Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat New Construction with lots of weeds! Help please.

In the finishing stages of constructing a 1/4 acre pond and I appreciate all the good advice here. My question is about the weeds that are growing in my freshly excavated pond. Do I try and kill the weeds before I fill the pond or let them be. Also, I fished two different pond this weekend, one was filled with moss and the other just had lush green grass growing in and around it. Do I need to plant anything for cover before I fill the pond, and how do I prevent my pond from having all that moss in it. Thanks.

I would try to kill any preemergent vegetation. I go through this a lot. Some of my smaller ponds dry up in drought and weeds and grasses grow. Then, when I do get rain, the stuff dies and rots. It turns the water sorta black. Fish seem to do OK in it but don't appear to thrive. If I could forecast rain, I wouldn't let it happen.

Plant bermuda or something to cut down erosion around the pond and especially on the dam.

Moss and algae need three things to grow. The first 2 are temperature and sunshine. The third is nutrients that wash into the pond. Try to cut down on leaves and other organic "stuff" that wash in with rain. BTW, over time, you will get some moss.

I recently sent Dave an aerial photo of my pond. He commented that I seemed to be working on a fine crop of filamentous algae. While this was true, not yet visible in the photo was an even better crop of submergent vegetation growing up from the pond bottom. Fishing became impossible because of the grass. To me, there is little difference in a pond devoid of fish and one that is impossible to fish. I might later regret doing so but I remedied the grass problem by working on the sunlight aspect. I dumped 13-13-13 fertilizer into my pond to reduce the ability of sunlight to support the grass. The tip of my paddle disappears at about eight inches. The grass is breaking loose and drifting to the banks where it is dip-net accessible. If a major fish kill results, I'll re-stock. Had I known about it at the time, I would instead have used powdered fertilizer. One of these powdered fertilizers is called FULL STRINGER, is formulated for ponds and should be available from your local feed store for about $30.00 per 25 pound bag. Five pounds per surface acre is recommended. Other powdered fertilizers are probably available from some of the Pond Boss Magazine advertisers and if you can avoid prohibitive shipping charges by having access to those businesses, please buy from them.

Thanks for the info. I just want to do it right before I fill the pond. I plan on supporting it with a well. I need to remove some more dirt and I havent been able to work on it for awhile (thats why there are so many weeds.) After the dirt work is done I plan on tilling in soda ash.

So if I disc the area before I fill is that enough to get rid of the weeds or do I need to kill them first? And then how do I keep them from coming back? Also, should I use rock or sand to keep the weeds down. Again, I just want to do it right before I fill. Thanks

If anyone sees anything I need to address please, please tell me, your the experts and I appreciate your advice!

Smhog,

In my experience, the weeds that grow on the dirt during pond construction, do not pose any risks to your eventual pond. They simply do not survive under water. If they bother you, take a mower to them and keep them short.

I noticed a pipe in the bottom picture...just curious as to its purpose?

I was told to push the pipe in the ground and fill it with water to see how far the water would drop.
Meadowlark I know you are very experienced in this and I appreciate your response, can you help me with a game plan from here or am I making it too complicated? I plan on adding a beach area and water a clear, quality fishing/swimming pond for my kids. Any advice you have would be much appreciated.

Smhog,

Glad to help in any way I can. No, doesn't seem overly complicated. I noticed in a post above someone recommended fertilizer. I certainly would not do that in view of your objectives for a clear water pond....recognize that swiming in clear water and having quality fishing aren't completely complementary objectives, i.e. totally clear pond water is not conducive to optimum fish growth. That's not to say you can't do both(fish and swim), because you can, its just to say that fish growth and carrying capacity isn't optimized by clear water.

From looking at the pictures, my input would be to get permanent grass growing as soon as possible on the exposed banks that surround the pond. This will go a long way toward achieving your objective of clear water. I'd recommend common bermuda for my area but not sure about Kansas.

I recall a good thread about building beach areas in small ponds...maybe you can find it with a search or someone can point it out to you. The message I got from that thread was that you need to provide some type of "container" for the sand, otherwise can expect to loose it over time.

Regarding "moss" or algae. That is often the result of nutrients in the water at an amount that exceeds the capability of existing plants to utilize. In micro ponds, many experts recommend plants that absorb or utilize those nutrients as a means of controling algae. In a pond of 1/4 acre, that probably isn't feasible.

With swimming as an objective, I would really want to avoid the use of chemicals to control/prevent algae. Several natural methods including barley straw, corn meal, cotton seed meal, etc. have been recommended. Myself, I recommend Tilapia. I believe from other posts, they are legal and available in Kansas. If you use Tilapia, you will need to also have predators present such as LMB and/or HSB to control the Tilapia offspring if you want to avoid a fish kill during the fall season. The fish kill isn't really a big deal as long as you are out in the country where nature's clean-up crew can work its magic. If in the city with neighbors and limited natural clean-up crew, you may experience some unhappy neighbors for a couple of weeks.

At any rate, miminize the nutrients and the algae won't be as much of a problem as otherwise.

Don't hesitate to ask questions....now is the best time. The hard part may be in deciding what to do with varying/differing answers.

An addendum...recommend you get a soil test now and if it shows you need lime, then now is the time to get that done rather than later. Tell the folks doing the test your objectives for clear water for swiming and fishing. They can give a more accurate recommendation that way.

Do the test as soon as possible. Sometimes it can take a few weeks to get the results back and it would be good to take whatever actions before fall rains come and fill up the pond.

p.s. any plans for aeration?

What are Tilapia. Can they casue problems with CC or Perch? Will a constant flow of well water help in clarity and moss?

Smhog,

Tilapia is the generic name of a
group of cichlids endemic to Africa. In Texas we can legally stock Mozambique Tilapia (Oreochromis Mossambicus).

A great read about them is at this link:

http://srac.tamu.edu/tmppdfs/9922301-283fs.pdf

I haven't stocked them with CC or yellow perch, but have stocked them with a large variety of other warmwater fish without any problems whatsoever.

Yes, a constant well water flow will help with water clarity and reduce algae. Generally little nutrients in well water...but also low in DO. You may want to run it across some rock structure to help add oxygen to it before entering the pond.

However, even with constant well water, you may experience some algae. Try it out and see what develops. You may or may not need additional controls.

Thanks Meadowlark, sounds like if I get some grass planted and structure put in I'll be ready to fill. I guess I'll wait on the Tilapia until I see the need for them. Can you catch and eat them?

Are you talking about grass carp?

Yes, you can eat them(tilapia) and they are generally (depending on what they have been eating) about the best fresh water fish to eat.

No, grass carp(white amur) are different species and survive year around in most ponds. They can serve a useful weed control function that complements Tilapia very well. Personnally, I stock very small numbers of grass carp in all my ponds for weed prevention/control. They can be very effective on certain undesirable water plants. Several threads on here discussing them.

Thanks again Meadowlark. I'll get to work on planting.

Looks like most of the weeds growing are cotton weed. Mow em' off close and they will die. Or you could leave them and hurt nothing.

Is that what that large-leaved, light green stuff in the foreground is? Grows really well in disturbed soil? I've wondered what to call it for years.

Yes, it has velvety leaves and is very easily controlled with mowing before it seeds. It and ragweed are 2 of the first plants to grow in disturbed areas.