Courageous gave some good info. Invasive plants are bad in the south
and will take over in a single season, and most are vairtually
impossible to get rid of without a lot of work. Been there done that,
and never again........I am not finally parropts feather, water
hyacinth and frog bite free as far as I can tell. Cat tails and some
others are well under control and not a problem. I am located in south
central Alabama so were not all that much different in zone and
weather.

Are these ponds dug or are they merely formed by naturally occuring
depressions. I have a huge pond (natural depression) in my back area
thats probably 2 1/2 to 3 acres and it stays full of water about 8
months out of the year, the rest of the year it is just a
bog.......Your located around Swanney area by chance? Watch out of
cotton mouths and other bad types as well.

Aeration is highly suggested. If you do not aerate, you will get
heavy algae blooms, and then all it takes is a few overcast cloudy
days and the algae dies..........that night fish also die from oxygen
depravation........and at times it can go on for days and days.
Aeration will help with keeping algae down and your water well
oxygenated, and reduce your risk of a fish kill greatly.
I aerate my dug pond with a fountain and it took quite a few months of
playing with it until I can now say it has good, if not great water in
it, as compared to most southern natural or dug ponds......I actually
have visibility of 4 to 6 feet, all due to keeping excessive nutrients
out and providing lots of aeration. I use a submersible type pump to
pull water from the bottom and spray it over the surface. I also dose
with Baraclear P-80 which locks up phosphorous which algae needs to
have to utilize nitrogen to make it grow. Having a shallow pond as
such can have its draw backs, if relying on rainfall. My maina pond is
over 21 feet deep and is a bit over 1 acre in size. If you can build
up a berm around the majority of the pond y our wanting to estabish
first, it would help with runoff and adding excessive nutrients, but
it will also reduce your fill rate if your dependant on rain and
runoff, but once full if it does not leak, it will be a plus not
having all the runoff and excessive nutrients. Its gonna take you some
time but the efforts are worth it. I used to have bass, bream and
catfish in all my ponds, now my main pond has no bass, 3 albino
channel catfish, of 24" or better in length, and a few bream, which
are virtually impossible to get rid of, but I do have a heap of Koi
and various typs fo Goldfish in it. The other ponds still have the
assortments of bass, bream and cats and rarely if ever get much
attention like the main pond, but they are healthy none the less, but
lots of green water.

Lots of luck and keep us posted on your progress.........



On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 20:29:37 -0400, Galen Hekhuis
wrote:

===From what I've been reading here, I have some ponds that seem to be a bit
===larger than most here. I've got three on this property, one in the front,
===one in the back, and, you guessed it, one by the house in the middle. The
===front and back ponds are the biggest, maybe an acre and a half to two acres
===each. I'm guestimating from an aerial photograph, both ponds abut into an
===overgrown swampy area I haven't been able to penetrate. The middle pond is
===about 40-50 feet across, and from 3-5 feet deep, both depending on how much
===rain we have had recently. The middle pond is surrounded by brush and
===trees, but there are several places cut through the brush (and I'm bush
===hogging more) where you can get right down to the water. The middle pond
===has been used as a trash heap by the previous occupant. It's more like
===yard debris, branches and stuff, but I have seen an old chair and barbecue
===in there. There are frogs and snakes and stuff and I've even seen a big
===ole turtle in there so it can't be *that* nasty. I don't know if there are
===any fish. I do know there are fish in the back pond, I've seen them, lots
===and lots of those mosquito eating fish, probably lots of other kinds too,
===there is an old hand casting net back there. I'm gonna pull the trash out
===of the middle pond and try to rehabilitate it. It is also the only pond I
===have a prayer of getting power to. So are there any things I should or
===shouldn't be doing in getting the pond ready? I live in Florida near
===where I-75 and I-10 cross, so while it does freeze here, it only happens at
===night and only a few times a winter.
===
=== Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
=== Illiterate? Write for FREE help


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