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Hi all,
The property where I’ve been living has a good size pond on it. Over the last several years it’s been more or less neglected as far as maintenance of the pond itself. It’s a spring fed pond and in it lives some crawfish, salamanders, frogs and I assume snails and other creatures, but no fish. I do want to properly take care of this pond (eventually stock with fish) but I need some major advice. My main obstacle is that we get a lot of rain certain times of the year, so it’s constantly filling with sediment. No aquatic plants are growing anymore (in previous years there were very few plants). There is also an unusual amount of algae this year and what seemed like all of our tadpoles (there were thousands early spring) just disappeared over night. The next day our big bullfrog had also vacated they seemed to disappear around the same time as the algae showed up, but also maybe could have washed out during a rain event. Any ideasor insight about what is going on would be appreciated.
My husband wants to wait til fall at the end of the dry season to drain the pond and rent an excavator to dig it out but due to the terrain, will not be able to dig out the most shallow areas against the hill (see pics). After the digging is done, I want to add aquatic plants. I’ll probably harvest the plants from another nearby pond or lake.
I’m wondering how to keep the pond from filling back in and any and all tips you have to make this a thriving ecosystem that could eventually be a home for some native fish species. We don’t own the property so budget friendly would be nice.
The property where I’ve been living has a good size pond on it. Over the last several years it’s been more or less neglected as far as maintenance of the pond itself. It’s a spring fed pond and in it lives some crawfish, salamanders, frogs and I assume snails and other creatures, but no fish. I do want to properly take care of this pond (eventually stock with fish) but I need some major advice. My main obstacle is that we get a lot of rain certain times of the year, so it’s constantly filling with sediment. No aquatic plants are growing anymore (in previous years there were very few plants). There is also an unusual amount of algae this year and what seemed like all of our tadpoles (there were thousands early spring) just disappeared over night. The next day our big bullfrog had also vacated they seemed to disappear around the same time as the algae showed up, but also maybe could have washed out during a rain event. Any ideasor insight about what is going on would be appreciated.
My husband wants to wait til fall at the end of the dry season to drain the pond and rent an excavator to dig it out but due to the terrain, will not be able to dig out the most shallow areas against the hill (see pics). After the digging is done, I want to add aquatic plants. I’ll probably harvest the plants from another nearby pond or lake.
I’m wondering how to keep the pond from filling back in and any and all tips you have to make this a thriving ecosystem that could eventually be a home for some native fish species. We don’t own the property so budget friendly would be nice.
