Pond maintenance?

drkelly

drkelly

Dipstick who put two vehicles on jack stands
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Oak Ridge/Stokesdale, NC
We are looking at a piece of property with a pond. I don't know anything about ponds. What can the experts on NC4x4 tell me about what is required to maintain a pond? I know @kaiser715 recently built a house on a lot with a pond.

Thanks
Danny
 
Spring fed, natural, man made, overflow, ornamental, or just plain ol' fish pond?
 
Mine is ornamental and I love it. Here are pictures as I was putting up my greenhouse over it.But I am sure you are talking about a big pond. pond1.jpg pond.jpg
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
Spring fed, natural, man made, overflow, ornamental, or just plain ol' fish pond?
Click to expand...

Typical farm pond fed by a stream. Man made earthen dam that is grass covered. Has a pipe at the bottom of the dam that water flows out of.
 
Make sure the pond is legal. Likely it is but it’s good to make sure.

how tall is the earthen dam? If it’s over 6’, NCDEQ requires maintenance plans, monthly inspections, engineered reviews, etc and it falls into a different category as far as rules, laws, and fines.
 
Simple maintenance, if you keep up with it. Let it get out of hand, and you have your hands full.

I let the cattails go too far last year, they were all the way around the pond (.93 acre surface) and 3-6' across. Long about mid-summer, I finally shot some poison and got them killed off. This past fall, I used the weed torch to burn off what I could, then the tractor to finish cleaning up. Won't let that happen again.

What I use:

Shoreline Defense, kills cattails dead, and lily pads too. https://www.amazon.com/Pond-Logic-S...words=shoreline+defense&qid=1577402903&sr=8-3

Surfactant additive for above: https://www.amazon.com/Pond-Logic-T...ords=shoreline+defense&qid=1577402903&sr=8-12

Pond dye to help keep algae down (i tried the black, if you have any silt, it just bonds to the silt and doesn't dye the water. The blue works great all the time.) I use about 1 bag a year. 4 pouches per bag, I put in 2 at one time. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MR98MEI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Copper Sulfate, if you get thick algae mats, or a lot of bottom growth in the shallows. (Be careful with this stuff, change and shower afterwards.) https://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Blue...ords=shoreline+defense&qid=1577402903&sr=8-13


A few tips:

Don't let any trees grow on the dam. If you have any now, cut any less than 6" diameter. Leave any big trees, but when they die off you really need to get in there and dig the stump and fill with clay soil.

Ponds can need lime, too, just like your lawn. The local ag service will test your pond samples (actually you get soil/muck samples from the bottom, not water samples). We needed to lime ours at about the same rate as the surrounding grass.

Keep geese out of the pond at all costs. Once they nest, they, and the offspring will return every year. Unfortunately, one of the things they like best is grass going right up to the pond. Underbrush at waters edge all the way around will help make it less attractive, but doesn't look nice. You can run a couple of cords across the pond about 1' off the water....they need lots of open water to take off and land, and if you divide the pond up with string barriers, they'll got somewhere else. BUT....the most fun is to run them off every time you see one. One thing they don't like is a green laser. Get the biggest brightest green laser you can find on Amazon...once they see the dot, and you chase them around for a minute, they leave and don't come back. They also say a swan decoy keeps them away (but it would probably look a little tacky).

I have got to get a better way to mow up to the water's edge. Right now, it's just slow weedeater work. I'd like to find a sickle bar mower for the 3pt, or try one of these from DR: DR PRO XLP 3-Point Hitch Trimmer Mower | DR Power Equipment
 
rockcity said:
Make sure the pond is legal. Likely it is but it’s good to make sure.

how tall is the earthen dam? If it’s over 6’, NCDEQ requires maintenance plans, monthly inspections, engineered reviews, etc and it falls into a different category as far as rules, laws, and fines.
Click to expand...

