How fish get into an unstocked pond

   / How fish get into an unstocked pond #32  
I have blue iris's growing around my big pond and I never planted them. They are a bulb plant, so it really makes me wonder how they got there. They are also on both sides of the pond. I have beavers, but it's pure jungle on both sides of the creek for a mile in both directions. I can't imagine a bird carrying iris bulbs, and especially not enough to plant them on both sides of my pond!!!
 
   / How fish get into an unstocked pond #33  
Isolated ponds/lakes etc.are one thing...but if there are nearby streams, creeks, even drainage ditches etc. in the area...floods and high water can carry both plants and animals (fish, amphibians etc.) a long, long way...once a creek or even a drainage ditch (that stays wet and has life) overflows...sheet water runoff can move things for miles...
I.e., one ditch leads to another which is near a creek which is near another ditch etc., etc., etc....
 
   / How fish get into an unstocked pond #34  
We used to have an old farm pond near here, that the lower part of the dam was covered with blackberries. I don't know if it was by accident or by design, but I have never seen such big, beautiful and juicy blackberries...and they were plentiful!
 
   / How fish get into an unstocked pond #35  
Blackberries do well over the fence from here in arid, acidic sand. The more you pick and eat before the birds get to 'em the less they'll pop up everywhere else. (got mulberries, too?)

It could be much worse near water or soil that tends to stay moist. I hope you aren't plagued by phragmites (p.australis, AKA 'common reed', AKA 'cane grass'), buckthorn, or autumn olive.

:thumbdown: on 'all of the above'.
 
   / How fish get into an unstocked pond #36  
Yeah, we got mulberries...in the creek, in the garden, in the flower bed, between the cracks in the driveway, and growing up into the electric lines. Just got my chain saw out of the shop; there's a couple that won't be so sassy very soon. Haven't seen any "cane" grass, or bamboo as we used to call it ... for a long time.

I remember when I was a kid, my Granddad had a big mulberry tree on his farm. I've seen my uncles put blankets on the ground, climb the tree and shake the heck out of it. Mulberry pie? Good, as I recall!
 

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