Pond digging question

   / Pond digging question #1  

dooleysm

Platinum Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
926
Location
Southern Indiana
This project won't directly involve my tractor, except to maintain the pond once it's dug, but I figured some of you guys out there might have some valuable advice.

I've got an area that's about 3 acres, I'm guessing, that is kinda between 2 hills. A great place to dam up and form a pond, which is exactly what was there when I bought the place (2 years ago). After some initial unsuccessful fishing expeditions, I decided there were no fish in the pond, tons of frogs, but no fish. This, combined with the fact that there are about 6-8 large Sycamores on the bottom side of the dam, made me decide to drain the pond and start over. After draining, it was obviously a good decision, the pond was only about 4 feet deep, filled in with years of runoff.

So, now I've got a dam with a big hole cut in it and some large Sycamores on the bottom side of it. My thinking has been that I need to get those trees out of there and recut a keyway and start over. But, the more junk that my neighbor moves in below the pond has gotten me thinking that I'd like to keep those trees there to block that particular view. I've got some room above that pond to dig a keyway and lately I've been thinking about moving the dam uphill from those trees. This would sacrafice pond size for being able to keep those nice trees. I think this would be a good tradeoff. The **** really needs to be moved uphill somewhat anyway, as the lower end of the dam is right at the very edge of my property line.

So, my question is, how far uphill from those Sycamores would I have to go to be safe from the roots eating away at my dam. I really have no experience in this area, other than knowing that it's not good to have trees roots eating away at your dam.

Any advice or suggestions?
 
   / Pond digging question #2  
One thing I have read is that when you have a tree in/near a dam and it dies, when the roots rots, this leaves a path for all the water in your pond to exit.........

My cousin has a pond with a huge cottonwood on the back side of the dam and several cedars on the front side. I told him this news and he turned pale........... Now he can't decide to cut them out or leave them.........

ron
 
   / Pond digging question #3  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( One thing I have read is that when you have a tree in/near a dam and it dies, when the roots rots, this leaves a path for all the water in your pond to exit.........

My cousin has a pond with a huge cottonwood on the back side of the dam and several cedars on the front side. I told him this news and he turned pale........... Now he can't decide to cut them out or leave them.........

ron )</font>

In my experience it doesn't much matter if the roots are live or dead - if they reach the water (and are below surface level), you've got a leak. Once the water begins to flow along the roots, it will erode a bigger and bigger path as time goes on. I cut down all the trees close enough to have their roots in my dam, but I've got a lot of work to do to get rid of all the existing leaks. The method I am currently trying is to use the backhoe to cut a trench across the root infested area (parallel to the water's edge and just deep enough to be below the roots) and backfill with clay-rich soil mixed with bentonite. (Ask me in a year if it worked.)
 
   / Pond digging question #4  
Rule of thumb is that the roots stick out as far as the drip line of the tree. How big will the trees get? If twice as high, then twice as wide.

Play it safe and move the dam back that twice that projected amount.
 
   / Pond digging question #5  
I have 3 acre pond, similar to what you describe that was dug and dammed up about 25 years ago. The dam has long since grown up in willow and cedar trees; however leakage has not been a problem since the beavers moved in about 20 years ago. It is only fed by rain water runoff and overfilling has always been a problem due to beaver dams until I installed a beaver proof culvert to control water depth. It is running alive with bass, bream and catfish, which, I guess, came in through the runoff ditch, as it has never been stocked.
 
   / Pond digging question #6  
So, if I dug a pond (just a hole in the ground and no hills and such for sides) and I put trees around it too make it a natural area the pond would eventually leak? Eventually when I get property I would like to construct a large pond and put a few trees around it and do some other stuff. I'm a birder and I have a specific criteria for my pond and one of those is to have some trees around. I have a long ways to go before this happens (I'm only 20 /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif) so I don't have the specifics one what tree species I want.

Blake
WA
 
   / Pond digging question #7  
Just don't put the trees within two diameters of the dam. Keep them on the high side and you should be fine.

Of course, I don't know anything about ponds, other than I like to fish in them.

ron
 
   / Pond digging question #8  
Blake if the pond that you are planning will have no real dam just a bowl in the earth then you will never have problems with trees.

Folks like us that have dams are the ones at risk from tree roots. If you have no real dam you have no such worries. I hope this is somewhat clear.
 
   / Pond digging question #9  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Rule of thumb is that the roots stick out as far as the drip line of the tree. How big will the trees get? If twice as high, then twice as wide.

Play it safe and move the dam back that twice that projected amount. )</font>

I must have some abnormal trees, because their root circles are more than twice as big as their drip lines. My new rule of thumb is NO TREES growing anywhere on or near the slope of the dam.

I agree with Pine Ridge, though, if you have no dam, or have trees on the other side of the pond from the dam, no problem. They may drink some of the pond water, but that's what trees are for!
 
   / Pond digging question #10  
I'd have to agree with that. Tree roots are made to go looking for water. I just took down a very large (probably 75 foot tall)
pine tree from the side of my house last summer. I then used the tractor to dig up the whole area where the tree was and I took roots out of the ground that were out from the tree at least twice as far as the drip line. In fact there is still one piece of root that is at least 6" in diameter that I havent fully pulled out yet that keeps going and it is more than twice the drip line distance. I have roots on the surface of my front yard that are coming over from a tree in the neighbors yard that probably three times the distance of the drip line. If you put something like a pond out within any distance of a tree it will go looking for the water. I am sure an arborist could give a better answer to this but I would guess 3-4 times the diameter of the drip line would be the really safe distance.
 
 
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