Hows your farm pond holding up

[hotbiggun]

Mines about dry, first year living on this property and in the state. What do you guys do to keep your pond somewhat filled? No well here and city water would cost too much i think.

 

[falshooter]

Pray for rain..

 

[hotbiggun]

Pray for rain..

I was just watching a you tube video about our current drought. They interviewed a rancher who claims this is the worse drought hes seen, he claims beef price will sky rocket next year. Be prepared!

 

[Manimal]

I saw a guy use IBC totes as a fence, he got them for free from a plant, and if it were a regular issue I bet they could be daisy-chained and used for water storage. Otherwise, it sounds shallow...letting duckweed dominate the surface will -help- prevent sheets of hair algae from taking over the whole pond & causing fish kills or stagnation. You could also grow the native Lotus, which will cover the surface and use nutrients like the duckweed, and the seeds are edible. Any of those things will help prevent evaporation, and will protect your water a bit more than letting it stay open to the air/sun/wind.

 

[simplepeddler]

Mine is roughly 4 foot low, clear as a gin and tonic and fighting the salvania since the floods in 2016!!

 

[Manimal]

Mine is roughly 4 foot low, clear as a gin and tonic and fighting the salvania since the floods in 2016!!

Salvinia Weevil

www.lsuagcenter.com

Try here:

weevil

www.lsu.edu

Is the pond built or dug?

 

[hotbiggun]

What about grass carp?

 

[simplepeddler]

Pond was dug roughly 22 years ago. It’s small enough I can usually fight it back with diquat (sp) and run off.

I am not sure grass carp will eat the salvania, I know there is a HUGE one in there from the flook. Thing is at least 15 pounds.

 

[Manimal]

Only one source I saw mentioned Grass Carp for Salvinia, and I'm sure they'll eat it if it's the only thing in there, but make sure to get sterile ones (Triploid) if you've got any chance of flooding. They can get to be 100+lbs, but probably not in a pond.

Sterile Tilapia would work better, but WLF will murder your dog, burn your house down, fine you and put you in prison if you put them in an open pond in La...at least without the proper licenses and inspections (good luck). They don't want anyone producing food that would/could compete with the commercial industries or let people be independent...or the unconnected wealthy, or do anything outside of the norm where their pockets get filled.

Farm Raised Tilapia would be Louisiana's #1 new industry & new source of unconnected-family wealth, if they'd take down the lynching stand.

Anyway...GC might work but I haven't seen it first hand yet.

 

[shrxfn]

Mine is at least 4 feet down I am seeing parts of it I haven't seen since we dug it for our house pad. Supposed to have a wet winter due to El Nino but we will see I hate seeing it this low so much has gone wrong with the pond this year IDK.

 

[kenacp]

Mine was dug about ten years ago. It's dry as a bone. Just walked across it. Lost all my catfish. Liberty Mississippi

 

[hotbiggun]

Mine was dug about ten years ago. It's dry as a bone. Just walked across it. Lost all my catfish. Liberty Mississippi

Sorry to hear that. Mine is full of goggleye, few cats and turtles. I think its still a couple feet deep.

 

[hotbiggun]

Only one source I saw mentioned Grass Carp for Salvinia, and I'm sure they'll eat it if it's the only thing in there, but make sure to get sterile ones (Triploid) if you've got any chance of flooding. They can get to be 100+lbs, but probably not in a pond.

Sterile Tilapia would work better, but WLF will murder your dog, burn your house down, fine you and put you in prison if you put them in an open pond in La...at least without the proper licenses and inspections (good luck). They don't want anyone producing food that would/could compete with the commercial industries or let people be independent...or the unconnected wealthy, or do anything outside of the norm where their pockets get filled.

Farm Raised Tilapia would be Louisiana's #1 new industry & new source of unconnected-family wealth, if they'd take down the lynching stand.

Anyway...GC might work but I haven't seen it first hand yet.

I was wondering why florida has tilapia but we do not. I thought it was a winter thing.

 

[Manimal]

If you're close enough to the pond and open to running greywater there it could help. Take the water from Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Showers/Baths, Sinks, run it to a shallow pond full of pea gravel, sand, and plants like Irises and other aquatic/semi-aquatic plants, and then run that to the pond. It's a good way to utilize water, and there are a billion ways to do it.

 

[hotbiggun]

If you're close enough to the pond and open to running greywater there it could help. Take the water from Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Showers/Baths, Sinks, run it to a shallow pond full of pea gravel, sand, and plants like Irises and other aquatic/semi-aquatic plants, and then run that to the pond. It's a good way to utilize water, and there are a billion ways to do it.

I have a old crawfish pond on one side of my property i think it sill has a well on their property. Im going to talk to the family who owns it and see if i can pipe some water to my pond.

 

[simplepeddler]

If you're close enough to the pond and open to running greywater there it could help. Take the water from Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Showers/Baths, Sinks, run it to a shallow pond full of pea gravel, sand, and plants like Irises and other aquatic/semi-aquatic plants, and then run that to the pond. It's a good way to utilize water, and there are a billion ways to do it.

I could do that relatively easy……..but concerned the side affects will out weight the benefits.

 

[Manimal]

I could do that relatively easy……..but concerned the side affects will out weight the benefits.

Done correctly it should clean and process water pretty well before it moves on. With some stuff I can see the concern, but doing this also makes us really think more about the products we're using. There are lots of good alternatives to the typical products, and the plants you select for the wetland should be very intentional. There are some plants that specialize in taking up certain heavy metals and other undesirables. You can harvest the plant matter (without killing it) and dispose of it if you wanted to take it to that level, to clean up the land. There are ways to test for all of that stuff. I think a county Ag agent can tell you easily, but I am not able to pull the name from memory, may be the soil testing place.

Good soil can process and lean a lot of stuff, like motor oil and other things you wouldn't really think, and the ponds can too. You def don't want to be pooping in it though.

 

[wcweir3]

Both of my ponds are dry now, I am now cutting 55 gal barrels in two and keeping them filled for the deer.
Tylertown, MS