Pond Clearing

[Buck]

gusg,

I asked a similar question this spring. I received similar answers as you.

I recommend that you follow Roberts' advise. That is, use Roundup. Keep in mind that the cattails will die and the portions under water will stay for a couple of years.

If this bothers you, then do it by hand. A compact tractor backhoe will accomplish very little. The backhoe shown in the enclosed photo had trouble reaching the cattail areas in my pond and added very little value.

I cleaned my pond of cattails by hand. I simply had too many to use chemicals. The pond would have looked like a toxic waste dump with all of the browned out vegetation.

It took me three full days. In the future I will maintain the cattails with Roundup.

Buck

[gmason]

We bought 3 grass carp when we stocked our new pond a 3 years ago. They were about 8" and roughly $12/ea. Now they are 24"-36" and they eat everything green growing in the pond. For Free....

Let's see...[img]/w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif[/img]
Grass Carp-$35....24/7 [img]/w3tcompact/icons/clever.gif[/img]
Spraying/digging/pulling/cutting...annually Lots-o-bucks and time [img]/w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif[/img]

gary

[Robert_in_NY]

The problem with Grass carp is that once they get done growing they don't eat as much anymore. Then you have to get more.

[em14]

Did you see where they (these Carp) are close to getting into the Great Lakes ... It is very possible, I understand, that if they do, they may wipe out the Great Lakes fishing industry ...
they came up the Mississippi from a fload pond in Arkansas...

[rmorgan]

Re grass carp, beware--unless you want your banks scalped clean of vegetation and absolutely nothing to grow in the pond--to include lilies and about everything else--stick with the Roundup. As to the grass carp stopping growing and losing their appetites, maybe so but they get to be 60+ lbs (the Iowa record is 61.5 lbs; the Tennessee record is 50.8 lbs, etc), so that'll take a year or 10. And as to their coming into the great lakes, that would not be the triploid White Amur usually sold for vegetation control, because they are sterile, so maybe it was some kind of breeding stock???--more info would be interesting. IMHO they are a detriment except in specific applications where their benefits strongly outweigh their effects on fish habitat and the like. BTW, they also can contribute to murky water because they are pulling weeds out of the bottom.

[Robert_in_NY]

It only takes Grass carp a few years to reach the point they don't eat much. They eat a ton fast which is why they grow so fast but then they put on the brakes.

As for the carp and the great lake, I can not remember the actual name of them but they are Jumping carp and were raised in a farm. If I recall right, the recent floods allowed them to get out of the fish ponds on the farm and into other bodies of water.

[em14]

Rick and Robert,
You are correct they are the "Jumping Carp" and yes they did escape from the farm pond in Arkansas during a flood ... Boy can they jump!!!!! I hope that I didn't mislead any one ... This was on TV last night ...
Leo

[ScottAR]

Asian jumping carp... Musta been in south AR, as all the commerical ponds here are filled with catfish...

[gmason]

The 3 carp we bought are the steril type, and the way I look at it is that, these guys are so slow and lazy that if I every NEEDED to remove them a good cast net and a few trys would get the job done. Still if I get 3-4 years out of them before they end up as a "meal" if figure I've gotten my $$ out of them.

The laws here in NC are pretty strick as to what gets stocked in ponds. Legally you can't transport these carp into or out of the state. But then again, not too many SHP stopping people at the border looking for carp[img]/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif[/img]

BTW, I still need to use some Round-Up on the dry part of the banks and perhaps some of the spray hit's the water soaked area at times too.

Right now though my problem is all the leaves falling and blowing into the pond. It's like a big magnet for leaves.

gary

[gerard]

If you want to permanently end the cattail problem you need fairly steep banks so the water gets deep quickly. Then the shallows get covered in black plastic and this gets covered with rip rack. You can top with smaller rock to make it more comfortable walking on but this way there's no dirt for the cattails to root in. This is how commercial ponds are done so you always have clear water to the bank.