We are still trying to find out more information about the pond from the realtor. I believe it was built prior to 1972. The earthen dam is probably 15-20 feet high on the backside.
 
rockcity said:
Make sure the pond is legal. Likely it is but it’s good to make sure.

how tall is the earthen dam? If it’s over 6’, NCDEQ requires maintenance plans, monthly inspections, engineered reviews, etc and it falls into a different category as far as rules, laws, and fines.
Click to expand...
All that really blows. So a good farm pond has also become a governmental hoop to jump through?
As for the pond. Having a fresh supply of water via creek or spring with an active over flow makes for a very manageable eco system.
Aside from not fertilizing adjacent land when heavy run off is going to happen( if avoidable) and not allowing evasive species to choke it I'd say it will maintain itself. If it has surrounding tree cover that would fill it with leaves and debris I'd trim it back.
A healthy number of fish would also help keep it in check.
Aeration is always an option. I am of a belief you simply cannot over do that aspect.


How big is it? How deep?
 
One other thing....if the pond is visible from the road, you'll probably find that you'll have folks fishing that think it's fair game. We haven't had a problem with that. What we have had is that every contractor, sub, helper, etc that worked on the house or shop asked to bring his kids or grandkids out to fish. I always told them that it was not a problem, as long as he was still currently working on the house. I think the trim guy came out one time with the grandkids. One of the electricians would fish for a bit at lunch or after finishing for the day. I told them all that after the house was done, they were welcome to come fish, but the rule was "work for day, fish for a day"....nobody ever took me up on that.

Be sure and ask your insurance guy about pond, and any signage requirements (no tresspass, no swimming, etc). Not an issue for us with Farm Bureau (agent said that they expect land/farm to have a pond on it) and no restrictions/requirements for signs.
 
drkelly said:
We are still trying to find out more information about the pond from the realtor. I believe it was built prior to 1972.
Click to expand...

A good way to get an idea of the age (at least it works here) is to go your county GIS website. Find the parcel, and if it's anything like ours, you can turn on and off various layers. One of the layer categories is aerial photographs. For example, in Lee County, I can call up aerial/satellite photos from 1938, 1950, 1955, 1966, 1972, 1983, 1991, 1996, 2006, 2010, 2013, and 2017. So you can figure out to within a decade or a few years of when something was put in.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
A healthy number of fish would also help keep it in check.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it’s a good sized pond but in my small pound I had koi and never could keep
The water clear. I threw a dozen or so crappie minnows in it to keep them alive and it’s kept my pound clean and clear since then.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
We only tend to get hassled on one pretty large pond of many just due to size. Roughly 5.5 acres. It wasn’t permitted years ago before my in-laws bought the property and nobody could find an engineering plan for the dam on record. Since then it’s been mapped in a grid format to get a true idea of the volume of water it contains. As long as we keep the dam mowed and the spillway clear of debris, the powers that be in VA tend to leave us alone. They like to poke around and cause headaches every few years, but it’s become less of an issue these days.

We have a few that are like what you’re talking about, a dammed up steam or spring with a spill pipe. Typical old farm shit just to keep a water source for cattle. Just keep the pipe clear and watch erosion around the dam areas. A small clog can become a big headache quick.

As for algae, cattails and lilypads, it’s less of an issue in bodies of water that cycle through and move like a dammed stream or spring water source. Ones fed solely by runoff are typically the dirtiest, those solutions have been covered and seem to work well.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
All that really blows. So a good farm pond has also become a governmental hoop to jump through?
As for the pond. Having a fresh supply of water via creek or spring with an active over flow makes for a very manageable eco system.
Aside from not fertilizing adjacent land when heavy run off is going to happen( if avoidable) and not allowing evasive species to choke it I'd say it will maintain itself. If it has surrounding tree cover that would fill it with leaves and debris I'd trim it back.
A healthy number of fish would also help keep it in check.
Aeration is always an option. I am of a belief you simply cannot over do that aspect.


How big is it? How deep?
Click to expand...

It is 13 acres. Not sure on the depth. I would guess 10-15 feet judging by the dam.

There are no trees growing on the dam. It has grass around maybe 65% of it, and trees around the remaining edge.
 
I have never done a thing to our pond in the seven years I have owned it. Never had an issue with anything other than two snappers and a lot of fish growing in it.
 
The pond is kind of muddy looking. I'm not sure if that is normal for this time of year or due to all the rain that we have had.
 
