using to weigh trees down and how are said weights secured?

Additionally, I’m thinking about buying a variety of Pond King’s Honey Hole artificial products.

Thanks for any input.

We use cedar trees and either tie sandbags to end with wire. Sometimes use cinder blocks tied with wire. Hard part is getting them into the water

Same here. Cedar limbs last longer than Christmas tree limbs.

Cinder blocks are awfully handy since they already have a hole. Just drill a hole in the cedar trunk a few inches above the bottom.

I usually have some heavy, galvanized electric fence wire in the truck. I use 14 gauge for all types of farm projects, but they may carry some even heavier wire at your local farm supply.

Some of the guys on the forum will put 2-4 trees together on a single weight if the pond is really barren of cover. That makes a nice little brush pile. If the trees all settle outwards, then you can usually drag a lure right through the middle of the brush pile and sample the fish using your cover.

If you are going to put them in deeper water where you can't see the tops, then it is usually a good idea to mark them with a float. Bleach bottle, duck decoy, whatever your wife will NOT yell at you for placing in her pretty pond!

If you don't have a boat or a drought to place them, you might be able to get them placed fairly well when your pond is iced over. On a small 3/4 acre pond, hopefully your ice break up won't let them drift too far before they finally melt through.

Easier to place if one gets full ice coverage.

Well we don’t get any ice to speak of…. Only one time when it got to -1