Hi folks,

It has been a good while since I’ve posted here, but last fall my wife and I finally got our dream spread in the mountains of southeastern West Virginia. The land is at good altitude, is far enough south to have mild winters (I dug the trenches for the electrical and water lines by hand on New Year’s Eve, where it was in the mid 70s and thunderstormed 3 times), has lots of forest (some deciduous with lots of Tsuga canadensis, Pinus strobus, and feral Picea abies), and most importantly has 2 all-weather springs, 1 of which is quite a gusher and is one of the headwater springs for one of southern WV’s more famous trout streams.

My wife and I have dreamed about this since we were first together back in undergraduate, and I have researched trout spawning habitat, forage, and pond design for the last 14 years in preparation for this. We will be breaking ground this summer for our initial construction of 1 larger pond of 3-6 acres on the big spring, and enlarging and improving the current 1-acre pond on the smaller spring to 2-3 acres. The small pond will likely be the locally-native southern Appalachian strain of Salvelinus fontinalis, while the larger will either be Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii or O. clarki virginalis.

One critical item on which we have not been able to find answers, however, is what kind of trees we should plant, and at least as importantly, which trees not to plant. We know, of course, to avoid walnuts like the plague, and no oaks, hickory, pawpaw, or ginkgo will likewise come anywhere near either pond due to their toxic or noxious additions to the water. We also want to avoid willows because of how much they drink and alders because of how they are short and bushy and make casting difficult.

The only tree I have been able to find that is recommended for fish pond banks is Acer palmatum, due to its fine roots and the fact that it does not use much water. However, we not only want more variety, but there is another wrinkle; the benthic macroinvertebrates that form the forage base for trout just plain don’t like the leaves of A. palmatum (Japanese Maple). We keep as pets several species of the invertebrates that trout prefer to eat, and we test different leaves on them. They gobble down alder and absolutely devour mulberry, so we want to plant something the leaves of which will actually be eaten and processed by these detrivores that are the preferred food of trout, instead of just rotting and taking up oxygen.

We already successfully grow and are very happy with the Illinois Everbearing Mulberry, which is a white/red hybrid (Morus alba x rubra). We have an orchard of these started on the same mountain spread, and not only do these trees provide such copious quantities of fruit that a couple young trees’ crop is enough for jams and pies for the whole family for a year, but their leaves are the absolute favorite foods of our different species of scuds and other macroinvertebrates. We hope to be able to use these on the banks, but are afraid they drink too much and their roots will interfere with the banks. They are thirsty trees, but I gather that a lot of that is from their very deep taproot. Other than mulberries, we hope to plant things like peach, plum, cherry, pear, apple, and Bradford Pear. These trees all bloom beautifully and most produce fruit that we eat. Also, we will leave the rhododendron and mountain laurel that abound on the property, and let them help stabilize the bank where they are.

Does anyone have any experience with ideal trees for trout ponds, particularly whether mulberry works? Any other species we should use or avoid?

Thanks so much!