I'd love a pond that size. I grew up around a few. All of them different sizes.
I have a man made ornamental we estimate at 1800 gallons.
The largest pond I was around a lot and did all things pond related was a farm pond. It was around the size you are referring too. It basically took care of itself.


@Loganwayne. Where did you get said minnows? How big did they get. I have a few very valuable koi due to size and color. I have to fight algae pretty bad.
 
WARRIORWELDING said:
I'd love a pond that size. I grew up around a few. All of them different sizes.
I have a man made ornamental we estimate at 1800 gallons.
The largest pond I was around a lot and did all things pond related was a farm pond. It was around the size you are referring too. It basically took care of itself.


@Loganwayne. Where did you get said minnows? How big did they get. I have a few very valuable koi due to size and color. I have to fight algae pretty bad.
Click to expand...

Bait store. Crappie minnows I think the biggest I’ve seen is 3-4” and they been in there since spring time. They have reproduced. I got a minnow trap to catch some out and use fishing now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Loganwayne said:
Bait store. Crappie minnows I think the biggest I’ve seen is 3-4” and they been in there since spring time. They have reproduced. I got a minnow trap to catch some out and use fishing now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
That's a win win.
 
rockcity said:
Make sure the pond is legal. Likely it is but it’s good to make sure.

how tall is the earthen dam? If it’s over 6’, NCDEQ requires maintenance plans, monthly inspections, engineered reviews, etc and it falls into a different category as far as rules, laws, and fines.
Click to expand...

Thats interesting to know. The dam at our farm is ~25 ft and the pond is about 12 ft deep at the deepest. So far as I know, the state has no info on it. It was built in the 30s and pretty well keeps itself up. Mow around it and eliminate any geese or turtles that show up is about all we do. Spring fed off the mtn and its roughly an acre.
 
JSJJ388 said:
Thats interesting to know. The dam at our farm is ~25 ft and the pond is about 12 ft deep at the deepest. So far as I know, the state has no info on it. It was built in the 30s and pretty well keeps itself up. Mow around it and eliminate any geese or turtles that show up is about all we do. Spring fed off the mtn and its roughly an acre.
Click to expand...


Thinking about it more, I think the 6’ is for us at work but with private, small dams, I’m sure there is an exemption so long as they don’t pose a safety risk to people downstream.
 
rockcity said:
Thinking about it more, I think the 6’ is for us at work but with private, small dams, I’m sure there is an exemption so long as they don’t pose a safety risk to people downstream.
Click to expand...


Gotcha. Wouldnt surprise me to find out that thee is some BS about it. The only thing threatened would be some cows.
 
If it’s older then you are likely just fine. But with something like that, it’s worthy to do some research to know the liability you are taking on. NCDEQ Dam Safety group can be real strict on regulations.
 
If I'm reading this correctly, they amended the law in 2011 to exempt dams under 25' or 50 acre feet. An acre foot is used to measure large volumes of water and is 1' deep, 66' across, 660' long.


SECTION 10.(a) G.S. 143-215.25A(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Part, this Part does not apply to any dam:
(1) Constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Tennessee
Valley Authority, or another agency of the United States government, when
the agency designed or approved plans for the dam and supervised its
construction.
(2) Constructed with financial assistance from the United States Soil
Conservation Service, when that agency designed or approved plans for the
dam and supervised its construction.
(3) Licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or for which a
license application is pending with the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.
(4) For use in connection with electric generating facilities regulated by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
(5) Under a single private ownership that provides protection only to land or
other property under the same ownership and that does not pose a threat to
human life or property below the dam.
(6) That is less than 25 feet in height or that has an impoundment capacity of
less than 50 acre-feet, unless the Department determines that failure of
the dam could result in loss of human life or significant damage to property
below the dam.
(7) Constructed for the purpose of providing water for agricultural use, when a
person who is licensed as a professional engineer under Chapter 89C of the
General Statutes designed or approved plans for the dam, supervised its
construction, and registered the dam with the Division of Land Resources of
the Department. This exemption shall not apply to dams that are determined
to be high-hazard by the Department."
SECTION 10.(b) The exemption modified in subdivision (6)
 
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