Trees on Dam of pond. Ok?

[LD1]

Yep, no trees.

Just got done clearing around my pond that was neglected for 15+ years.

As others said, roots working into a dam are bad news. Its not a matter of if the tree will die, simply when. And when that happens, the rotted wood in the dam will create voids and weak spots. Not to mentioned that the tree growing down into the dam is breaking up the soil of the dam as well.

While not trees....because they grow slow.....farmers plant cover crops. Beets, turnips, rye, etc for the sole purpose of the roots breaking up compaction. You DONT want that on a dam.

I left two trees around my pond. One us on the uphill non-dam side and its a nice ~18" diameter maple.

The other I havent addressed yet but needs to go....its an ugly dirty cotton wood. But its leaning toward the water, and is probably a good 40" diameter. Just not confident that if I take it out, that I have enough equipment to get it back up out of the pond.:confused3:

 

[EddieWalker]

With existing trees, there is no good answer. If you leave them alone, you probably wont have any issues. If the roots of the tree get close enough to the water, there is the chance that water will leak out through the dam along the sides of the roots. This is pretty rare. More likely is that animals will create tunnels along those roots and this will lead to a path for water to travel. Also not very common.

What causes all the problems is when the tree dies and the roots begin to rot. Then you have a very nice path for water to travel. If you cut the tree down, the roots are still in the dam and may eventually create a path for water. That leaves digging out the stump and root ball. Now you create another issue of compacting the soil so it's not looser then the rest of the dam and potentially a weak point in the dam.

In most cases, the ideal solution is a combination of a lot of things. First, remove all the saplings and smaller trees by digging them out and compacting the soil really good. Then evaluating the larger trees to see how healthy they are and if you really need to remove them.

 

[ovrszd]

In my opinion, Eddie nailed this one!!!!

I have two ponds. Both had large trees on the back side of the dam. Neither pond leaked. On one pond my brother backhoe'd the large trees off the dam. It now leaks. This is caused by the dead roots shrinking and allowing leakage. On the other pond I left the large trees. It still doesn't leak.

You mentioned that your pond level goes down some in drier weather? Probably the largest contributor to that is simple evaporation. But a secondary contributor is the amount of water your larger trees are "drinking" from your pond.

I estimate the large Cottonwood tree in this picture is "drinking" a minimum of 600 gallons per day in 90F degree weather during the leaf season. The pond is probably evaporating another 600 gallons. So, it's losing a minimum of 1,200 gallons of water per day. On a small pond that equates to water level loss. Spread that over a couple months of no runoff and you have a low pond.

 

[strum456]

What they said when they cut the trees here was that when the stump/roots rotted out there could be a void and that would be a weakened area. I do not know when they ground out the stumps how they filled in that area or compacted it?

Definitely a question to answer before doing ANYTHING!

 

[John Fitzgerald]

There is a lot of information on this on www.pondboss dot com. If you remove trees on a dam over about 4 inches in diameter, all the roots should be taken out and the voids filled with good clay and recompacted. I didn't know this at the time I had trees removed, and my renovated pond leaks, probably due to rotting lateral roots left in the ground.

 

[EddieWalker]

You have to be careful on pondboss. It's poorly run and five guys do 99 percent of the replies. Usually they just tell bad jokes or make fun of each other. You really need to dig through a lot of BS to find good information. I gave up on that site years ago.

 

[ovrszd]

There is a lot of information on this on www.pondboss dot com. If you remove trees on a dam over about 4 inches in diameter, all the roots should be taken out and the voids filled with good clay and recompacted. I didn't know this at the time I had trees removed, and my renovated pond leaks, probably due to rotting lateral roots left in the ground.

If the roots have penetrated the dam and are invading the water pool how would a person remove those roots?

I believe that's where the problem comes in.

For large existing trees on the dam I believe you are better to leave the tree and let it drink out of your pond. For small trees I'd remove them with a tree puller or a backhoe disturbing a minimum amount of dirt. The roots on those aren't likely to have invaded the pool yet and you shouldn't get any leaks.

 

[plowhog]

I had my 1.1 acre pond evaluated by a professional. He calculated the "evapotranspiration rate" at 52 inches of loss per year. That's more than four feet of course.

What he could not calculate is seepage, but his statement is all ponds leak to some degree. So that adds to the loss. I also have trees on my dam, which is a no-no. I'm sure they consume water as well, but I don't know how much. He advised to cut the small ones down and leave the larger ones alone. I am intending to cut the small ones with a chain saw and leave them. I don't want to go digging for roots on the small trees scine, on a slope, I don't believe I can compact it after digging back to as well as it is compacted now.

I've learned a few useful things at pondboss. But when I inquired with an advertiser (Vertex) about an aeration system, I got no response from the manufacturer and instead got an email from some unknown person with a link to his pond web page. I visited that page which said "Page Under Construction." Wasn't real confidence inspiring, so I went no further.

I recently bought some pond dye from The Pond Guy. They also have a weekly newsletter. The dye worked fantastic and I will probably look into their aeration systems this spring.

 

[bindian]

You have to be careful on pondboss. It's poorly run and five guys do 99 percent of the replies. Usually they just tell bad jokes or make fun of each other. You really need to dig through a lot of BS to find good information. I gave up on that site years ago.

I never did care for that site. Like Eddie said...........too much BS.
hugs, Brandi

 

[kthompson]

No pro here but we have family pond with about 12 wide **** and on the swamp side large trees. If there is any leakage from them can not noticed it. This **** did have small trees on it we cut off a few years back. I think some of this depends on the soil and how wide the **** is. The wider the **** I think the safer you are. But a question I have if you have some issue with seepage, could you dig a trench along the length of the **** a couple of feet or so wide removing any roots alive or dead to prevent seepage and install a water blockage liner of heavy plastic and refilling and repacking the trench. That design is used here on some amount to prevent water movement on slopes. It is also used to direct water down to drain lines which I have used. If is is used would say you need to dig deeper than you may think.